2023 Year in Review graphic

2023 Year in Review

January 2, 2024

Another record year for book challenges Preliminary data from the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) through August 31 showed a 20% increase in reported book challenges for 2023—surpassing the record set in 2022. The data also showed an increase in challenges that targeted multiple titles, with libraries in 11 states receiving challenges that included 100 or … Continue reading 2023 Year in Review


2022 Year in Review

January 3, 2023

Uniting against censorship attempts Organized book challenges continued to proliferate. From January through August, 681 attempts to ban or restrict library materials had been made in the US, with 1,651 unique titles targeted. In response to mounting censorship threats, ALA announced in May its Unite Against Book Bans campaign, a coalition with more than 60 … Continue reading 2022 Year in Review


Angela Gwizdala

11 Questions: Angela Gwizdala

October 17, 2022

Over the past year, Gwizdala had been serving as associate publisher of ALA Editions/ALA Neal-Schuman. In between her 15 years at ALA, she spent six years at the American Bar Association (ABA) where she was managing editor of periodicals (with readerships up to 40,000) for multiple ABA sections. She returned to ALA in 2014. Gwizdala … Continue reading 11 Questions: Angela Gwizdala


Supporting Indie Authors

Giving Indie Authors a Voice

January 22, 2022

At “Supporting Indie Authors,” an educational session at the American Library Association’s LibLearnX conference on January 22, Desai and Jarecki discussed how libraries can be a lifeline for independent and self-published authors and their readers—especially those who live in the communities they serve. “We’re firmly committed to the idea that everyone has a story,” said … Continue reading Giving Indie Authors a Voice


Update on Macmillan ebooks embargo

States Act on Ebooks

March 13, 2020

On March 3, library advocates in New York sent 10,000 letters to state lawmakers as part of a public campaign in response to recent efforts to limit library access to ebooks. The letters, drafted by the New York Library Association in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), were in support of legislation that would require publishers who … Continue reading States Act on Ebooks


Ramiro Salazar

The Latest on #eBooksForAll

January 26, 2020

Ramiro S. Salazar, Public Library Association (PLA) president and director of San Antonio (Tex.) Public Library was aided by four panelists who have been working on the campaign since the beginning: Sari Feldman, Alan S. Inouye, Patrick Losinski, and Larra Clark. Salazar noted that the embargo affects all libraries, public libraries in particular. ALA has … Continue reading The Latest on #eBooksForAll


John Sargent

Macmillan CEO Hosts AMA

January 25, 2020

Sargent, who has been at the center of Macmillan’s controversial ebook lending policy that took effect November 1—a model that limits libraries to purchasing one copy of each new ebook and imposes an eight-week embargo on additional copies—invited attendees to “ask him anything.” Before opening the floor to comments, he explained to attendees how Macmillan … Continue reading Macmillan CEO Hosts AMA


From left: ALA Past President Loida Garcia-Febo; PLA Executive Director Barb Macikas; ALA Past President Sari Feldman; Alan S. Inouye, ALA senior director of public policy and government relations; and Tim Cherubini, executive director of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, outside the offices of Macmillan Publishers on October 30, 2019. Photo: Daniel Root

Library Advocates Deliver Ebook Petition to Macmillan

October 30, 2019

“I traveled from the nation’s capital to New York City, the publishing capital, to stand for the vast number of readers who will be impacted by this discriminatory embargo,” said Alan S. Inouye, the American Library Association’s (ALA) senior director of public policy and government relations. He was joined by past ALA Presidents Loida Garcia-Febo … Continue reading Library Advocates Deliver Ebook Petition to Macmillan


#eBooksForAll Update

October 22, 2019

King County (Wash.) Library System (KCLS)—which has led the US in digital lending for five consecutive years, with more than 4.8 million checkouts of ebooks and digital audio—has decided to protest against Macmillan Publishers’ decision to embargo ebook titles. “We don’t like them dictating our business model. They’re making a business decision, and so are … Continue reading #eBooksForAll Update



Advocacy Update

Update on Ebook Advocacy

September 9, 2019

ALA President Wanda K. Brown said in a July 25 statement, “When a library serving many thousands has only a single copy of a new title in ebook format, it’s the library—not the publisher—that feels the heat. It’s the local library that’s perceived as being unresponsive to community needs.” While none of the largest publishers … Continue reading Update on Ebook Advocacy