By: Kristin Pekoll, OIF Assistant Director

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) is seeking bloggers for 2020! Here’s what our writers have said about the experience.

Writing for the blog has increased my sense of belonging to a wider library community beyond my region. It has been an opportunity for reflection and for deepening my understanding of topics that are important to me. I feel better equipped to bring leadership to my local intellectual freedom committee.

Lisa Rand

Writing for the OIF blog has been a great experience. It is a great way to flex your mental “muscles” and creates an incentive to stay up to date and actively think about changes in this aspect of librarianship. For me, it’s also a way to actively contribute to the discussion surrounding issues that are critical to our democracy and the major issues facing our society.  

Lisa Hoover

Requirements

• Each writer must commit to one year as a volunteer blogger.
• Bloggers should be curious in exploring a range of intellectual freedom topics and have some writing experience.  
• Bloggers must be ALA members (writers who are not ALA members are invited to submit a guest post) and agree to the Intellectual Freedom Blog Policy & Purpose.

Responsibilities:

• Bloggers are responsible for writing and submitting approximately 20 posts over the course of a year, to be reviewed by OIF staff. Posts can be a creative or fresh perspective on intellectual freedom issues or a summary of a news item. Priority is given to timely, current, and relevant content. Posts should inform library workers and the public in an engaging and amusing way.
• Bloggers are responsible for submitting content on time and working with deadlines. Although there is flexibility in the publishing schedule, if bloggers miss three deadlines, they may lose their spot on the team.
• After receiving feedback from OIF staff, bloggers are responsible for making any edits or responding to questions before the post is published.

Content Ideas:

Description/analysis of current public book challenges, interviews, infographics, historical essays, book reviews, celebration weeks, international reach, anniversaries, programming ideas, tips, policies, front-line experiences, skill development, Q&As, technology, state chapters, community engagement, trends, best practices

How to volunteer:

Interested parties should submit an original sample blog post by September 30, 2019. October 31, 2019.

We’ll be in touch in mid-October. Send questions to Kristin Pekoll at kpekoll@ala.org.

---

Kristin Pekoll is the Assistant Director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and is the first contact for support to librarians and educators who are experience censorship. 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 where she experienced a book challenge to over eighty YA LGBTQ books. This summer she will be publishing her first book with ALA Editions titled Beyond Banned Books: Defending Intellectual Freedom throughout Your Library. In her free time she enjoys watching the Green Bay Packers and working on jigsaw puzzles. Find her on Twitter @kpekoll.