Description:

What library advocates need to know regarding the law and how that knowledge makes library advocates more effective will be among the topics explored in “Library Advocacy and the Law,” a free 90-minute highly-interactive online workshop (via Zoom) on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 starting at 10 am PT. The session is designed to help participants explore legal aspects of privacy and censorship issues that affect library advocates and leave them with examples they can use in their own efforts to connect with other advocates in the communities they serve.

The workshop, facilitated by Sarah Lamdan, Deputy Director of the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom, is the latest offering through the California Library Association Ursula Meyer Library Advocacy Training project. It continues explorations of action-oriented, results-based approaches to advocacy designed to help members of the California library community hone their advocacy skills on behalf of libraries and the communities they serve. 

Goal and Objectives:

Participants will better understand the legal underpinnings and policies that protect First Amendment rights of public library patrons and students using school libraries so they can more effectively engage in advocacy work with members of their communities.

By the end of this session, you will be able to describe:

How Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests are a useful tool for gaining information as well as knowing how to protect yourself and your organization from having FOIA requests used against your organization

The costs, literal and figurative, of censorship and be able to articulate and defend intellectual freedom and equitable access for all who use library materials

At least three ways privacy (e.g., of patron records, of companies acquiring patron data) is a concern for advocates and library users 

At least three situations in your community where you can connect with advocates to support the advocacy work you are doing

At least three resources to incorporate into your advocacy work on behalf of libraries and the communities they serve

Presenter:

Sarah Lamdan is the Deputy Director at the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. She is responsible for providing legal information and assistance to librarians and others seeking help in addressing censorship of library resources, user privacy concerns, and other intellectual freedom issues.  She also oversees the Office’s Lawyers for Libraries and Law for Librarians initiative.

Before working at the ALA, Sarah was a Professor of Law at City University of New York School of Law, where her research focused on information access, privacy, and other legal issues related to librarianship. Her most recent work focused on privacy and access issues related to data analytics companies and platforms. Her book on the topic, Data Cartels (Stanford University Press), was published in 2022.

She is originally from Kansas, where she earned her J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law and her M.L.I.S. (with a specialty in legal information) from Emporia State University’s School of Librarian and Information Management. She has lived in New York since 2005, where she worked as a law librarian in several international law firms and as a Help Desk developer.

About the Ursula Meyer Advocacy Fund Training Series

This program is part of an ongoing series of monthly online sessions organized offered through the Ursula Meyer Advocacy Fund Training Series; sessions are generally held online on the second Wednesday of each month, beginning at 10 am PT. The series honors the memory of Ursula Meyer, 1977-78 CLA President, California Library Hall of Fame inductee, longtime director of the Stockton-San Joaquin Public Library, and fierce advocate for library services and intellectual freedom. The Ursula Meyer Fund was established to provide for the training of librarians in all stages of their careers, and library supporters, in political advocacy and political action, in honor of Ursula’s belief that librarians need effective political skills to advocate for library support at all levels of government. Archived recordings of previous sessions are available on the California Library Association YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@californialibraryassociati2705/videos.