Join CBLDF in Orlando this Weekend for ALA Annual!

AC16_LOGO_RGB300x300 (1)Join CBLDF in Orlando this weekend, June 24 – 28 for the American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition! We’ll be at booth 509 with the debut of our Manga Book Club Handbook; the sixth issue of CBLDF Defender, our quarterly news magazine; and much more! CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein and Editorial Director Betsy Gomez will be on hand to talk about our work protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics community.

During ALA Annual, CBLDF is delighted to be launching our Manga Book Club Handbook! This invaluable resource, created in partnership with Viz Media, will help you start and make the most of book clubs for manga! The Manga Book Club Handbook lays out the basics of manga and provides the tools you need to start a book club for manga, including suggested readings to get you started!

We’ll also have CBLDF Defender #6, our quarterly news magazine coming to you from the front lines of the fight for free speech! Look behind the scenes of the runaway hits Lumberjanes and Nimona with an in-depth interview with Noelle StevensonCartoonists are behind bars for making comics — CBLDF examines their plight. Plus a preview of our upcoming history of the women who changed free expression in comics, tips for engaging kids in summer reading with comics, and all the latest news from CBLDF.

We’ll have all this and more at booth 509, located in the Graphic Novel Pavilion! The exhibit hall opens at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, June 25, so stop by to pick up our latest publications and some amazing premiums in support of our work defending the First Amendment rights of the comics community!

While you’re at ALA Annual, we recommend checking out the following intellectual freedom programs:

Friday, June 24, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. • Room W109A
Intellectual Freedom 101
At this one-hour fast-paced session you will learn about the intellectual freedom activities of ALA and affiliated organizations, get all the details on the IF programs planned for this conference and other upcoming events, and find out how you can get involved in the intellectual freedom workings of the Association.

Saturday, June 25, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. • Hyatt Regency Orlando, Room Celebration 09
Offensive Speech, Trigger Warnings, and Other Threats to Academic Freedom, What Is the Role of Academic Librarians?
Dr. Mark Alfino, co-editor of the Library Juice Press Handbook of Intellectual Freedom; Martin Garnar, Assistant Editor of the Intellectual Freedom Manual, Ninth Edition; and Dr. Toni Samek, author of Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship, 1967-1974; will provide their insights into how academic freedom continues to be threatened for ourselves and our academic partners. How are the principles of academic freedom reflected in our associations, our practice, and within our institutions?

Saturday, June 25, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. • Orange County Convention Center, Room W103A
Serving up the Subversive
Conversation between archivists, curators, librarians, and educators about working with controversial materials. Panelists will discuss how they handle controversial materials in the classroom, in the reading room, and in the exhibition case. Questions to be considered include: What do we mean by controversial?: How do we as individuals define it, how do we as professionals define it, how do our audiences define it, and how do the administrations under which we work define it; How free can we be when teaching, curating, etc. in our respective environments? How do we move towards a true(r) version of inclusiveness in our respective areas? This panel is being co-sponsored by the Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC).

Monday, June 27, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. • Orange County Convention Center, Room W205
Taking the Cake: A Generational Talkback (about A Birthday Cake for George Washington)
In 2016, A Birthday Cake for George Washington was published, then pulled, by Scholastic. While created, illustrated, and edited by women of color, the book was strongly criticized because of its images of “smiling slaves.” Many people believe the book should never have been published and celebrate its removal from shelves. Others believe that intellectual freedom has been compromised. For many years, intellectual freedom, a core value of librarianship and many colleagues in the publishing world, has looked to a near First Amendment absolutism. Today, a growing concern over the need for more diversity in publishing, a greater sensitivity to the abuses of power and privilege, has given rise to a stronger commitment in the field to social justice.  Are these values in conflict? Is one value replacing another? In an era of trigger warnings, revenge porn, and an emerging global community of new voices, what does IF mean today? What are our responsibilities as one generation of publishers and librarians begins to give way to another? Engaging in the conversation and talkback will be Judy Platt of the Association of American Publishers and a Freedom to Read Foundation Roll of Honor awardee, and Katie Chamberlain Kritikos, the recipient of the 2016 Gordon M. Conable Conference Scholarship. James LaRue, director of ALA’s the Office for Intellectual Freedom will introduce the session. 

Saturday and Sunday, June 25 – 26, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
GLBT & Banned Books Week Read Out

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If you need some ideas for the read out, check out our list of banned and challenged comics!

We’ll see you this weekend at ALA Annual booth 509! For more information, visit the ALA Annual website.