SRRT (Social Responsibilities Round Table)

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The Social Responsibilities Round Table works to make ALA more democratic and to establish progressive priorities not only for the Association, but also for the entire profession. Concern for human and economic rights was an important element in the founding of SRRT and remains an urgent concern today. SRRT believes that libraries and librarians must recognize and help solve social problems and inequities in order to carry out their mandate to work for the common good and bolster democracy.

Learn more about SRRT on the ALA website.

FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

  • 1.  FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 12, 2022 08:48 PM

    Hello Everyone,

    I will be attending the Freedom to Read Foundation Board meeting as SRRT Liaison on the 18th. 

    Attached is the Agenda for the meeting.  Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to ask about at the meeting, or there will be an opportunity for liaisons to report if you would like me to report anything to FTRF. 

    Especially of interest to SRRT will be "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action", a symposium to be hosted by FTRF, and being planned for mid-July, that will be talked about at the meeting (though it doesn't appear specifically in the agenda).

    I will be happy to convey questions or suggestions from SRRT concerning this event, as there will be an opportunity for that at the meeting. 

    The following is from Joyce McIntosh, FTRF Program Officer, from her email to trustees and liaisons about this opportunity for input.  Joyce gave me the ok to share with you the Task Force's plan description for the event (second link below, after item #4). [We would need to follow up to find out if sub-committees are open to non-FTRF folks if anyone is interested.]

    ////

    Symposium Task Force co-chairs will spend a few minutes sharing information and getting your input on several fronts. I've attached this information in a word doc, shared a google link, and copied information below for you to get familiar with the overview of the event. Please take a minute to read it over in whatever format you choose, and consider the following questions.

     

    1. Do you have recommendations for a keynote speaker and potential panelists?

     

    1. What is the outcome you would like to see from the symposium?

     

    1. Consider joining a sub-committee. After you read about the event, please consider joining a sub-committee and enter your interest in this google doc. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dO59uHIxxrkOhWZhQW8JAdHW1tDFzE0hhnH69m-nENk/edit#gid=0

    Sub-committees will meet based on the deadlines and timing needs of their various activities.

     

    1. Are there dates in July 2022 that are a firm "not available" for you?

     

    . . . Here is a link to the description of the Symposium thus far. . .

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/10KbBHenkrb7x7etwr_zzqohf8YbikVW/edit

     \\\\

     
    I'll follow up after the meeting to link to other relevant documents, and also am happy to provide brief highlights at the SRRT meeting on the 20th.

    cheers,

    steven

    [SRRT Liaison to FTRF]



    ------------------------------
    Steven Phalen
    Library Faculty
    Maricopa County Community Colleges
    He/Him/His
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 12, 2022 08:54 PM
      |   view attached
    ...this time, with FTRF's Agenda actually attached.
    -s

    ------------------------------
    Steven Phalen
    Library Faculty
    Maricopa County Community Colleges
    He/Him/His
    ------------------------------

    Attachment(s)

    docx
    FTRFLLX2022Agenda.docx   29 KB 1 version


  • 3.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 13, 2022 01:36 PM

    Thank you, Steven!

     

    I really appreciate you representing us!

     

     

     

     

    April






  • 4.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 13, 2022 03:49 PM
    Agreed.

    Peter






  • 5.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 13, 2022 08:30 PM
    Stephen,

    Thanks much for informing us of what is going on with FTRF. I tried to access the link for the symposium but got a message that the page does not exist. Thanks for resending the link.

    Obviously, a lot will depend on who will be speaking at the symposium. I hope that they will want SRRT folks to give presentations.

    Al




  • 6.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 20, 2022 02:31 AM
    Al,
    It looks like the link that I copied into my message (the second link that ends in "...edit" doesn't work and I didn't see that until tonight.  Anyway, no matter, the most important part of the description was copied into my message, and more in other documents, as I'll note in my next message. 
    By the way, yes, I asked, and they sound open to suggestions for speakers; please see my next message for more...
    -steven

    ------------------------------
    Steven Phalen
    Library Faculty
    Maricopa County Community Colleges
    He/Him/His
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 20, 2022 02:54 AM

    Hello everyone,

    Here is my report from the FTRF 2022 Winter Board Meeting that I attended on Tuesday (18th).

    As promised, the Symposium was discussed.  One thing liaisons were asked to pass along to their groups is a formative question as they are in planning stages:  "What would you like to see come out of the Symposium?"  I would suggest that, given there may be interest in suggesting speakers, that SRRT could also weigh in on this question. 

