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Intellectual Freedom

Facing Challenges and Fighting Back

Libraries are on the front lines of a battle over the freedom to read, the freedom to educate, and the freedom to inform, with very real consequences for students, readers, and communities. In debates often marked by misinformation, incivility, and politically motivated attacks, library staff need to be equipped with the tools to fight back and protect the freedom of their community members to access a wide range of knowledge and ideas in the library and their freedom to choose what to read.

Did you miss this three-part webinar series from January 2023? Listen at your convenience and learn from American Library Association (ALA), the Office for Intellectual Freedom, and the Freedom to Read Foundation as they provide library staff with the practical tools to deal with book challenges, threats to youth services, proposed and new legislation addressing access to information, including reproductive health information, and more. Texas librarians have free access to these recordings courtesy of the Tocker Foundation.



Dealing with Challenges Misinformation and Disinformation About Resources for Children and Young Adults

January 18, 2023
January 4, 2023

Dealing with Challenges Misinformation and Disinformation About Resources for Children and Young Adults

Host

Joyce McIntosh


Presenters

Theresa Chmara

General Counsel, Freedom to Read Foundation Attorney, Washington D.C.

Martha Hickson

Librarian, North Hunterdon H.S., New Jersey
Recipient, Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity


Navigating Book Challenges in Rural America

January 4, 2023
Host

Joyce McIntosh


Presenters

Heather Hutto

Executive Director of a tribal-rural library in northeastern Oklahoma

MacKenzie Ledley

Executive Director, Pulaski County Public Library


Reproductive Health and Libraries

January 11, 2023
Host

Joyce McIntosh

General Counsel, Freedom to Read Foundation Attorney, Washington D.C.

Presenter

Theresa Chmara

General Counsel, Freedom to Read Foundation Attorney, Washington D.C.