ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom

ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom The Office for Intellectual Freedom is charged with implementing ALA policies concerning free expression and privacy.

For the latest updates, follow ALA (https://www.facebook.com/AmericanLibraryAssociation) We follow ALA’s Code of Conduct: https://www.ala.org/online-code-of-conduct. ALA page Community Guidelines

ALA welcomes comments and anyone with something to contribute to discussions is invited to participate on our page. Please refer to these community guidelines to help make sure discussi

on is a healthy and productive process for everyone. Dos:
● Ask questions and share experiences
● Post meaningful comments that add value to the discussion
● Be respectful
● Stay on topic
● Report comments that violate community guidelines

This community is meant to foster meaningful conversation regarding libraries and the field. Comments are expected to inform the participants with resourceful and constructive ideas. Speak from relevant personal experience that adds value to the conversation and please stay on topic of the thread at hand. Don’ts:
● Harass or disrespect other commenters
● Feed the trolls
● Post spam or self-promotion
● Post about politics external to ALA
● Organize boycotts

We will not allow personal attacks or vulgar, abusive, offensive, threatening or harassing images and/or language. We will not allow comments that promote, foster or perpetuate discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation. Trolls and aggressors will be banned and all provoking comments deleted. This is also not the space for self-promotion or spam. Please refrain from posting links to personal promotions. Content violating these guidelines will be removed and repeated violations may result in banning someone from the page. Please treat fellow commenters with respect and dignity. These guidelines are necessary to respect each other and to maintain ALA’s nonprofit status, but they still leave a lot of room for active sharing, so please join in! If you have any questions, concerns or something to report, please message us on Facebook.

Have you stocked up for ? We have posters, bookmarks, & more to help you show the world that Censorship Is So 1984 - Re...
09/09/2025

Have you stocked up for ? We have posters, bookmarks, & more to help you show the world that Censorship Is So 1984 - Read for Your Rights! Order by Sept 18 to ensure ontime delivery. bit.ly/censorship-1984

Get apparel and other banned books designs at bit.ly/BBWk1984

Join this amazing conversation on Thursday!
07/29/2025

Join this amazing conversation on Thursday!

Congratualtions to this year's recipients of the Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards!
07/22/2025

Congratualtions to this year's recipients of the Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards!

ANNOUNCING: Our 2025 Bravery in Literature Award Winners 🎉 This year’s winners will be honored at our ceremony at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY on October 11th, 2025 (Eleanor Roosevelt’s 141st birthday!)

🏆 Margaret Atwood will receive the Eleanor Roosevelt Lifetime Achievement Award for her iconic works such as “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Testaments”
🏆Becky Calzada will receive the Eleanor Roosevelt Literary Freedom Award for her contributions as a Texas librarian and co-founding member of Texas Fighters.
🏆 Matthew A. Cherry & Vashti Harrison Illustration for “Hair Love”
🏆 Malinda Lo for “Last Night at the Telegraph Club”
🏆 Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell for “And Tango Makes Three”
🏆 Juno Dawson for “This Book is Gay” (Video acceptance speech)
🏆John Green for “Looking for Alaska” (Video acceptance speech)

Our keynote speech will be delivered by PEN America’s President, Jennifer Finney Boylan. Our event will also feature special remarks from Cameron Samuels, Executive Director of SEAT at the Table, and Deborah Caldwell Stone, Director of American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation.

Special thank you to Oblong Books, Freedom to Read Foundation, Freedom to Learn Foundation for sponsoring the event. Oblong Books will also be providing copies of the honorees books at our event!

🎟️Tickets go on sale NEXT THURSDAY, but if you join our mailing list by Monday, July 21st, you will get access to an exclusive presale! Visit ervk.org/banned-books to learn more about our awardees and to join our mailing list for access to the exclusive presale.

