The Political Librarian Webinars
EveryLibrary Institute hosts a lecture series highlighting selections from The Political Librarian. In case you missed them live, you can view them on demand.
EveryLibrary Institute hosts a lecture series highlighting selections from The Political Librarian. In case you missed them live, you can view them on demand below.
Clarifying Intellectual Freedom, Neutrality, and Professional Expertise to Better Defend Libraries from Book Bans, Disinformation, and Defunding
When the Library Bill of Rights was adopted in 1939, it represented a significant departure from the many professional goals and ideals articulated when the American Library Association had been founded in 1876. By creating new professional ideals of intellectual freedom and neutrality, the Library Bill of Rights reoriented the field and altered libraries' responsibilities to their communities. However, the poorly defined nature of some of these ideals has created ongoing problems for the field, particularly evident in the current political environment, heavily defined by censorship and disinformation. As the 150th anniversary of the American Library Association will occur in 2026, this conversation with Dr. Paul T. Jaeger and Allison Jennings Roche explores how these issues were debated at the 100th anniversary, using that moment as a lens for examining the significant current ramifications of these unresolved issues.
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Gender, Politics, and The Public Library: How Polarization and Feminization Conspired to Destabilize One of "The Most Trusted Professions."
On January 24th, 2025, not one week into the new administration, the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights issued a statement that it was dismissing all investigations into book bans, calling them a “hoax.” The Trump nominated Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor described this is as “restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education,” which is the fullest expression so far that we have seen in the public sphere of the rhetorical dominance of ideas like “parent’s rights” being weaponized to subvert information access and undermine libraries across the country. Allison Jennings Roche discusses this in-depth.
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Thank You for Your Service to the American Public: A Perspective from a Fired Federal Worker
From its outset, the Trump administration has haphazardly decimated federal agencies and institutions, creating chaos, fear, and confusion among federal employees. Securing a federal job is no small feat. It requires time, effort, skill, luck, and the investment of others. It carries the expectation of political neutrality, no matter who occupies the White House. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its employees have been one of the institutions targeted by the Trump administration. Including Carrie Price, who shares her experience. As a recently hired biomedical librarian, she dedicated her work to supporting the mission of the NIH, but experienced firsthand the Trump administration's bullying and vilification of federal workers.
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Mapping Racism, Charting Change: A Regional Approach to Incorporating the Striving Towards Anti-Racism (STAR) in LIS Model
Join Dr. Rachel D. Williams and Dr. Nicole A. Cooke for a critical session exploring anti-racism in library and information science through the lens of geography. This session introduces the Striving Towards Anti-Racism (STAR) model and uses it to examine how regional distinctions such as “Midwest nice,” “Southern hospitality,” and “New England progressive whiteness” reflect and reinforce entrenched structures of racism across the United States. Participants will gain insight into how racism manifests differently across regions and how the shifting sociopolitical landscape shapes these dynamics. Through thematic analysis and real-world examples, it helps LIS professionals reflect on and address the geographic dimensions of racism in their work.
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The Urgent Need for Political Literacy in LIS Education
Libraries are essential institutions facing unprecedented threats from political pressures, ideological attacks, and unstable funding. In this session, Sonya M. Durney examines why current library and information science (LIS) programs often fall short in preparing graduates to navigate today’s complex political and financial landscapes. Drawing from recent research and professional experience, Durney will outline the critical gaps in LIS education, particularly in advocacy, policymaking, and funding strategies, and make the case for adding political literacy as a core learning outcome for LIS students.
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Weaponized Politics and Dismantled Policies
Libraries are facing the most coordinated political attack on equity and inclusion in modern professional history. Executive orders are reshaping public policy, forcing institutions to justify diversity work and attempting to redefine whose stories deserve to be told. This opening session launches “The Political Librarian” Special Issue and brings together its co-editors, Dr. Nicole A. Cooke and Dr. Aisha M. Johnson. They will discuss why this issue is relevant now, how they developed it, and what they believe the library sector must address in the months ahead. Dr. Cooke is the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and Professor at the University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science. Dr. Johnson is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Outreach at the Georgia Institute of Technology Library. Together, they curated a collection that shows how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives are being dismantled at the federal, state, and local levels through coordinated executive action and Trump Administration orders that eliminate DEI language and structures, reshape funding priorities, and push cultural institutions toward ideological compliance.
