The Massachusetts Library System is working with the American Library Association to provide a 5-webinar series designed to help you navigate issues concerning intellectual freedom.  

Library leaders will learn about the legal obligations of libraries as related to the First Amendment to better understand how they can provide library services while also functioning within state and local law. Librarians will learn how to create effective  policies to preserve library users’ privacy and First Amendment rights to access and utilize library resources.

Presenters:

Deborah Caldwell-Stone is Director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom and Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation. For over twenty years she has worked closely with library professionals and library trustees on a wide range of intellectual freedom issues related to library service in the United States. She has served on the faculty of the ALA-sponsored Lawyers for Libraries and Law for Librarians workshops and is a contributor to the 10th edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual,the third edition of Information Services Today, and other publications.

Theresa Chmara is an attorney in Washington, DC. She also is the General Counsel of the Freedom to Read Foundation. She is the author of Privacy and Confidentiality Issues: A Guide for Libraries and their Lawyers(ALA 2009). She has been a First Amendment lawyer for over thirty years and is a frequent speaker on intellectual freedom issues in libraries. She is a contributing author for the Intellectual Freedom Manual,published by the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. She also served as an instructor for the Lawyers for Libraries training seminars and is an instructor for the American Library Association First Amendment and Library Services eCourse.

Registrants will receive an email with login information 24 hours before the session. If you do not receive the login information, please check your spam folder (sometimes these automated emails can get caught by filters) or contact Sarah Donnelly.