If you’re like me, sketching out your schedule for sessions and events at ALA conferences is a fun part of anticipating the trip. In our virtual circumstances, we can still plan, but our options have actually expanded, with some sessions offered “on demand” rather than at a specific time. You can find a great overview of events, along with links, in the schedule at a glance. There is a tremendous line-up of speakers and sessions for Midwinter, and many are closely tied to various principles of intellectual freedom –ideas like equity, access, inclusion, and intellectual property. If these are areas of interest for you, read on! We’ve combed the schedule to spotlight some amazing IF-related events coming up next week. For starters: the Office of Intellectual Freedom will introduce the hot-off-the-press 10th Edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual in an on-demand session. Viewers get a discount on purchasing a copy. Speakers and Sessions Anti-racism Work and…
Author: ALSC Intellectual Freedom committee
Mindfulness and Breathing During a Pandemic
As we continue to stay at home, continue to provide remote programming, and continue to miss large family gatherings, this month’s post from the Intellectual Freedom Committee provides some picture books to help us take a step back and breathe a little.
Picture Books Get Kids Talking -and Thinking
Is the delight of sharing a picture book also an opportunity to foster social and emotional growth, laying the foundation for critical thinking skills?
The Intersection of Information Literacy and Elections for Kids
Educating children to be knowledgeable and excited about taking part in elections and governing is an important first step toward an informed electorate. The information literacy required to make crucial decisions is an essential element of intellectual freedom, and libraries have an important role to play.
Virtual (and Last-Minute!) Banned Books Week Ideas
This year, Banned Books Week will be held September 22-October 3. …But given all that’s going on right now, this might also be the last thing on your mind. So, with just a few days to prepare, here are 5 ways you can support Banned Books Week that are virtual and won’t take a lot of prep time.
Talking Banned Books with Kids: They Get it
After becoming embroiled in a book challenge in our district. I finally took the proactive step of sharing the values of intellectual freedom with my students.
The Urgent Work of Equity
“May you live in interesting times.” This old curse seems to be visiting us en masse, as 2020 delivers an endless stream of astonishing and devastating developments. As always, librarians have a role to play in helping children and their families to navigate the world in which we find ourselves. To meet their needs, it’s more important than ever that we strive to understand and connect with everyone in the community. Inclusiveness is a foundational idea of intellectual freedom, and it starts with knowledge about the challenges faced by people whose experience may be different from ours. Given that roughly only 12% of credentialed U.S. librarians are Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), it’s safe to say that most of us could learn a thing or two about the BIPOC experience in America. And considering the fact that as of 2018 less than half of children under 15 in the…
Ensuring a Diverse Collection: Promoting Equity of Access and Free Expression
The library community recognizes that diverse authors and diverse content have been limited for too long.