Intellectual Freedom Consulting Services

Expert and Experienced Intellectual Freedom Consulting Services provided by American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom provided to teachers, librarians and the public.

Has your library received a request for reconsideration of materials? Are you reviewing library or school board policies? Are you proposing a conference program or system workshop for other librarians? Are you organizing professional development or training for administration, boards, staff or your community?

The Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) can help you prepare against censorship and implement vital intellectual freedom best practices within your library or school through our consulting services. Delivered by a knowledgeable experienced team, OIF consulting services can help create or edit policies, strategize plans for working with communities and families, and provide workshops and programs designed to motivate and educate about the First Amendment, privacy laws, internet filtering, and intellectual freedom.

Meet the OIF Consulting Team

DCSHeadshotCropsm_0Deborah Caldwell-Stone is the Director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation. She is a recovering attorney and former appellate litigator who works closely with librarians, teachers, and library trustees on a wide range of intellectual freedom issues, including censorship of library resources, meeting room and collection development policies, and the impact of new technologies and evolving law on library users' privacy and access to information. She advises ALA's Intellectual Freedom Committee and its Privacy Subcommittee on law and policy issues, speaks frequently to library groups around the country, and has served on the faculty of the ALA-sponsored Lawyers for Libraries and Law for Librarians workshops. She is a contributor to the 10th edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual and the third edition of Information Services Today, and has contributed articles on law, policy, and intellectual freedom to American Libraries and other publications. [Linked In]

"After a multi-day inservice, the Delaware School Board members heeded Deborah’s professional guidance as an attorney regarding their Intellectual Freedom responsibilities." - State Librarian

"These presenters were the very best on the topic (meeting room policy in public libraries) and they really knew their stuff and how to communicate it in an understandable way." - Webinar Attendee

Our consulting team is here to collaborate with your library and community to ensure access to ideas and information.

Services

We tailor our content to each unique request. Please call us to discuss specific needs and how we can work with you.
arrowTraining – We offer workshops, staff development, and in-service days to assist staff, boards, or administration on intellectual freedom best practices to implement in their libraries. OIF has presented advice and resources for Toronto Public Library, Kansas City Kansas Public Library, the Otsego Northern Catskills BOCES, the Delaware-Chenango-Madison-Otsego BOCES, the Broome-Tioga BOCES, and the Delaware State Library.
arrowConsulting – One-on-one or small group consulting can be arranged to discuss policy development or review, or specific situations with a hands on approach. Our experts assisted the Missouri Library Association and Missouri legislators draft amended library confidentiality legislation that expanded privacy protections for library users in that state.
arrowSpeaking – Dynamic and informative presentations for conferences, panels or webinars. Recently, OIF has appeared at the Tennessee Library Association Conference, the Iowa Library Association Conference, Random House Publishing and OUTLAWED: The Naked Truth About Censored Literature For Young People.

OIF does request an honorarium for in-person, on-site training and speaking services. We scale our fees based on an individual library’s budget and population served. Costs can range from a few hundred dollars for an hour to greater amounts for multi-day training or complex consulting. We are flexible. All services fees include travel and accommodations. All consulting fees and honorariums are allocated specifically to continue educating and training librarians in intellectual freedom principles. All payments should be addressed to the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Interested?

To learn more about our consulting services and to book our team for your library, contact Joyce McIntosh at jmcintosh@ala.org or 312-280-4221. For media inquiries, please contact: ALA's Communications and Media Office at 312-280-4393, cmomedia@ala.org. [Updated 2023]