Intellectual Freedom Blog

Prioritizing Intellectual Freedom & Privacy: Your Itinerary for ALA Annual 2023

Whether you’re a seasoned advocate or new to ALA Annual, we encourage you to prioritize the many events focusing on intellectual freedom and library privacy. In an era marked by rising censorship and attempts to limit intellectual freedom, it’s more crucial than ever for library workers to champion these fundamental principles of a healthy democracy.

June 3, 2023June 3, 2023 ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee American Library Association, Censorship, Intellectual Freedom Committee, Intellectual Freedom Issues, Libraries and Data, Library Vendors and Privacy, Office for Intellectual Freedom, Privacy Education, Programming, Surveillance

“Libraries serve many constituencies with a vast range of services —but one of the most foundational is nurturing a love of reading that fuels curiosity, compassion, and a disposition toward lifelong learning.“ - Loida Garcia-Febo, president of the American Library Association

New Jersey parents upset at reduced access to books

Parents in Mahwah, NJ are expressing distress that the school district has, in their view, reduced student access to books in the school libraries.

December 13, 2018December 7, 2018 Lisa Hoover Access, Education, Information Access, Libraries and Data, Minors, Policies, School Libraries

Dispatches from the Houghton Library, Part One

As an academic librarian with a deep interest in historical and contemporary book censorship, I can’t imagine a better way to spend my vacation than with the very books deemed too dangerous to read. This post is my first dispatch as a visiting fellow in publishing history at the Houghton Library, Harvard’s main repository of rare books and manuscripts.

July 24, 2018July 24, 2018 Robert Sarwark Academic Freedom, Banned and Challenged Books, Censorship, Libraries and Data, Religion

Privacy v. Personalized Services in Libraries

Society has evolved to expect personalized recommendations from providers like Amazon and Netflix. (Who doesn’t love the suggestions for what to read or watch next, right?) I think most of us have even gotten used to seeing personalized advertising in our Facebook feeds or Google ads. However, a Library Journal article on OCLC Wise points out that this level of personalization requires data collection. Data collection by libraries can risk compromising patron privacy.

July 9, 2018July 9, 2018 Lisa Hoover Libraries and Data, Library Vendors and Privacy, Privacy, Technology

Library Freedom Project Introduces Inaugural Cohort

This summer, the Library Freedom Project introduces the latest endeavor in its mission to promote online privacy. The Library Freedom Institute will equip 13 librarians from around the country to serve as privacy advocates in their communities.

June 14, 2018June 11, 2018 Tess Wilson Education, Libraries and Data, Privacy, Security

A smartphone sits on a table next to an open book. A pair of eyeglasses rests on the book.

The Blockchain: What It Is and How It Can Benefit Libraries (Part Two)

By: guest blogger Shawn Demerjian. Part two on blockchains. We take a closer look at these (along with some important additions), briefly talk about the different types of blockchains that exist (yes, there is more than one blockchain), and discuss some of the issues and limitations.

June 11, 2018June 11, 2018 Alex Falck Encryption, Libraries and Data, Privacy, Technology

A graphical representation of the blockchain showing data links between locked blocks of data.

The Blockchain: What It Is and How It Can Benefit Libraries

By: guest blogger Shawn Demerjian. It seems like you can’t walk past a magazine rack these days without hearing about Bitcoin, crypto-currencies, or blockchain. My goal here is to clarify some of these terms, provide a little background history, and explain how this all works.

May 30, 2018May 30, 2018 Alex Falck Encryption, Libraries and Data, Privacy, Technology

Choose Privacy Week 2018: Explore, Learn, & Teach about Big Data

In the wake of Mark Zuckerberg’s Congressional testimony last week and the related explosion of public interest in how online personal data is collected, stored, shared, used and sometimes misused, this year’s Choose Privacy Week theme—“Big Data is Watching You”—could not be more perfectly timed.

April 19, 2018April 19, 2018 Deborah Caldwell-Stone Choose Privacy Week, Libraries and Data, Privacy, Surveillance

Created by Lisa Hooper reads "My father had spent every penny on his books. They were his life. After the bonfire, I could tell that something had happened to his mind." From Knuth, Libricide: The Regime Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the 20th Century.

Librarians as Cultural Warriors & Protectors

Likewise, it says a great deal about the importance of librarians, library paraprofessionals, museum curators, archivists, educators, and anyone else involved in the protection and promotion of cultural heritage and protection of intellectual freedom. Knuth’s book demonstrates that librarians can be active participants in protecting cultural history, or they can be twisted to add legitimacy to the regime’s propaganda.

January 29, 2018January 30, 2018 Lisa Hoover Book Review, Censorship, International issues, Libraries and Data, Professional Ethics

Piwik, An alternative to Google Analytics

Libraries can uphold the tradition of protecting patron privacy by considering alternative web analytics tools instead of using Google Analytics.

May 5, 2017May 5, 2017 Deborah Caldwell-Stone Choose Privacy Week, Data Mining, Libraries and Data, Library Vendors and Privacy, Privacy, Security