Law for Librarians: First Amendment and Censorship I

Description

In the United States, the First Amendment assures the right of the public library patron to receive information and access the library facility. Librarians need to understand what rights are applicable under the First Amendment when creating policies regarding patron behavior, access to resources, and use of meeting rooms, social media, and exhibit spaces.

This session will cover the basis of First Amendment law as it relates to libraries, with a focus on responding to situations implicating the First Amendment in public libraries. Among the topics to be addressed are the library as a public forum, patron behavior rules, book removal and censorship, meeting rooms, social media, and display cases.

About the Presenter

Theresa Chmara is an attorney in Washington, DC. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and practiced law as an associate and then partner with Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C. where her practice consisted of general litigation. She has served as counsel for several organizations, advising them generally and on First Amendment issues. She currently is the General Counsel of the Freedom to Read Foundation. She is the author of Privacy and Confidentiality Issues: A Guide for Libraries and their Lawyers (ALA 2009). She has been a First Amendment lawyer for over thirty years and is a frequent speaker on intellectual freedom issues in libraries. She is a contributing author for the Intellectual Freedom Manual published by the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. She also served as an instructor for the Lawyers for Libraries training seminars and as an instructor for the American Library Association First Amendment and Library Services E-Course.

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