Intellectual Freedom

ALA welcomes LinkedIn Learning’s changes to terms of service

CHICAGO – After conversations with the American Library Association (ALA) and other industry leaders, LinkedIn Learning — formerly Lynda.com, a platform used by libraries to provide online learning opportunities to library users —announced today that it has made changes to its terms of service.

Rebecca Ginsburg Receives Immroth Award

The American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) Immroth Award Committee is pleased to announce Rebecca Ginsburg as the recipient of the 2020 John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award, which honors significant contributions defending intellectual freedom.

Kenneth D. Crews’s authoritative copyright resource gets an update

CHICAGO — Copyright law never sleeps, making it imperative to keep abreast of the latest developments. Declared “an exemplary text that seals the standards for such books” (Managing Information), the newly revised and updated fourth edition of “Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators: Creative Strategies and Practical Solutions,” published by ALA Editions, offers timely insights and succinct guidance.

ALA opposes proposed Tennessee law that threatens state’s freedom to read

CHICAGO - Today the American Library Association (ALA) released the following statement regarding Tennessee HB 2721, which would require a parental oversight board to replace policies and library experts in the development of library collections and services.  Libraries that fail to comply with the proposed law may lose local funding, incur fines, and librarians and library workers may face jail time. 

The ALA stated the following:  

OIF responds to Missouri legislation that proposes policies and procedures that threaten access to information

CHICAGO – Missouri House Bill 2044, introduced on January 8, 2020, proposes the creation of five-member “parental library review boards” to identify “age-inappropriate” public library materials and restrict access to those materials. The bill proposes criminal prosecution for librarians who make those materials available to minors and would deny funding to libraries that do not employ parental library review boards to restrict access to their materials.

The first-ever print complement to the Creative Commons Certificate program

CHICAGO — The figures are eye-opening: more than 1.6 billion works on 9 million websites are licensed under Creative Commons (CC). These materials constitute an extraordinarily rich repository for teaching, learning, sharing, and creative reuse. Knowing your way around CC will help you make the most of the Open Access (OA) and open educational resources (OER) movements.

32 guides for teaching banned books

CHICAGO — As standard-bearers for intellectual freedom, school and children’s librarians are in ideal positions to collaborate with educators to not only protect the freedom to read but also ensure that valued books which touch upon important topics are not quarantined from the readers for whom they were written.

ALA responds to county commission decision to deny digital access to New York Times in Citrus County public libraries

CHICAGO – The American Library Association has issued the following statement in response to the decision by the Citrus County (Florida) Board of Commissioners to not allow the Citrus County libraries to buy a digital subscription to the New York Times after one commissioner labeled the Times as “fake news”:

Become a copyright coach

CHICAGO — From researching to remixing, library users need your guidance on a wide range of copyright topics. The way to move beyond “yes, you can” or “no, you can’t” is to become a copyright coach. In “Coaching Copyright,” published by ALA Editions, librarian and attorney Kevin L. Smith teams up with information literacy expert Erin L. Ellis to offer a framework for coaching copyright, empowering users to take a practical approach to specific situations.