By: Kristin Pekoll

Join ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) in this engaging Facebook Live event to highlight the importance of reporting censorship. During the event, OIF Assistant Director Kristin Pekoll will discuss:

• the variety of ways to report
• the information we’re looking for
• anonymous and confidential options
• and our professional responsibility to challenge censorship as stated in Article III of the Library Bill of Rights, “Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.”

Bring your questions to the OIF Facebook page on Wednesday, December 12 at 12 p.m. Central. Please share this opportunity with your colleagues. 

 

 

While the focus will be on reporting censorship in libraries, schools, and other public organizations, anyone is welcome to join us to learn more about how the American Library Association tracks bans and challenges to materials and resources and why it is so important to support the freedom to read and speak out against censorship.

 

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Kristin Pekoll is the Assistant Director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Kristin communicates with state library associations on current book challenges and publications that deal with censorship, privacy, ethics, and internet filtering. She organizes online education and training on the freedom to read and how to navigate reconsideration requests and media relations. Kristin started her career as a youth librarian in West Bend, Wisconsin. In 2009, over 80 YA LGBTQ books were challenged over 6 months. While the library board voted to retain all of the books in this case, she learned the indispensable value of support and education for librarians. She continued to fight against censorship in Wisconsin as the Intellectual Freedom Round Table Chair. Kristin’s husband and kids have joined her in Chicago but they all remain true Green Bay Packers fans. She enjoys zombies, knitting, and the Big Bang Theory. Find her on Twitter @kpekoll.