First Amendment Rights Unite Friends and Stakeholders for Everyday Practice

Description

The First Amendment shapes intellectual freedom in everyday library practice. A panel of experts will share real-world insights on how librarians and libraries champion the right to read freely, protect privacy, and advocate for open access to information. You’ll be empowered with practical strategies to defend free expression, safeguard patron rights, and strengthen libraries as vital pillars of democratic society.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Recognize and articulate the connections between the First Amendment principles and intellectual freedom in daily library practice.
• Explain and advocate for the librarian’s and library’s role in protecting the right to read freely, protect privacy, and advocate for open access to information.
• Develop strategies to communicate to stakeholders the value of the First Amendment including Boards & Friends, staff, and patrons.

Speakers

How to Register

This webinar is free for members of the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), personal members of United for Libraries, and those in MA, MD, MI, MN, ND, NE, OR, and VA.

United for Libraries Personal Members

Statewide Partners (MA, MD, MI, MN, ND, NE, OR, SC, and VA)

Freedom to Read Foundation Members

About the Speakers

Deborah Doyle, 2024-2026 President of United For Libraries is a writer, editor, and fundraiser as well as an active library advocate. She played board and staff roles at Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and was actively involved in helping to create San Francisco’s well-funded modern library system. She has served as President of the California Library Association (CLA) and is the only person to receive CLA’s President’s Award twice – the highest honor given to an individual for significant contributions to libraries. She currently sits on the ALA Committee on Legislation, the CLA Advocacy and Legislative Committee, the Sonoma County Library Commission, and is a past president of California Public Library Advocates. She also serves on the United for Libraries Intellectual Freedom and Public Policy & Advocacy Committee. She is a board member of the League of Women Voters of Sonoma County. Deborah holds a BA from UVA and an Executive MLIS from San Jose State University.

Clare Membiela is Library Law Consultant at the Library of Michigan, where she helps public libraries navigate legal issues that impact library services. She has an M.L.S., a J.D., and more than 30 years of professional library and legal research and teaching experience. Clare has presented on issues involving law and libraries for audiences at local, state and national levels. She serves on the United for Libraries Intellectual Freedom and Public Policy & Advocacy Committee.

Dan Novack is Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Penguin Random House, where he files legal challenges to book bans across the country. In his free time, he writes and speaks about First Amendment and news media issues like defamation, copyright, Anti-SLAPP, public access to courts, and the Freedom of Information Act (aka FOIA). He maintains a pro bono practice representing journalists seeking public records in federal and state courts and has liberated tens of thousands of government files. His personal website is https://www.novackmedialaw.com.

Barbara Stripling, Professor Emerita at Syracuse University, has held positions as a school librarian and district library director in Fayetteville, Arkansas; Library Power director in Chattanooga, Tennessee; director of school libraries for New York City; and Associate Professor in the iSchool at Syracuse University. She is currently a core team member of the Philadelphia Alliance to Restore School Librarians (PARSL). Stripling is past-president of the American Library Association, the American Association of School Librarians, the New York Library Association, and the Freedom to Read Foundation. Barb has created the Stripling Model of Inquiry, written or edited numerous publications, and developed and published a re-imagined Empire State Information Fluency Continuum, a PK-12 continuum of skills that librarians teach to empower students to be lifelong learners. Stripling is continuing that work, in collaboration with NYC librarians, by developing Portraits of Engaged and Empowered Learners at grades 2, 5, 8, and 12. Stripling developed the Teacher-2-Librarian (T2L) program in New York City to provide scholarships and graduate education for NYC teachers to become school librarians.