Friday, June 27
1:30–3:30 p.m.
The Librarians
This exclusive screening of the documentary The Librarians, which had its premiere in April, includes an all-star q&a with director and producer Kim A. Snyder, producers Janique L. Robillard and Maria Cuomo Cole, and librarians Suzette Baker, Becky Calzada, Carolyn Foote, Laney Hawes, Martha Hickson, Amanda Jones, Marie Masferrer, Julie Miller, and Audrey Wilson-Youngblood. (Room 114, Nutter Theater)
Saturday, June 28
8:30–10 a.m.
BCALA President’s Program: Political Crises, Information Justice, and Black Librarianship
Wanda K. Brown, president of the Black Caucus of the ALA, and 2025 iBlackCaucus fellow Leight Walters moderate a dialogue on current concerns, including attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access; the defunding of Black-centered libraries and archives; heightened surveillance; and censorship of Black literature. (Room 112 A–B)
9–10 a.m.
Bookstagrammers Are People Too: Boosting Library Engagement with Influencer Marketing
Jennie Pu of Hoboken (N.J.) Public Library, Hawa Jalloh of Prince George’s County (Md.) Memorial Library System, and Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres and Roswell Encina of the Library of Congress discuss productive partnerships with social media bibliophiles. (Room 114, Nutter Theater)
Free Expression in 2025: Challenges for Libraries
ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom director Deborah Caldwell-Stone, ALA associate executive director of public policy and advocacy Lisa Varga, Amherst College library director Martin Garnar, and librarian Marcellus Turner discuss intellectual freedom issues. (Room 126 A–B)
Library Workers Peer Support Network: A Project by and for Library Workers
Urban Libraries Unite executive director Laura Comito and participants in the 2022 “Urban Library Trauma Study” interpret their findings and look toward a goal of alleviating library workers’ feelings of isolation and stress. (Room 120 B–C)
10:30 a.m.–noon
AI: Navigating the Laws and Policies Shaping Our Digital Future
Brandie Nonnecke, newly appointed senior director of policy at Americans for Responsible Innovation, speaks about artificial intelligence with ARCL president Leo Lo. (For PW’s q&a with Nonnecke, see p. 46.) (Room 118 C)
American Association of School Librarians President’s Program: Turning the Page Together: Anchored in Advocacy and Action
Ashley Hope Pérez, editor of the YA anthology Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers’ Rights, details how being targeted by censors led her to advocacy. (Room 115 A)
Association of College and Research Libraries President’s Program: Demystifying Building Bridges in Divisive Times: Using Personal Stories to Take One Small Step
Radio and podcast listeners seeking to forge connections among community members hear from StoryCorps manager of library partnerships Claire LeBlond and librarians participating in StoryCorps’s One Small Step program. (Room 108)
Building Radical Collections: Advocacy, Access, and Alliances with SRRT and Indie Presses
ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table coordinator Olivia Blake and longtime SRRT council member Al Kagan ask how libraries and independent presses can pursue mutual success, with panelists from Beacon Press, Feminist Press, Pluto Press, Seven Stories, Verso, and Haymarket Books. (Room 123)
Indigenous Writing and Resistance
Nii’kinaaganaa Foundation cofounder Patty Krawec, who is Anishinaabe and Ukrainian; author Weyodi Oldbear, of the Comanche Nation; and Red Planet Books and Comics CEO Lee Francis IV, of the Laguna Pueblo, discuss Indigenous futurism and storytelling for social justice. (Diversity in Publishing Stage, booth 2411)
1–2 p.m.
