ARLD Day 2025

Keynote Speaker: Alison Macrina

Our ARLD Day 2025 keynote speaker is Alison Macrina, an activist librarian and the director of Library Freedom Project. Alison started LFP in 2015 to organize and build community with other librarians who are dedicated to library values of privacy, intellectual freedom, social responsibility, and the public good. We are extremely excited for her keynote talk Intellectual freedom in crisis times: the fight for our communities, our values, and ourselves and featured session Strategies and tactics to build more democracy when it's in crisis.

Intellectual freedom in crisis times: the fight for our communities, our values, and ourselves

We all know what's happening - to libraries, to the public sector, to the functions of our government, to our basic freedoms, to the most vulnerable in our society. What does a principled response look like? What meaningful actions can we take? Join Library Freedom Project director Alison Macrina for a frank discussion of our current conditions in libraries and beyond. Alison will talk about what's happening, what's at risk, and what we can be doing right now to fight for and build more democracy. She'll talk about assessing risk, supporting each other, and planting seeds of possibility and hope.

Strategies and tactics to build more democracy when it's in crisis

In this featured session to follow the keynote, Alison will engage us in an interactive activity where we can work through feelings of grief, anxiety, and fear, and strategize about real, actionable steps towards a better future.