ACRL announces the publication of the report The State of U.S. Academic Libraries: Findings from the ACRL 2024 Annual Survey. Check it out to learn how libraries continue to play a vital role in supporting research, instruction, and student success. bit.ly/4cZ8V0k

Book bans aren’t slowing down, they’re accelerating. More than 4,200 books were targeted in 2025, driven largely by organized political groups, not individual concerns. This isn’t about protecting students. It’s about restricting access to ideas and silencing voices.

Shoutout to all library staff on National Library Workers Day! Thank you for all you do—today and every day—to make a powerful difference in people’s lives and communities. Libraries work because YOU do! #NLWD26 #NationalLibraryWeek Loop

What a great National Library Workers Day celebration w/ librarians & staff at the amazing Gwendolyn Brooks Library at Chicago State University! #NLWD26 #NationalLibraryWeek @ala-acrl.bsky.social @ala.bsky.social

From threats to (and victories for) intellectual freedom, to increasing services for incarcerated people, to legislative and legal battles, 2025 proved pivotal for our nation's libraries. Read more in the State of America's Libraries Report: bit.ly/soal-26 #NationalLibraryWeek

From Jan. 2025 - March 2026, 100+ pro-censorship bills were introduced in state legislatures. At least 40 bills would penalize libraries and library workers for protecting people’s the right to read. This #RightToReadDay, take action: uniteagainstbookbans.org/right-to-read-day

When you give to ALA's 150th Anniversary Campaign during #NationalLibraryWeek between now and 4/25, your donation will be matched 2:1, thanks to a matching gift challenge from the Steve and Loree Potash Family Foundation. Your $15 becomes $45 this week only! Give at ALA150.org

Our #PLA2026 Session Speakers are sure to leave you inspired, motivated, and charged with thoughts and ideas you can apply in your both your library + everyday life. View the full lineup of speakers, authors & exhibitors at the largest public library conference in the world: placonference.org

ALA celebrates today's ruling in federal court in RI permanently blocking the Administration's actions to dismantle IMLS. ALA Pres. Sam Helmick: "This victory belongs to all of us, and we build the future of our libraries together." Read our full statement & take action: www.ala.org/news/2025/11...

This abandonment means dire consequences for Special Education. Federal protections for students with disabilities? Gone. Coordinated services? Scattered across agencies w/no education expertise. This is an abandonment of the most vulnerable. #TrumpCrushesYourDreams open.substack.com/pub/grounded...

This is a huge victory for libraries and the freedom to read!

"Today and into the future, together we are strong." Read @djmontgomery.bsky.social's final reflections as IFT president.

As IFT President @djmontgomery.bsky.social prepares to step down from IFT leadership, he shares some parting thoughts. 

Read our full statement:

The IFT sends our deepest condolences to Al’s wife, Wanda, his family, and all the members and staff of the @ieanea.bsky.social. "The labor movement has lost a fierce advocate, and those of us who knew him have lost a steady, compassionate pillar who made our lives and our schools better."

🔗 ‘Witch hunt’ or ‘accountability’? Teachers face backlash over Charlie Kirk posts

“We’re concerned about doxing, some misguided individuals trying to go after teachers… Every American should be troubled by that.” -IFT Pres. @djmontgomery.bsky.social About a dozen educators in IL have been placed on leave or questioned by their employers over social media comments.

We call on ICE to immediately stop targeting protected spaces & urge lawmakers and leaders to restore & uphold sanctuary protections. https://www.ift-aft.org/post/ift-aft-and-elgin-community-college-faculty-association-condemn-ice-detention-of-a-student-at-a-co @aft.org @djmontgomery.bsky.social

This morning in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, ICE and Border Patrol agents tear gassed, shot pepper spray bullets at, and detained protesters outside an immigrant detention center. Read our statement in response from IFT President @djmontgomery.bsky.social:

Joint Statement from IFT President Dan Montgomery and West Suburban Teachers Union President Kyle Stern: Condemning ICE Agents’ Fatal Shooting of Franklin Park Resident https://www.ift-aft.org/post/joint-statement-condemning-ice-agents-fatal-shooting-of-franklin-park-resident

We joined this lawsuit to ensure every child, parent, teacher, and administrator can travel to school each day without the constant threat of masked immigration agents storming their campus. www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report...