Libraries are facing the most coordinated political attack on equity and inclusion in modern professional history. Executive orders are reshaping public policy, forcing institutions to justify diversity work and attempting to redefine whose stories deserve to be told. This opening session launches “The Political Librarian” Special Issue and brings together its co-editors, Dr. Nicole A. Cooke and Dr. Aisha M. Johnson. They will discuss why this issue is relevant now, how they developed it, and what they believe the library sector must address in the months ahead. Dr. Cooke is the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and Professor at the University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science. Dr. Johnson is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Outreach at the Georgia Institute of Technology Library. Together, they curated a collection that shows how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives are being dismantled at the federal, state, and local levels through coordinated executive action and Trump Administration orders that eliminate DEI language and structures, reshape funding priorities, and push cultural institutions toward ideological compliance.
Read the issue here
What Is Lost in “Restoring Truth and Sanity”
Libraries and memory institutions are being ordered to rewrite history. Over a dozen federal executive orders issued since Trump’s second inauguration have targeted DEI programs, outlawed inclusive language, and pushed information professionals to remove or alter historical records. In this powerful conversation, Evan Allgood and Dr. Travis Wagner unpack what those directives mean for libraries, archives, and public memory, and what we stand to lose if we comply with them. Their article reveals how government action is pressuring memory workers to redact queer history, erase marginalized voices, and manipulate metadata at national cultural sites, including the Stonewall National Monument and the Smithsonian.
This session explores how federal policy is reshaping archival truth, outlines what disappearance looks like from the inside, highlights strategies to resist political distortion of historical records, and examines what queer archival practice teaches us about power and survival.
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You Work for the Public; Your Thoughts Aren’t Sacred
Too often, anti‑DEI arguments claim that librarians and public workers deserve a special sphere of protected “thought privacy,” where belief can be separated from professional obligation, and that equity efforts violate it. Dr. John Mack Freeman, Assistant Dean for Interdisciplinary Initiatives and Director of the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons at the Georgia Tech Library, challenges this premise head‑on in his new Political Librarian article, arguing that librarians are public servants whose responsibilities extend beyond personal ideology.
Too often, anti‑DEI arguments claim that librarians and public workers deserve a special sphere of protected “thought privacy,” where belief can be separated from professional obligation, and that equity efforts violate it. Dr. John Mack Freeman, Assistant Dean for Interdisciplinary Initiatives and Director of the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons at the Georgia Tech Library, challenges this premise head‑on in his new Political Librarian article, arguing that librarians are public servants whose responsibilities extend beyond personal ideology.
Drawing on legal history, workplace ethics, and years of professional experience, Freeman rejects the idea that DEI initiatives are coercive or censorious. Instead, he shows how accountability, transparency, and equitable labor practices are central to public trust and public funding. This session will help attendees understand how “neutrality” and intellectual distance arguments are being used as political tools, and what a professional, ethical, and democratic response looks like.
Read the article here
Land of the Free, Home of the Brave
Across the country, libraries are being told that diversity and free speech cannot coexist. Censors insist that protecting marginalized voices means silencing others. Legislators are crafting policies around that narrative. But what if the premise itself is wrong? In this timely conversation, Dr. Sarah Beth Nelson and John William Nelson dismantle the false binary between free expression and equity. Drawing on law, pedagogy, and lived institutional experience, their work shows that libraries can expand both free speech and diversity by building intentional “brave spaces,”environments designed not to avoid conflict, but to navigate it honestly and constructively. Sarah Beth Nelson brings academic and professional expertise as an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Information Studies, where she studies storytelling, identity, and library education. John William Nelson brings legal and cultural context as an attorney at The Nelson Law Chambers LLC with experience supporting companies, individuals, and institutions navigating issues related to intellectual property, free speech, and constitutional rights. For librarians facing book challenges, hostile boards, speech-based accusations, and community fracture, this webinar offers a framework rooted in law and practice, not slogans.
