ALA Annual 2023: The Pregame Show

Coming at you from my basement couch, it's the American Library Association's 2023 Annual Conference, the digital experience. I know, I complained about how it's so much less of an experience compared to attending in person, but for various reasons (personal, financial, professional), this was the only way to fulfill my Council obligation without my credit card bill sending me into an early grave.

Anyway, enough about me, let's get to talking about our opening session. I understand I usually only talk about Council meetings, but the opening session is really when it all starts, plus with the lineup, it did not disappoint.

The Highlights

The session started out with an appreciation of the thousands of librarians who showed up and are working hard every single day, letting their voices be heard in the 100,000 messages to legislators to fight censorship. The battle against book banning is ongoing, as many are painfully aware of in proposed bills like the one gaining attention in Arkansas, which aims to restrict book access in libraries, schools, and bookstores. Librarians everywhere felt the struggle and those in Chicago got a glimpse of it too as a small group protested outside of McCormick Place, where Annual was being held. (Borrowed from Library Twitter #ALAAC23)

On a less controversial note, President Lessa Pelayo Lozado recapped the year mentioning about the ALA bylaws revision, which has been in the works for years and is mentioned in some of my previous blogs, as well as the pleasant announcement of a lifetime honorary membership award going to Imagination Library founder and music icon Dolly Parton. There was an audible sigh when the audience realized that Dolly wasn't there, but her rep was understanding and laughed at the playful scolding everyone got from our ALA president. We did get to see Dolly on screen in a thank you video.

After a brief appearance from an Federal Communications Commission Director about the importance of e-rates and how integral libraries are to the community, the hosts of NBC Chicago Today talked about their collaboration with ALA and Executive Director Tracie D. Hall in doing a monthly banned book club segment. Along with Tracie, multiple authors appeared on the show to talk about their work and thoughts on the recent efforts in removing their books from the shelves. NBC found the segment to be such a success they are looking to expand the idea to other markets, so fingers crossed our own local affiliates can get a banned book club on the air.

And last but not least...

One of the most well known authors who has been dealing with book challenges for decades made everyone's evening. Judy Blume sat down for an interview on the ALA stage that made it well worth going past schedule.

Blume said that after hearing ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall speak, she approached Hall asking to come to a conference to personally give her thanks and share her gratitude to librarians and libraries. If I was Tracie I would still be picking myself up off the floor. You (world famous author whose books have changed lives of generations of children) want to thank us? It was the best interview and I definitely think everyone should

1. Make plans to travel to Key West and visit her bookstore that Blume runs

2. Read the ALA Conference Highlights article on Blume's interview in detail as she talks about her documentary on Amazon Prime, the movie adaptation of Are You There, God? It's me, Margaret, and her thoughts on why her books have been challenged for the past 50 years.

In the digital livestream it's hard to hear the audience's reactions, but I'm positive she brought cheers from fired up librarians as she answered her last question of what she would say to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis if given the opportunity with "What is it about this book that scares you?" And then walks away like a badass.