06/26/2025

Headed to ? Celebrate heroes with Freedom to Read Foundation, Intellectual Freedom Round Table, and School of Information Sciences at Illinois at the Intellectual Freedom Awards! bit.ly/IFawards2025

Join us Friday 6/27, 7:30 pm, at the Philadelphia Marriott Salon E for appetizers, a cash bar, and keynote from NYT bestselling illustrator NIKKOLAS SMITH (The History of We, The Artivist, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water). We’ll also be fundraising in support of the Merritt Fund.

Registered ALA Annual Conference attendees are welcome to attend the program.

We’ll be honoring the following people and organizations for courage in the face of censorship: Skip Dye, Owen Wolfe, Illinois Library Association, Nate Coulter, and Shannon M. Oltmann.

Sponsored by OverDrive and Penguin Random House with support from Macmillan Publishers. Additional contributions from Sage Publishing and Simon & Schuster.

05/14/2025

ALA denounces yesterday's unlawful firing of Dr. Shira Perlmutter, the Register of Copyrights at the Library of Congress. Dr. Perlmutter has led the US Copyright Office with integrity; this firing follows a pattern of targeting library and information leaders in nonpartisan positions. Read ALA President Cindy Hohl's full statement: https://www.ala.org/news/2025/05/Register-Copyrights-Firing

05/09/2025

NEW: ALA salutes Dr. Carla Hayden for her exceptional service to the nation as the Librarian of Congress. We are deeply disappointed in last night's abrupt and unjust dismissal of Dr. Hayden, an insult to the scope and breadth of her work.

Read ALA President Cindy Hohl's full statement: https://www.ala.org/news/2025/05/ALA-praises-service-dr-carla-hayden-decries-dismissal

Now is the time to Show Up with our actions. Tell Congress to : bit.ly/Call2FundLibraries

05/06/2025

NEW: A federal judge in Rhode Island has ruled that the gutting of the Institute of Museum and Library Services is likely unlawful. This is the SECOND federal court to rule against the slashing of the only federal agency dedicated to library funding.

Learn about ALA's own legal case and find ways to take action: ala.org/IMLS-lawsuit

05/02/2025

⚠️ The White House just released a budget proposal that would fully eliminate the only agency dedicated to library services, IMLS, in the next fiscal year starting October 1.

This would deny economic opportunity and information access to people across the country, especially those in rural communities who rely on federal library funding.

We need library supporters across the nation to get involved right away.

📣 Tell Congress that we urgently need them to act during this year’s budget process: ala.org/FundLibraries

05/02/2025

🚨 Yesterday, a federal court granted a temporary restraining order to halt the administration’s dismantling of IMLS—a direct result of the lawsuit filed by ALA and AFSCME. The ruling temporarily prevents any further actions that would affect staff or grants, for example, mass layoffs of nearly all IMLS staff scheduled to begin May 4.

It’s a step forward—but the fight is far from over. More to come soon.
https://www.ala.org/news/2025/05/federal-court-halts-dismantling-federal-library-agency-ala-lawsuit

05/01/2025

NEW: ALA was in court today for the first hearing in ALA v. Sonderling, our lawsuit aimed at halting the dismantling of the Institute of Museum & Library Services. ALA President Cindy Hohl joined ALA staff and our legal advocates in court.

We urge the court to immediately enjoin the Administration from further damaging America's libraries. Learn more: ala.org/IMLS-lawsuit

Help sustain our work, become a public supporter of the American Library Association: https://give.ala.org/campaign/686153/donate?c_src=facebook&c_src2=takeaction

04/19/2025

NEW: It's time to .

As we fight for the long-term future of federal funding for libraries in Congress & in the courts, it's critical that our elected officials CONTINUE to provide sustained annual funding. Take action, tell the House to fund libraries in FY26: bit.ly/FundLibraries26House

Every year Congress crafts a budget proposal that funds agencies across government, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). We need every library advocate to make their voice heard and tell Congress to provide sustained funding for IMLS in FY26. Learn more at ala.org/fundlibraries

04/16/2025

The American Library Association and Banned Books Week Coalition are pleased to announce the theme for Banned Books Week 2025: “Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.” Banned Books Week will take place October 5 – 11, 2025. Join us!

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