IRRT (International Relations Round Table)

First off, I'll say that I think ALA membership is a good value and I've really appreciated the distance education offerings I've been to this year. I only became a member in February 2025 and I've really been impressed with ALA so far. I was hoping to attend ALA Annual in Philadelphia - I have a great budget for travel and conference attendance, so funding is not at all the issue. I have been to ALA Annual once before, many years ago, and it stands out as one of the best conferences I ever attended.

The issue as a Canadian librarian, is the US government and its disastrous, inhumane policies that seem to worsen day by day.  Even if I was able to travel safely into and out of the US, I wouldn't do it on principle alone. But of course there's no guarantee that I would be let in or let out (I know there never was any guarantee of being allowed into the country even in the past, but things are much different now!) I can't imagine what people are going through when detained and harassed by border authorities. 

I sincerely hope that anyone travelling to the US for this conference does not go through what so many people - students, tourists, workers, etc. - have had to endure. I'm finding it surprising that this hasn't been raised yet on this platform. Are people actually going to ALA or are you boycotting? How are you feeling about travelling to the US if you are going?

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Jennifer Dekker
Research Librarian
University of Ottawa
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Hi Jennifer,

I have been an active member in ALA and the Association for Library Service to Children since 2006 approximately and have attended almost every ALA, including several Midwinters and LibLearnXs  for almost 20 years, both as a professional children's librarian and now as a faculty member in an iSchool. I have been on some incredible committees and learned so much at this conference over the years, I have made lifelong friends, and have collaborated with my US colleagues more times than I can count. But no, as much as it breaks my heart - I am not going. I am not even crossing the border to go to Trader Joe's (which I used to do once a month). I am keeping up my membership but scaling back on committee work.

I will be among the first to say that Canada isn't perfect - we have a lot of our own challenges and very badly need to get our act together on many, many social justice fronts - so this is not about throwing stones. The current US administration has directly threatened the sovereignty of my country. That is not funny and I won't participate in the economy of a country that would even joke about something like that. My university has advised faculty who choose to travel to take generic department laptops across the border, and to delete social media, personal email etc. I have a lot of unearned privilege so to be totally honest, I am not super worried about my own safety at this point if I did cross the border, but that could change. It is the principle of the matter. I believe that the current administration is an absolute danger to democracy and poses a viable threat to the sovereignty and safety of my homeland in addition to their horrible policies.  Whether the Canadian government deals with the US effectively remains to be seen but I am not crossing that border until the current administration is gone and hopefully at least some sanity returns to North America. 

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Tess Prendergast
Lecturer in Librarianship
School of Information, University of British Columbia
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