ALA President

Are Libraries Neutral?  Have They Ever Been? Should They Be?  The question of neutrality in librarianship is an old one.  ALA’s 1939 Code of Ethics for Librarians calls for unbiased “recommendations”.  This is seen in the ALA Library Bill of Rights principles that present the library as content neutral, open and accessible to all.  A group of ALA members from academic library, public library, and library education backgrounds will engage the issues during a formal debate, with two speakers in the affirmative and two in the negative, followed by commentary from a reactor panel and a conversa

CHICAGO -  Today American Library Association President Jim Neal released the following message regarding the Trump administration’s announcement that it will end the Deferred Action to Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which protected nearly 800,000 undocumented youth from deportation as they pursued the American dream.

"Our nation’s libraries serve all community members, including immigrants, offering services and educational resources that transform communities, open minds and promote inclusion and diversity,“ said Neal.

CHICAGO - The Public Library Association (PLA) proudly supports the American Library Association's (ALA) position on the recent tragic violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Last week ALA President Jim Neal released the following statement: