And then they came for the libraries. On March 14, the Trump Administration promulgated an executive order that, as the American Library Association (ALA) describes it, “calls for the el…

An executive order issued by the Trump administration on Friday night, March 14, calls for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the nation’s only federal agency for America’s libraries.

We must face whatever threats come our way by showing up together—library workers and public supporters in our communities—to advocate for our patrons, our profession, and our core values.

ALA's success depends on the library community's collective efforts to advocate for policies that positively impact patrons and the ability of libraries to serve them effectively. We hope you will use these resources in your advocacy work at home.

The Prejudicial Materials Working Group (PMWG) of the RBMS Controlled Vocabularies Editorial Group (CVEG) was convened in the summer of 2020 to review, revise, and generate new terminology in the RBMS Controlled Vocabulary for Rare Materials Cataloging (RBMS CVRMC) that would be useful for indexing works that are prejudicial in nature, or that are the byproduct of prejudicial and hateful systems and ideologies. This work included review and revision of scope notes and relationships between terms.

Patty Hector lost job after being targeted by campaign urging restriction of books with race and LGBTQ+ themes

The American Library Association responds to the Department of Education's dismissal of complaints about censorship and discrimination: the "effort to terminate protections... advances the demonstrably false claim that book bans are not real."

Libraries are now reporting more aggressive, targeted, and organized First Amendment audits than in years past.

Every library — academic, public, and school (public, private, charter, independent, and international) — should have a comprehensive written policy that guides the selection, deselection or weeding, and reconsideration of library resources. The most valuable selection policy is current; it is reviewed and revised on a regular basis; and it is familiar to all members of a library’s staff. The policy should be approved by the library’s governing board or other policy-making body and disseminated widely for understanding by all stakeholders.

Democrat Rhode Island lawmakers on Wednesday promoted a suite of bills motivated by the Freedom to Read movement — an assertion of libraries’ right to hold controversial books, amid an ongoing culture clash over the written word.

Both the Indiana and Iowa State Legislatures have introduced legislation regarding criminally charging libraries and librarians over “inappropriate” material. These bills are closely related to widespread book challenges occurring at schools and public libraries across the nation, with people trying to remove books that address certain topics relating to gender, sexuality, and race from library collections. In many cases there is already a clear process for reconsidering materials in a collection, so how do legal defenses play a role in this and what do the bills change?

The American Library Association and the Sustainable Libraries Initiative have announced the new National Climate Action Strategy for Libraries and created an implementation guide to help libraries incorporate climate action locally into strategic and facility plans.

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has released new data documenting book challenges throughout the United States, finding that challenges were nearly double that of 2021, reaching the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago.

On the IFLA-L email list, Loida Garcia-Febo, chair of the IFLA Management of Library Associations, shared a link to the recording of a free webinar she moderated in March titled Bridging the Gap: In Support of Women in Librarianship—A Conversation With ALA Presidents.

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has released new data documenting book challenges throughout the United States, finding that challenges of unique titles surged 65% in 2023 compared to 2022 numbers, reaching the highest level ever documented by ALA. Read the full announcement. OIF documented 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship, more than the previous two years combined (2,571 in 2022; 1,651 in 2021), as well as 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials, and resources in 2023.

Funding will expand ALA’s intellectual freedom initiatives amid record number of book challenges CHICAGO (June 22, 2023) — The American Library Association (ALA) will distribute $1 million to support and expand intellectual freedom initiatives as the nation grapples with rising censorship challenges and seeks a greater array of resources to protect the right to read. ALA will use the funds to provide a major boost for its current efforts to support its members, library workers and libraries everywhere, as well as the communities they serve.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Library Association (ALA) applauds the Biden-Harris Administration’s steps announced today to address the rise in book bans and other attacks on LGBTQIA+ Americans. In a fact sheet released today, the White House announced that the Department of Education will appoint a new coordinator to address the growing threat that book bans pose for the civil rights of students, among other steps to protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ Americans.