Across the country, libraries are being told that diversity and free speech cannot coexist. Censors insist that protecting marginalized voices means silencing others. Legislators are crafting policies around that narrative. But what if the premise itself is wrong? In this timely conversation, Dr. Sarah Beth Nelson and John William Nelson dismantle the false binary between free expression and equity. Drawing on law, pedagogy, and lived institutional experience, their work shows that libraries can expand both free speech and diversity by building intentional “brave spaces,”environments designed not to avoid conflict, but to navigate it honestly and constructively. Sarah Beth Nelson brings academic and professional expertise as an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Information Studies, where she studies storytelling, identity, and library education. John William Nelson brings legal and cultural context as an attorney at The Nelson Law Chambers LLC with experience supporting companies, individuals, and institutions navigating issues related to intellectual property, free speech, and constitutional rights. For librarians facing book challenges, hostile boards, speech-based accusations, and community fracture, this webinar offers a framework rooted in law and practice, not slogans.
Read the article here
Coordinated DEI Political Attacks in President Trump’s Executive Orders
Executive Orders are not just administrative actions; they are ideological tools reshaping how libraries, archives, and cultural institutions engage with democracy. In this provocative Political Librarian article, Dr. Bharat Mehra, Professor and EBSCO Endowed Chair in Social Justice at the University of Alabama’s School of Library and Information Studies, applies critical theory to the Trump administration’s coordinated DEI dismantling project, helping the field understand how language and rhetoric are being weaponized to eliminate inclusion. This session will examine how Executive Orders target DEI structures, undermine public knowledge infrastructures, and normalize authoritarian messaging through policy. Dr. Mehra connects these developments to historical precedent, including troubling parallels to Weimar-era political rhetoric and the erosion of democracy. This stern warning is for librarians, trustees, faculty, and students who want to understand the deeper ideological forces shaping current attacks on library services and who want tools to resist them.
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Goliath Lost
Federal directives are reshaping cultural memory and demanding librarians participate in historical erasure. A new federal directive ordering cultural institutions to “restore truth and sanity” to American history sounds benign until you read the fine print. Beneath the language lies a sweeping attempt to erase stories of Indigenous survival, Black resistance, racial injustice, and dissent. What happens when the federal government instructs museums, libraries, and archives to remove evidence of oppression in the name of “unity”? In “Goliath Lost,” librarian Teneka Williams examines the Executive Order to Restore Truth and Sanity to America’s museums and cultural institutions, arguing that it attempts to revise the nation’s historical record and eliminate dissenting perspectives. We will explore how these directives seek to silence Black and Indigenous histories, enforce political alignment in archival practice, and pressure library workers to remove or suppress materials that contradict sanctioned narratives. Williams’s analysis reveals the stakes for public history, community memory, and librarianship's professional ethics.
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What Could Have Been?: Surveying the Labor Impact of the 2025 Executive Orders on GLAM Workers
Federal Executive Orders didn’t just threaten ideas; they eliminated jobs, ended programs, and cut off careers. The cultural sector is now living with the quiet fallout: lost programs, abandoned collection work, stalled research, and careers cut short. But almost none of that loss is being documented. In their Political Librarian article, Raegan Stearns, Alphie Garcia, and Jina DuVernay document what was lost when federal funding collapsed, and GLAM workers found their projects defunded or dismantled.
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These sessions offer evidence, language, strategy, and community for library leaders, advocates, and workers responding to the evolving national landscape. We invite attendees to explore the full Special Issue, share these insights across their networks, and join EveryLibrary Institute in defending the future of public access, equity, and intellectual freedom.