The 2010 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston was quite successful for the various intellectual freedom arms of ALA. Check out some of what we had to offer:

• OIF launched our new privacy initiative, Choose Privacy Week, with a great talk by Hal Niedzviecki, author of The Peep Diaries. The Choose Privacy Week Resource Guide was unveiled along with posters, bookmarks, and buttons that can serve to help libraries promote the issue of privacy during May 2-8, 2010 and beyond. AL Focus produced a video from the event featuring new OIF Director Barbara Jones and an engaging interview with Hal.
• The Freedom to Read Foundation‘s 4th Annual author event was a great success, thanks in large part to joining forces with ALA’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table. Michael Willhoite and Lesléa Newman spoke of their experiences with challenges to Daddy’s Roommate and Heather Has Two Mommies, and their feelings on the state of censorship, particularly for LGBT titles. Photos from the event are available on Flickr.
• ALA Council passed a resolution honoring the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund’s 40th Anniversary.
• You can read FTRF’s Report to ALA Council here and the Intellectual Freedom Committee’s Report to Council here.

Planning is well underway for activities during the 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, DC — including the Merritt Fund’s 40th Anniversary Gala; programs on Burning Man, blasphemy, privacy, and ethics and social media; FTRF’s member reception and IFRT’s awards ceremony; IF101 for ALA/conference/intellectual freedom newbies; and the National Library Advocacy Day rally at the Capitol.  Join us, won’t you?