AI Ethics and the Library
Library Freedom Project director Alison Macrina, LFP deputy director Tess Wilson, and four panelists from LFP’s social justice network discuss how library communities can be made aware of AI’s capacity for good and ill. (Room 114, Nutter Theater)
Books Unbanned Teen Advocacy Toolkit: Centering Teens in the Fight Against Censorship
Emma Karin Eriksson of Brooklyn Public Library, Kelly Jensen of Book Riot, and Karen Keys of Brooklyn Public Library talk about getting young adults invested in their freedom to read. (Room 108)
Freedom to Read Foundation President’s Program: Fighting for Your Right to Read Freely
FTRF board president Sophia Sotilleo invites ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom director Deborah Caldwell-Stone, FTRF general counsel Theresa Chmara, Gender Queer author Maia Kobabe, attorney Owen Wolfe of Seyfarth Shaw, and Nate Coulter of the Central Arkansas Library System to share their observations on intellectual freedom. (Room 107)
Generative AI and the Power of Professional Library Organizations: Training, Empowering, and (Re)Centering the Library
Gillian Cain, director of membership and engagement at Atla, questions privacy, misinformation, and ethics in generative AI with Michael Hanegan and Chris Rosser, coauthors of Generative AI and Libraries. (Room 118 C)
2:30–3:30 p.m.
Banned Together: Defending Diverse Stories in a Time of Censorship
Ashley Hope Pérez—featured in the American Association of School Libraries president’s program—joins Banned Together contributors Nikki Grimes, Kelly Jensen, and Maia Kobabe in a conversation
moderated by Holiday House executive editor Sally Morgridge. (A Real Page-Turner Stage, booth 2435)
Censorship in the Courts: Current Litigation Throughout the United States
Freedom to Read Foundation general counsel Theresa Chmara and ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom director Deborah Caldwell-Stone track the myriad intellectual freedom lawsuits now in progress. (Room 113 B–C)
Censorship Is Still a Drag
Past ALA president Emily Drabinski speaks with librarians Jason Phillips and Jordan Ruud about their study Censorship Is Still a Drag: LGBTQ Materials and Programming Under Siege in Libraries. (Room 117)
Findings and Implications from the National Survey on Black History Month Programming in Public Libraries
Panelists, some of whom have received essential support from the now-embattled Institute of Museum and Library Services, share their creative approaches to Black History Month and a toolkit for planning BHM events. (Room 111 A–B)
“Should Not Be Denied or Abridged Because of... Age”: Privacy and Minors in the Library
Censorship threats, often made by parents’ rights activists, erode the privacy of minors and people of all ages. Librarians Glen J. Benedict and Amanda Jones, information science professor Mega Subramaniam, and ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom deputy director Sarah Lamdan will share practical ways to safeguard access to information. (Room 115 A)
2:30–4 p.m.
Core Awards and President’s Program Featuring Gwen Westerman
Core’s program features Minnesota poet laureate Gwen Westerman, an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Oyate and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, who blends English and Dakota in her poetry collection Songs, Blood Deep. (Room 114, Nutter Theater)
4–7 p.m.
Film Screening and Organizing Party: Banned Together
Unite Against Book Bans presents the documentary Banned Together at an event featuring the filmmakers and student activists from the movie. (Room 114, Nutter Theater)
Sunday, June 29
8:30–10 a.m.
Librarians Connecting Globally: Insights and Conversations from the Americas and Beyond
Scholar Clara Chu and past ALA president Carol Brey, a former U.S. State Department foreign service officer, span the Americas, connecting with Francisco Javier Bolaños of Colombia’s Bibliotec Foundation, librarian Camille Callison, Pedro Lutz of Colombia’s Centro Colombo Americano, and library management specialist Chloé Vicente. (Room 115 A)
9–10 a.m.
Gaysss in Comicsssss: A Spotlight on LGBTQ+ Empowerment in Comics
ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association put together this panel on popular and often controversial LGBTQ+ graphic novels, featuring Rex Ogle (Pizza Face), Greg Lockard (Liebestrasse), Barbara Perez Marquez (the Cardboard Kingdom series), Jack Phoenix (Maximizing the Impact of Comics in Your Library), and moderator Derek J. Ivie of the Suffolk (N.Y.) Cooperative Library System. (Room 113 B–C)
11 a.m.–noon
Defend the Right to Read: Working Together
Penguin Random House SVP Skip Dye, past president of United for Libraries, joins this session on First Amendment rights with media law expert Dan Novack, Texas #FReadom Fighters cofounder Becky Calzada, author and Scholastic editorial director David Levithan, and Emily Kirkpatrick, executive director of the National Council of Teachers of English. (Room 113 B–C)
1–2 p.m.
