Martin Garnar, director of Amherst College Library, speaks on June 28 at ALA's 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia. Photo: Rebecca Lomax/American Libraries

Endangered Expression

June 30, 2025

Martin Garnar, director of Amherst College Library, highlighted the ways that libraries are facing government funding cuts and challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) activities. Of particular note are Title VI challenges against universities. According to Garnar, Title VI—which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin—is being used to challenge … Continue reading Endangered Expression


Blair Solon

Censorship Can Happen Anywhere

June 30, 2025

A panel of academic librarians, moderated by Zara T. Wilkinson, reference and instruction librarian at Rutgers (N.J.) University Libraries, discussed the direct and indirect threats that book bans and challenges pose to academic librarians in “Can It Happen Here? Book Challenges, Censorship, and Academic Freedom in Academic Libraries,” a June 29 session at the American … Continue reading Censorship Can Happen Anywhere



Theresa Chmara, general counsel of the American Library Association's Freedom to Read Foundation, at LibLearnX in January 2020. Photo: Rebecca Lomax/American Libraries

The Case for Intellectual Freedom

June 29, 2025

Theresa Chmara, general counsel for ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation, and Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, dove into some of these cases and the legal arguments underlying them at “Censorship in the Courts: Current Litigation throughout the United States,” a session of ALA’s 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia. “One … Continue reading The Case for Intellectual Freedom


Rachel Payne, Brooklyn Public Library coordinator of early childhood services, at “Free Children Read Freely: Banned Books in Story Times for Young Children” at the American Library Association's 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia. Photo: Rebecca Lomax/American Libraries

Free Children Read Freely

June 29, 2025

A panel of librarians and authors dug into this slice of the broader fight against censorship at “Free Children Read Freely: Banned Books in Story Times for Young Children,” a June 28 session of the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia. Pat Scales, a retired school librarian and author of … Continue reading Free Children Read Freely


A Delicate Dance

June 28, 2025

“We’re trying to uphold the tenets of intellectual freedom, we’re trying to have diverse collections, we’re trying to make sure people see themselves in the library,” said Kimberly B. Knight, director of Virginia Beach (Va.) Public Library. “[Staffers] want us to fight, they want us to stand up.… But we also want to speak strategically, … Continue reading A Delicate Dance


Banning the Book Bans

June 2, 2025

That relief has been a long time coming for Hickson, who retired late last year from her job as media specialist at North Hunterdon High School in Annandale, New Jersey. Just three years earlier, she had been called a pedophile and a pornographer at a public school-board meeting by a group of parents demanding to … Continue reading Banning the Book Bans


ALA Interim Executive Director Leslie Burger's headshot

The Next Chapter

June 2, 2025

If you haven’t visited Philadelphia recently (or ever), you will be amazed by all it has to offer as a walkable conference city. Its huge convention center—at more than 2 million square feet—is adjacent to many of ALA’s 35 conference hotels. And the historic Reading Terminal Market, just next door, is a bustling public market … Continue reading The Next Chapter


Collage of government directives and MLIS acting director Keith Sonderling

100 Days into the Trump Administration

April 30, 2025

In response, the American Library Association (ALA), along with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. On April 30, a federal court hearing will rule on ALA’s motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the further dismantling of IMLS. Meanwhile, censorship attempts persist, IMLS staffers … Continue reading 100 Days into the Trump Administration


Lisa Varga headshot

11 Questions: Lisa Varga

April 21, 2025

Before joining ALA, she spent 15 years as executive director of the Virginia Library Association. Varga has been an ALA member for 20 years and has served on the ALA Policy Corps, Intellectual Freedom Committee, Intellectual Freedom Summit steering committee, ALA Leadership Institute, and Chapter Relations Committee. She answered our 11 Questions to introduce herself … Continue reading 11 Questions: Lisa Varga


Collage of people and topics mentioned in this article: Colleen Shogan, former archivist of the United States; the National Archives logo; text of executive orders; and books Freckleface Strawberry and No Truth Without Ruth

Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Libraries

March 19, 2025

While the legality of many of these actions is still being decided by the courts, librarians, archivists, and other information professionals have been working through the confusion to preserve access to information. Below are several examples of the challenges libraries have faced over the past two months and the ways in which librarians and advocates have … Continue reading Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Libraries


Headshot of James W. Lewis

Newsmaker: James W. Lewis

February 11, 2025

The bequest from Lewis, whose love for libraries dates back to his childhood in North Carolina, will provide needs-based scholarships for those training to be librarians. The gift will help fund ALA’s Spectrum Scholarship Program, which provides money for students of color pursuing their master’s degrees in library and information science. “Libraries are the most … Continue reading Newsmaker: James W. Lewis