OIF Blog

Registration is still open for the Lawyers for Libraries training institute in Tampa, Florida. The training is scheduled for Friday, November 14. Please register by November 7 to secure a spot in the training.

Also, the deadline to reserve a discounted room at the Doubletree Guest Suites Tampa Bay has been extended until Saturday, November 1. The discounted room rate is $109.00/night, and is good for stays through that weekend.

In addition, registration is open for the Southern California Lawyers for Libraries Training Institute, scheduled for Los Angeles, February 20, 2009. Visit www.ala.org/lawyers for details.

Lawyers for Libraries, an ongoing project of the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom, is designed to build a nationwide network of attorneys committed to the defense of the First Amendment freedom to read and the application of constitutional law to library policies, principles, and problems.

Lawyers for Libraries workshops are open to licensed, practicing attorneys retained to represent or advise libraries on legal issues. Library trustees or board members who are responsible for establishing library policy may also attend. Librarians may attend if they are accompanied by a library attorney. To date, hundreds of attorneys, librarians, and library trustees have attended Lawyers for Libraries trainings.

Questions? Please email Jonathan at jokelley@ala.org or call (800) 545-2433 x4226.

Tags: Office for Intellectual Freedom by Jonathan Kelley
No Comments »

I wanted to share some important news about American Libraries.

1. The weekly e-newsletter, American Libraries Direct, is now available to anyone who wants to sign up for it, not just ALA members.

2. American Libraries has launched its own blog, AL Inside Scoop. Editor-in-chief Leonard Kniffel offers an insider’s view of goings-on at ALA headquarters and what hot topics ALA staffers are talking about in the hallways. Associate Editor Greg Landgraf offers his perspective from “the lower floors” of what many see as the ALA ivory tower.

3. Login is no longer required to view the current issue of the American Libraries print magazine online (in PDF format), or to view the archives, which date back to the January 2003 issue. First-time viewers will need to download and install the ebrary reader to view issues. Firefox 3 users installing the reader for the first time will need a workaround, http://www.ebrary.com/kb/users/ff3install.jsp, to make the ebrary reader work with their browser.

Tags: General Interest by Nanette Perez
No Comments »

(c) Stephanie Piro thesixchix.com Reprinted with permission.

We were so pleased that Stephanie Piro, from the Goodwin Library in Farmington, New Hampshire, shared her wonderful cartoons celebrating Banned Books Week with us — and we couldn’t resist sharing them with our readers.

Check out Stephanie’s artwork and more at the Six Chix comic strip website. Thanks to Stephanie for lending her considerable talent to promoting Banned Books Week!

Also, if you haven’t done so, check out Unshelved’s excellent “Bland Books Week” series from August 11-15. Here’s a sample:

(c) Bill Barnes & Gene Ambaum unshelved.com Reprinted with permission.

And for those who missed the Chicago Read-Out!, or want to relive the good times, click on the images below to see a couple of videos that captured the moment:

Pictured: Author Lauren Myracle with special guests Ron Koertge and Nanette Perez

Author Stephen Chbosky reads from a letter by one of his fans

Thanks to everyone who worked to make Banned Books Week so successful around the nation! Mark your 2009 calendars for next year’s Banned Books Week celebration, scheduled for September 26-October 3.

Tags: Banned Books Week by Angela Maycock
No Comments »

AL Focus has a new video out about the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund. Check it out!



Please help us promote the Merritt Fund by directing people to this video, which features three trustees of the Fund – Lucille C. Thomas, Martin Garnar, and Jack Forman – discussing the organization’s history and purpose.

Note: You also can see the video on YouTube.

If you are not yet a member of the Merritt Fund, please consider DONATING NOW to support the vital work of the Merritt Fund.

The LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund was founded in 1970 to provide financial assistance to librarians who have been:

• Denied employment rights or discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, age, disability, or place of national origin; or
• Denied employment rights because of defense of intellectual freedom; that is, threatened with loss of employment or discharged because of their stand for the cause of intellectual freedom, including promotion of freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the freedom of librarians to select items for their collections from all the world’s written and recorded information, and defense of privacy rights.

Tags: LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund by Jonathan Kelley
No Comments »

On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal filed by two sets of parents who objected when their children’s schools provided their children with books offering positive portrayals of same-sex marriage and families headed by same-sex parents. The parents claimed the schools’ actions violated their First Amendment “free exercise” rights and the right to direct their children’s education and religious upbringing.

The Supreme Court’s action leaves intact the First Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision upholding the schools’ right to adopt a curriculum supporting diversity and to provide positive materials concerning same-sex marriage as part of that curriculum.

“There is no free exercise right to be free from any reference in public elementary schools to the existence of families in which the parents are of different gender combinations … public schools are not obliged to shield individual students from ideas which potentially are religiously offensive, particularly when the school imposes no requirement that the student agree with or affirm those ideas,” the court said.

Read our earlier post

Read the School Law Blog report

Tags: Intellectual Freedom Issues by Deborah Caldwell-Stone
No Comments »

Registration is open for two Lawyers for Libraries regional training institutes – one in Tampa, Florida, Nov. 14, and a newly-announced institute in Los Angeles, Feb. 20, 2009.

To register for an institute, visit the Lawyers for Libraries registration page or call (800) 545-2433 x4226.

Lawyers for Libraries institutes are open to licensed, practicing attorneys retained to represent or advise libraries on legal issues. Attorneys are eligible for Continuing Legal Education credits for attendance. Library trustees or board members who are responsible for establishing library policy also may attend. Librarians may attend (and are encouraged to attend) if they are accompanied by a library attorney.

Please note: the deadline to reserve a discount-rate hotel room at the Tampa DoubleTree Guest Suites (where the institute will be held) is October 22. Click here for more information about hotel and travel for the two institutes.

Over its 11 years of existence, ALA’s Lawyers for Libraries has built a nationwide network of attorneys committed to the defense of the First Amendment freedom to read and the application of constitutional law to library policies, principles, and problems.

Questions? Contact Jonathan Kelley at jokelley@ala.org or (800) 545-2433 x4226.

Tags: Office for Intellectual Freedom by Jonathan Kelley
No Comments »