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.  

Expert advocates from the ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office and ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans campaign will highlight how  community members and leaders, union representatives, and patrons or students can advocate for libraries and librarians amid challenges to books, displays, and other library resources. This session will cover ways to engage and educate community members about their rights and how to become library advocates. 

Presenters:

Megan Murray Cusick is the former Deputy Director for State Advocacy in ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy office. She leads ALA's state and local advocacy efforts in partnership with ALA offices and divisions; state chapters and affiliates; and librarians, library staff, and advocates across the country. Prior to joining ALA, Megan was a librarian in Chicago Public Schools and the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center; she is a co-founder of the Chicago Teachers Union librarians committee. She has presented and published on topics such as partnerships, library trends, civic engagement, intellectual freedom, and advocacy.

Betsy Gomez is a program officer for ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, coordinator for Unite Against Book Bans and the Banned Books Week Coalition, and former coalition and editorial director for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, an advocacy organization dedicated to the First Amendment rights of the comics community. Gomez edited and designed the award-winning publication CBLDF Presents: She Changed Comics, which profiles more than 60 groundbreaking women who expanded the expressive possibilities of the comics medium. With more than a decade of professional experience defending intellectual freedom, Gomez also has an extensive background in educational publishing as a content developer and editor for several companies, including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Pearson Education. 

Registrants will receive an email with login information 3 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.