Every committee chair has heard it: “It’s really not that much work!” This is the phrase we’re told when an outgoing chairperson is recruiting new committee leadership. Every incoming chairperson knows it’s a lie, but we tell ourselves it’s true when we say yes. This was certainly the case when my co-chair, Julia Nephew, and I agreed to take on the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee, but we didn’t anticipate the roller coaster of a year the committee would have!
We started the year with a few basic goals- submit a program idea for the ALA Conference, write relevant posts for the ALSC blog that would highlight the importance of intellectual freedom for library staff serving children, and come up with a special project to benefit ALSC members.
As a side note, the committee submitted a successful proposal for the ALA conference, and we invite you to join us on Sunday, June 28 at 9:00 for a session on Toxic Exclusion: Banned Authors Share How to Support Children’s Access to Information.
The committee was thrown a curveball in November when we received communication from ALSC leadership. With the reunification of ALSC and YALSA on the horizon, the ALSC board was charged with reviewing committees which aligned with the ALA Program Assessment that was happening ALA wide. The assessment was a starting point to determine which committees would stay as-is, which would be merged with similar YALSA committees, and which committees would be sunset. We learned the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee was on the potential sunset list. Julia and I immediately called each other and agreed we had to do something.
We decided to write a letter to the ALSC board to share our thoughts about sunsetting the committee and expressed that we felt it was a missed opportunity for staff serving children and teens to work together to support intellectual freedom. The rest of the committee agreed and signed the letter. We sent it to the ALSC President and Executive Director who then asked Julia and I if we’d like to meet.
In meeting with Dr. Claudette McLinn and Alena Rivers, ALSC President and Executive Director, respectively, we learned how the Intellectual Freedom Committee ended up on the sunset consideration list, and also learned that no one truly wanted it to be there; it was a difficult decision the board was considering. We also agreed that there must be a place for Intellectual Freedom in the ALSC and YALSA reunification, though we did not know what the solution would be.
Fast forward a few weeks, and Julia and I heard from ALSC leadership again. Their proposal was to merge the Intellectual Freedom and the Public Awareness and Advocacy (PAA) committees. This would not only ensure a place for intellectual freedom in the reunified sections, but also mirror changes ALA made in moving the Office of Intellectual Freedom to fall under Public Awareness and Advocacy. Julia and I met with the ALSC PAA co-chairs to discuss the idea. We all once again agreed on the importance of intellectual freedom, and the PAA chairs came up with the idea to propose a new name: Intellectual Freedom and Advocacy Committee. (Shout out to Meagan and Joe for their support!)
The next step was to meet with the full ALSC board. Julia and I attended a board meeting to share the thoughts of the Intellectual Freedom Committee, and the ideas for a new Intellectual Freedom and Advocacy committee we had come up with alongside the PAA co-chairs. The ALSC board was for it, and with a few tweaks to our ideas, agreed to move forward with a new Intellectual Freedom and Advocacy Committee.
More information on this new committee, along with other process committees, is coming soon. You can read a review of what has been announced, and what to expect moving forward on Rob Bittner’s recent blog post, and check the new ALSC and YALSA Reunification webpage for more updates.
We are looking forward to exploring what this new committee can do!
Today’s blog post was written by Joanna Goldfarb, Sustainability Innovation Consultant at the Ramapo Catskill Library System on behalf of the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee. She can be reached at jgoldfarb@rcls.org.
This post addresses the core competencies of I. Commitment to Client Group and IV. Knowledge, Curation, and Management of Materials.