[Libs-Or] Shakespeare Books & Antiques closing

[OLA President]

Hello everyone,
As this has been generating ongoing conversation, I want to respond on
behalf of OLA.
When we first heard reports about the situation in Ashland, as an
Association, we reached out to some members of the local library community
to see if there was anything we could do to support them--as they are
experiencing this very personally. The OLA leadership and the OLA
Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC), continue that communication. We also
wrote a letter to OSF (which has already been shared on this list so I
won't go into great detail), to voice that the library community in Oregon
was concerned about the issue, and to offer resources about intellectual
freedom and censorship. Members of the IFC have also been in touch with the
ALA office, should they feel any guidance is needed.
In short, we want to be responsive to your concerns, take a considered
approach, and support our library community while championing our
professional ethics in a responsible and sensitive manner.
I would like to say personally, the dialog I have seen on libs-or has been
heartening to me, because it reflects a library community that is engaged
and deeply cares about our intellectual freedom. And, we are able to
respectfully discuss broader issues that connect to intellectual freedom. I
am glad that we have a forum here for such constructive conversation.

Respectfully,
Elsa Loftis,
OLA President
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