Lawyers for Libraries Records (1996-2012), including correspondence, documentation, institute handouts and planning materials, brochures and publicity materials, programs, and additional organizational information concerning the Lawyers for Libraries training institutes, the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), the Patriot Act, and privacy, censorship and intellectual freedom issues in libraries. Lawyers for Libraries was comprised of a series of training institutes presented by the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These training institutes were held throughout the United States and were designed to educate attorneys about the First Amendment freedom to read and other privacy, censorship, and intellectual freedom issues facing libraries. The first two national Lawyers for Libraries institutes were held in 1997 and 1998; in the early 2000s, the program was expanded to include additional regional training sessions. The institutes were aimed at attorneys (particularly practicing attorneys who advised libraries on legal matters), but librarians and library trustees were permitted to attend with an accompanying lawyer. Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits were available to lawyers who attended the institutes. The thirteenth (and last) regional Lawyers for Libraries institute was held in 2009.
This series also contains a folder about the Merritt Fund, which was established in 1970 to support librarians whose employment has been terminated or who have been discriminated against due to intellectual freedom issues or on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, etc. See series 6/5/1 and 6/5/6 for related information.
In December 1967, the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) was established to provide ALA with a permanent headquarters to coordinate the association's intellectual freedom activities and to provide continuity for the total program (1). The OIF's major concern is to educate librarians and the general public on the importance of intellectual freedom as it relates to the individual, the institution, and the functioning of our society, thereby allowing the Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) to concentrate on developing policy (2). The goal of the OIF is to encourage and protect the librarian's commitment to the principles of intellectual freedom, both in pursuit of professional responsibilities and in personal life (3).
Serving as the administrative arm of the IFC, the OIF is responsible for the implementation of ALA policies on intellectual freedom, as set forth in the Library Bill of Rights and its supporting documents. Its functions include:
1. Distribution of materials and information, including advice and consultation to librarians concerning potential or actual confrontations with censorship problems, and administration of the Program in Support of the Library Bill of Rights; (4)
2. Preparing regular and special publication, including the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, a monthly column in American Libraries, the OIF Memorandum, The Intellectual Freedom Manual, The Freedom to Read Foundation News, and an annual bibliography, Librarians, Censorship, and Intellectual Freedom;
3. Maintaining the permanent and traveling OIF exhibits; (5)
4. Supervising liason with the Freedom to Read Foundation, the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund, serving as liaison to the IFC, coordinating activities of state intellectual freedom committees, and cooperating with organizations whose purposes are related to intellectual freedom; (6)
5. Administering the Emergency Employment Network, a network of libraries which offers interim employment to librarians who suffer loss of employment due to intellectual freedom policies (7).