"[74] Boyd Douglas became one such informant for the FBI: he was a prisoner at the same penitentiary with a work-release position at the library. In 2000, the Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) launched the Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture in tribute to the work of the first OLOS director, Dr. Jean E. Coleman. [22], In 2014, Courtney Young, the president of the association, commented on the background and implications of a racist joke author Daniel Handler made as African-American writer Jacqueline Woodson received a National Book Award for Brown Girl Dreaming. Eight of the 10 of them were challenged based on reasons relating to LGBTQ+ content. ". The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. Solicitor General at oral argument, made it clear that the constitutionality of CIPA would be upheld only "if, as the Government represents, a librarian will unblock filtered material or disable the Internet software filter without significant delay on an adult user's request."[73]. “The thing about a public library, we need to have materials for everyone,” children’s librarian Deb Carlson said. “We’re giving people a broader picture of literature,” Goshen County library director Christine Braddy said. According to the New York Times, the name change was made "in order to distance the honor" from what the ALA described as "culturally insensitive portrayals" in Wilder's books. This committee annually compiles a bibliography of books that show the GLBT community in a favorable light and reflects the interests of adults. “It’s important for these books to be on a shelf in the library.”. Corrections? [82] In 2007, the "Connecticut Four" were honored by the ALA with the Paul Howard Award for Courage for their challenge to the National Security Letter and gag order provision of the USA PATRIOT Act.

In 1980, the committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship was awarded the J. Morris Jones – World Book Encyclopedia – ALA Goals Award with the OLPR Advisory Committee to undertake a special project on equal pay for work of equal value. Caldwell Stone said the top ten banned books of 2019 show a trend: almost all the books on the list are intended for young people. The Intellectual Freedom Committee of the California Library Association now awards the Zoia Horn Intellectual Freedom Award in honor of those who make contributions to intellectual freedom. The committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship works to "officially represent the diversity of women's interest within ALA and to ensure that the Association considers the rights of the majority (women) in the library field; to promote and initiate the collection, analysis, dissemination, and coordination of information on the status of women in librarianship; to coordinate the activities of ALA units which consider questions of special relevance for women; to identify lags, gaps, and possible discrimination in resources and programs relating to women; in cooperation with other ALA units, to help develop and evaluate tools, guidelines, and programs designed to enhance the opportunities and the image of women in the library profession, thus raising the level of consciousness concerning women; to establish contacts with committees on women within other professional groups and to officially represent ALA concerns at interdisciplinary meetings on women's equality; and to provide Council and Membership with reports needed for establishment of policies and actions related to the status of women in librarianship; and to monitor ALA units to ensure consideration of the rights of women." The ALA's current President is Julius C. Jefferson Jr. “I think teenagers especially are the ones who need to read some of this stuff,” she said, adding that they can help show “the fact that you are not the only person that’s maybe gone through something like this even though everybody else seems like they’ve got it all together. [59], The primary documented expressions of the ALA's intellectual freedom principles are the Freedom to Read Statement[60] and the Library Bill of Rights; the Library Bill of Rights urges libraries to "challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment. Foundations of library and information science (3rd edn). ALA W-9 Form; ALA Member Discounts; … [81] After several months of litigation, the lawsuit was dismissed when the FBI decided to withdraw the National Security Letter. "[23], The ALA Archives, including historical documents, non-current records, and digital records, are currently held at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign archives. It is not their job to tell people what they can and can’t read. [18], At a national convention of the ALA in Dallas in 1971, Barbara Gittings staffed a kissing booth underneath the banner "Hug a Homosexual," with a "women only" side and a "men only" side.