Hello Everyone,
The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) held its Virtual 2024 Midwinter Meeting today. Attached are the three documents that seem most relevant to SRRT*, including the Minutes of the Organizational Meeting from Annual last summer; the Agenda for today's meeting (with summaries of court cases and other items); and Committee Reports.
One standout case is Fayetteville Public Library, et al. v. Crawford County, Arkansas, et al., which (to update the Agenda's summary) was decided with finality (that is, without an appeal being filed) in July, by the U.S. District Court for the Western Division of Arkansas. This case represents a noteworthy victory for our profession, one which SRRT folks may already know about; and it is summarized on Media Coalition's site, where there are links on the left side to related documents.
Several at the meeting praised Judge Timothy Brooks for his opinion, granting a preliminary injunction for the plaintiffs, to protect them from sections in Arkansas Act 372, which sought to criminalize certain collection development decisions and would have restricted access to materials for the public. The court found that the provisions were overreaching, and not even needed, as, among other factors, there already is another state statute in effect to protect against obscenity.
Including in his analysis a brief summary of the history of our profession, Judge Brooks notes how courts have long recognized that professional choices we make, in selecting material for publicly-accessible collections, are guided by well-established principles, such as those in our ALA Code of Ethics. He compares our role as professionals to that of doctors and lawyers. It is recommended reading (even if you do not like reading court cases), as an uplifting reaffirmation of the value and importance of libraries and librarianship.
Maybe we could all benefit from some positive energy like that as 2024 unfolds, right?
Best regards,
Steven Phalen, SRRT Liaison to FTRF
[*There were a total of six documents provided in advance of the meeting; Just let me know and I'll be happy to provide the other three, which have to do with FTRF budget/financial/administrative aspects.]
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Steven Phalen
Library Faculty
Maricopa County Community Colleges
He/Him/His
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