CANCELLED: Lessons from the Trenches: Learn How Louisiana Libraries are Fighting the War on Intellectual Freedom
CANCELLED
Level of Participation: Medium
Library staff across this country are fighting to survive efforts to ban books and defund their libraries. Some have even experienced harassment and threats of personal violence. Louisiana, particularly St. Tammany Parish, has become a hotbed of this activity. Whispers to defund Louisiana libraries began several years ago in 2017 in Lafayette, La. While the organized efforts to defeat the Lafayette Public Library’s millage were troubling, Louisiana library staff had no idea how much worse it would get. An organized group backed by dark money has crawled across the state, going parish to parish in an effort to defund ALL public libraries in the state. While some of our libraries are losing their battles, others are successfully fending off these groups. Others are still in the fight of their lives for their libraries. Learn what has worked, what hasn't, and what new tactics these organized groups have started using against libraries.
At the end of the session, attendees will be able to identify warning signs of trouble brewing in the community (in regards to the library), to recognize and connect to allies and supporters in their community, and to better protect their staff and patrons from harassment and threats of violence.
Learning Objectives:
To identify and define warning signs of trouble brewing in the community (in regards to the library)
To recognize and connect to allies and supporters in their community, including less-obvious allies.
To discover ways to protect their staff and patrons from harassment and threats of violence.
To design and develop policies that better protect their library and staff from malicious attacks book-ban spamming.