Reference and User Services Association President’s Program: The Future of Library Services: Innovating with AI, User Experience, and Service Design
Librarian Bohyun Kim, digital literacy specialist Brandy McNeil, and library technology consultant Nick Tanzi address ways to foster critical thinking and responsible digital practices in an era of misleading online content. (Room 115)
1:30–2:20 p.m.
The Mukharjis: Heartland Masala
Chef and retired physician Jyoti Mukharji and her son Auyon Mukharji, a musician and cultural historian, introduce attendees to the blend of traditional Indian recipes and Midwestern fare in their debut, Heartland Masala: An Indian Cookbook from an American Kitchen. (What’s Cooking Stage, booth 248)
2:30–3:30 p.m.
Sharing Our Stories: A Collaboration with the Writers Guild Initiative and ALA
That Librarian author Amanda Jones and playwright Peter Parnell of Authors Against Book Bans, who mentored fellow librarians in a pilot Writers Guild Initiative program, share workshop results and next steps with ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom deputy director Sarah Lamdan. (Room 113 B–C)
United for Libraries President’s Program: Mallory McMorrow (Editor’s note: this program was canceled after press time)
Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan state senator and author of Hate Won’t Win, will assess America’s political condition with ALA United for Libraries president Deborah Doyle. (Room 114, Nutter Theater)
3:30–4:20 p.m.
The Power of the Picture Book: A Conversation with National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Mac Barnett
Mac Barnett, 2025–2026 national ambassador for young people’s literature and author of the First Cat in Space series, will speak with fellow picture book creators about readaloud storytelling. (A Real Page-Turner Stage, booth 2435)
7–9 p.m.
Core Five-Year Anniversary Gala: John Lewis, Good Trouble, and the Search for the Beloved Community
At this ticketed event, civil rights historian Ray Arsenault, author of Freedom Riders: 1961, will speak about the late Georgia congressman John Lewis. (Free Library of Philadelphia)
Monday, June 30
9–10 a.m.
Libraries Transforming Communities: Enhancing Accessibility for People with Disabilities in Small and Rural Libraries
ALA’s LTC initiative brings small and rural libraries accessibility support for their facilities, services, and programs. Tyler Hahn of the Cherokee (Iowa) Public Library, Heather Brodie Perry of the Ashby (Mass.) Free Public Library, and Dianne Connery of the Pottsboro (Tex.) Library speak with project director Samantha Oakley about innovations the LTC supported in their communities. (Room 115 B–C)
Read Around the World: Children’s and YA Booksmfrom International Publishers and Creators
Featured international publishers Albatros Books (Czech Republic), Beetle Books (U.K.), Child’s Play (U.K.), Cuento de Luz (Spain), Difference Engine (Singapore), Floris Books (Scotland), Gecko Press (New Zealand), Milky Way (Canada), Pajama Press (Canada), Post Wave Publishing (U.K.), Transit Children’s Editions (U.S.), and What on Earth Books (U.S./U.K.) tout their global perspectives. (Book Buzz Stage, booth 138)
Top Tech Trends
Five panelists—including Brian Pichman, director of strategic innovation for the Evolve Project, a platform that acquaints library workers with AI, virtual reality, and STEAM tools—will field audience questions about emerging technologies. (Room 114, Nutter Theater)
1–2:30 p.m.
Association for Library Service to Children President’s Program: The Current Landscape of AI and Its Effects on Children
Middle school technology integrator Manuela Aronofsky moderates ALSC’s panel on young people’s interactions with AI, with
panelists Martha Brockenbrough (Future Tense: How We Made Artificial Intelligence—and How It Will Change Everything), and scholars Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and Desmond Upton Patton. (Room 114, Nutter Theater)
Continued Conversations: Librarians, Publishers, and the Future of E-book Licensing
Michael Atwood, senior director of e-books at library software company Lyrasis, moderates this strategy-informed session on
E-Rate and digital resources, with panelists from Teacher Created Materials, Blackstone Publishing, and distributor Book Bridge. (1–2 p.m., room 113 B–C)
