Intellectual Freedom Resources

Statements

OLA IFC Statement on Grants Pass School District - Updated IIA Instructional Materials Policy (8/21/2025)

OLA IFC Statement on McMinnville School District sustaining First Amendment rights (10/30/2024)

OLA IFC Statement to Midwest Tape on proposed Hoopla rating system (6/25/2024)

OLAIFC/PDSAL Statement on Canby School District Book Removals and Restrictions (2/26/2024)

OLA/OIFC Statement on Materials Challenges and Intellectual Freedom (12/13/2021)

Tuesday Topics

"Tuesday Topics" is a monthly series of listserv posts organized by the Oregon Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee and covering topics with intellectual freedom implications for libraries of all types. New posts are shared on the Libs-Or and OASL listservs.

Sep 30 2025 - Promoting and Celebrating the Freedom to Read, Part 2
Sep 23 2025 - Promoting and Celebrating the Freedom to Read, Part 1
Aug 2025 - Template Collection Development & Reconsideration Policies for Public Libraries
Nov 2024 - Updated OSBA Instructional Materials Policy and Administrative Regulations
July 2024 - Oregon Senate Bill 1583 Overview and Next Steps
May 2024 – Intellectual Freedom Champion Awards Winners
March 2024 – Displays
January 2024 – Parents Defending Schools and Libraries in the Pacific Northwest
October/November 2023 – Banned Books Week 2023 “Show-and-Tell”
September 2023 - The Business Case for Protecting Youth Access to Diverse Literature
August 2023 - Banned Books Week
July 2023 - Securing the Right to Read
June 2023 - General Letter of Support
May 2023 - Special District Election Results
February 2023 - Academic Freedom and Intellectual Freedom
November 2022 - Bias and Librarian Censorship
October 2022 - Banned Books Week 2022 "Show-and-Tell"
October 2021 - Beyond Banned Books Week: Preparing for Challenges to Library Services
September 2021 - Libraries, Censorship, and Critical Race Theory
June 2021 - Artificial Intelligence and Libraries
May 2021 - The Impact of Police Presence on Intellectual Freedom
March 2021 - Dr. Seuss, Library Policies, Censorship, “Cancel Culture” & Choosing Books to Read Aloud, Display and Promote
February 2021 - Collection development and harmful literature
January 2021 - Booksellers, the First Amendment, and controversial texts
December 2020 - Bias and librarian censorship
November 2020 - Distance learning with video and audio - privacy considerations
February 2020 - Protecting privacy at the self-service holds shelf
January 2020 - What is the Oregon Intellectual Freedom Clearinghouse?
December 2019 - Equity, diversity, inclusion and intellectual freedom
November 2019 - Safeguarding student privacy in schools
October 2019 - Macmillan ebook embargo
September 2019 - Banned Books Week is September 22-28, 2019
June 2019 - Intellectual freedom beach reads for 2019
May 2019 - School libraries and state obscenity laws
April 2019 - Eliminating library fines to provide better access
March 2019 - When it's not your (library's) book being banned
February 2019 - Intellectual freedom staff training resources
December 2018 - DNA kits, genealogy, and privacy
November 2018 - Programming policies and intellectual freedom
October 2018 - Federal privacy law
September 2018 - Banned Books Week & Oregon Battle of the Books
July 2018 - Meeting rooms, intellectual freedom, and responsible spaces
June 2018 - Intellectual freedom beach reads for 2018
May 2018 - When good authors (or any authors) do bad things
April 2018 - Let's Encrypt and Choose Privacy Week
March 2018 - Free speech, disagreeable ideas, and meeting room policies
February 2018 - Fire and Fury: finding the balance in collection development
January 2018 - Surveillance as censorship
December 2017 - Net neutrality and intellectual freedom
September 2017 - Banned Books Week 2017
June 2017 - Intellectual freedom beach reads for 2017
May 2017 - Library policies and intellectual freedom
April 2017 - Privacy and Net Neutrality: An Update
March 2017 - Trigger Warnings and Safe Spaces in Higher Education
February 2017 - Vetting Information Sources for Credibility
November 2016 - Copyright Reform and Libraries
October 2016 - New ALA Privacy Guidelines
September 2016 - Celebrate the Freedom to Read

Oregon Resources

Intellectual Freedom Training Resource Guide: this online guide from the OLA Intellectual Freedom Committee contains links to videos and other materials that you can use for IF training at your library.

After-Hours Wi-Fi Survey Report, April 2017 (.pdf, 1.1 MB): reports on an OLA Intellectual Freedom Committee survey of public libraries across the state of Oregon about their experiences with providing Wi-Fi access after library open hours.

Surveys of Internet Policies and Practices in Oregon Public Libraries

2012 Survey of Public Library Internet Policies and Practices (.pdf)
2008 Public Library Internet Survey (.pdf)
2004 Public Library Internet Survey (.pdf)

Parents Defending Schools and Libraries (PDSAL.org): this Oregon-based group enables parents, teachers and libraries to stay informed and alert their community that a challenge has been filed before a book is removed or a lesson plan suppressed. Sign up to get notifications of censorship in your area. Visit the website for resources to push back on censorship, including a growing roster of "book résumés".