    The question embodies the openness to ideas that I got from the meeting.  I mentioned that there may be interest from SRRT in suggesting speakers for the event, and Sophia Sotilleo and Sukrit Goswami expressed openness to suggestions from SRRT on speakers, and in helping to plan the event.  They are the contacts for that. 

    Again, please see the first link I provided in my first message above for the current list of Symposium sub-committee members.  There is a sub-committee on Speakers/Panelists.  I am sorry to say that I cannot be involved, as I have too much going on and am already on committees within FTRF in addition to being liaison, but I do hope SRRT members/leaders will follow up and try to get involved as I think this is  a great opportunity!

    Here is a link to the page with the (many) documents from the meeting: 

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WvuX9xjBkTO2lcRR9La1LG2_Ah9iI-Nt

    Of particular interest to us in SRRT are the following:

    "BoardMemoJanuary2022.pdf" = General Counsel Theresa Chmara's memo detailing litigation in which FTRF has joined amicus briefs, including two significant new ones.

    "Symposium pdf for 2022 winter mtg.pdf" = This is the document I copied in and posted a bad link to last week (perhaps it had been updated for the meeting).

    "Full report to council LLX.pdf" = FTRF Pres. Barbara Stripling's 2021-2022 Report to Council. 

    [Includes:  summaries of cases; very concise description of the planned Symposium ("…two half-day virtual events in July 2022 that would explore the intersection of intellectual freedom and social justice and how we might empower individuals to act and engage in advocacy for intellectual freedom and social justice."); and details of the five winners of the Krug Fund Banned Books Week Grant (I was on the committee that selected them).]

     

    From the oral report, "LLX22_FTRF_Oral_ReportCouncil_CD22.pdf", there is a note about how the FTRF webinar from December, "Managing and Addressing Book Challenges in Your Community: Law, Policy, Advocacy", is now available free online to everyone.  Here is the page, where it says to register first, and that it's just free to FTRF and IFRT members (but the oral report says it's free to everyone, and I can't test it since I'm in IFRT) (also note the other great sessions below that one):

    https://www.ftrf.org/page/Webinars

    steven



    ------------------------------
    Steven Phalen
    Library Faculty
    Maricopa County Community Colleges
    He/Him/His
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 20, 2022 12:17 PM
    If SRRT can have a speaker or speakers, I for one would like to do this. I've written most of SRRT's resolutions and statements related to free speech over the last 20 years (including on Manning, Snowden, Assange and Wikileaks, the anti-BDS legislation resolution, and SRRT's  statement on the meeting room policy), I' ve organized SRRT's programs related to free speech (the program related to libraries and hate speech, and the program with William Binney and the representative from the Manning organization, I've spoken at SRRT's program on hate speech, and I've published an article that addresses the relationship between social justice and free speech in the Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy. I'm also a member-- though not especially active-- of the IFRT.  Of course, it would be even better if we could have more than one speaker. If so, I think Al Kagan would be great and also Stephen.
    Best,
    Tom

    ------------------------------
    Thomas Twiss
    Retired
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 20, 2022 03:30 PM
    I would be happy to participate.
    Al







  • 10.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 26, 2022 02:29 PM

    Tom and Al, and everyone,

    [I apologize to everyone for how long it's taken me to respond...]

    I think you both would be excellent speakers for the event, and will be very pleased to forward your names to the sub-committee. 

    I had reached out to Sophia of the sub-committee last week to ask about what level of involvement SRRT might have in the process (e.g.:  Can non-FTRF SRRT folks serve on the sub-committees?); and on Monday, she responded very positively:

    ". . . We are open to partnering with SRRT in whatever capacity they would like to assist. 

     

    Some ways to share information would be to:

    Join the subcommittee for locating speakers if you would like to.

    Share/Forward candidates' bio and information to someone on the committee.

    Connect with me, Joyce, and or Sukrit to share information."

     
    I will forward Tom and Al as speakers by the end of this week. 

    For those who would like to get involved as Sophia suggested:  Sub-committee leaders Sukrit Goswami and Sophia Sotilleo can be reached via Connect, and Joyce McIntosh, ALA Staff Liaison to FTRF, can be reached at jmcintosh@ala.org.

    [Tom, also thanks for suggesting me as a speaker!  You honor me with that, but I think I may have a bit too much other stuff going on right now, and wouldn't want to over-commit (and/or under-deliver).]

    steven



    ------------------------------
    Steven Phalen
    Library Faculty
    Maricopa County Community Colleges
    He/Him/His
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: FTRF meeting / symposium in July: "Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action"

    Posted Jan 26, 2022 02:43 PM

    Thanks for this, Steven!

     

    Tom