Posted yesterday by Joyce McIntosh – Excuse the Cross Post
Chicago
June 19, 2023
Erin Berman Elected to Merritt Fund Board of Trustees
The LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund elections have taken place and Erin Berman has been elected to the Board of Trustees. Trustees meet to confidentially review applications and manage the Fund.
Erin Berman is a fierce privacy advocate, formerly leading the American Library Association's Privacy Subcommittee. Erin got her start with ALA as an Emerging Leader in 2014 and quickly joined the Rainbow Roundtable as their Fundraising Chair. In 2016, she was named one of Library Journal's Movers and Shakers. She now serves as the Rainbow Round Table Councilor and sits on the ALA's Committee on Professional Ethics and the Nominating Committee. Currently, she works as the Division Director of the Learning Group for the Alameda County Library in California.
When she ran for election Erin shared, "No librarian should have to face these attacks on intellectual freedom alone. I'm a strong advocate and personal donator to the Merritt Fund. I want to serve as a trustee to help support the library workers on the front lines as they show enormous courage in the face of these challenges."
The LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund was established in 1970 as a special trust in memory of Dr. LeRoy C. Merritt. It is devoted to the support, maintenance, medical care, and welfare of librarians who, in the Trustees' opinion, are:
- Denied employment rights or discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, age, disability, or place of national origin; or
- Denied employment rights because of defense of intellectual freedom; that is, threatened with loss of employment or discharged because of their stand for the cause of intellectual freedom, including promotion of freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the freedom of librarians to select items for their collections from all the world's written and recorded information, and defense of privacy rights.
Learn more about the fund, how it has assisted librarians in the past, and how you can support the fund, or apply for assistance, by visiting http://www.ala.org/aboutala/affiliates/relatedgroups/merrittfund/merritthumanitarian
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Deb Sica Seek-ah (she/lei)
Deputy County Librarian | Library Administration