Chicago this Labor Day… Thousands fighting for what #WorkersDeserve

Illinois Federation of Teachers Statement in Response to Trump Excluding Undocumented Children from Head Start 📰 Read the full statement from @djmontgomery.bsky.social: https://www.ift-aft.org/post/illinois-federation-of-teachers-statement-in-response-to-trump-excluding-undocumented-children-from

Read this piece on Moyers as your July 4 celebration. Civic Duty? It says everything about where we are but also about what we must do.

Congress Throws More Money at Removing Immigrants than Most Countries Spend on Their Armies talkingpointsmemo.com/news/congres...

@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social just broke the record for the longest floor speech!!! Making history on ensuring the American people understand why this Republican mega bill is a huge ugly betrayal to the American people. Thank you @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social

A tremendous affront to hard working Americans. We must resolve to make Independence Day a commitment to our independence from oligarchs who don’t believe in democracy. Organize. Organize. Organize.

Statement from authors/illustrators impacted in case: pen.org/press-releas...

SCOTUS continues its entirely ideologically driven destruction of separation of church & state. Expect corrosive, discriminatory effects on schools & freedom of all children to learn Supreme Court Requires Schools to Allow Opting Out From L.G.B.T.Q. Stories www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/u...

If you think it can’t happen here, remember that it already did. In 1942 soldiers came with rifles to our home and ordered us out. They put us in internment camps. Most of us were citizens.

I think @chicagosmayor.bsky.social would be right to veto this. I’m all for public safety but a curfew anywhere w/just 30 mins. notice sounds Trumpian to me & unlikely to make us safer.

So this is a sound proposal—rational and fair to all. Why won’t IL lawmakers do it, I wonder??? Hmm. Well, for starters, they need to hear from us that we demand fairness. chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2...

Growing up in a mostly white suburb of Detroit, I knew virtually nothing about Juneteenth. When I moved to Chicago - the greatest frigging city in the world to quote @mayorofchicago.bsky.social - I learned the meaning of this holiday and what joy & fun & history it brings. Happy Juneteenth all!

Trump’s assault on Black and Brown ppl damages education for ALL our children. He’s intent on destroying US public educ. every way he can. Immigration Raids Add to Absence Crisis for Schools www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

Tremendous turnout of democracy defenders in Joliet today! 1000s lined Jefferson & Larkin for blocks. Joyous, safe resistance, insistence on democracy. #NoKingsDay @aft.org @iftaft.bsky.social

See you there!

70% of all veterans said they oppose Trump's military parade, which is projected to cost upwards of $45 million in taxpayer money. www.newsweek.com/republican-v...

@rweingarten.bsky.social at Arise Chicago on labor in Chicago: in this moment we need the united power of labor and community more than ever. It’s essential now bc the fed govt under Trump is all about divide and conquer. @ctulocal1.bsky.social @aft.org @iftaft.bsky.social

Since 2021, Koch Inc. has donated $70.9M to super PACs like Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Action—which has spent millions on ads in support of the GOP's Big Billionaire Bill. This is just one of many ways political corruption can impact our daily lives.

@chicagosmayor.bsky.social nails it at Arise Chicago breakfast: The only check and balance in this country rn are workers united! @rweingarten.bsky.social @iftaft.bsky.social

Immigrants are vital to America’s story—and its future. They bring new ideas, fuel industries, and contribute every day to the places we all call home. This Immigrant Heritage Month, join us in celebrating the people who help make our communities, economy, and country stronger.

This is really concerning on many counts. Parents—Read to your children!!! Please. If you don’t know what to do, take them to the library. Talk to their teachers. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Read IFT President @djmontgomery.bsky.social's statement on the adjournment of this legislative session.

Love to see @iftaft.bsky.social public employees represent there! IFPE Local 4408!

📣 E. St. Louis area members: Join IFT President @djmontgomery.bsky.social,  @budzinski.house.gov, @aft.org President @rweingarten.bsky.social, and @neatoday.bsky.social President @neapresident.bsky.social on May 29 for a Public Education Town Hall at East St. Louis Senior High School.

We defeated them in IL. Vouchers are a grift to give tax breaks to uber wealthy while taking from public coffers that fun public schools for ALL KIDS.

Important to take note of these kinds of abuses happening now. Federal govt weaponized against free speech. What was it GOP once said about “small govt” and individual rights? Leftwing pundit Hasan Piker says US border agents stopped and questioned him on Trump and Gaza

Reading, the #FreedomtoRead & unfettered access to information are the bedrock of democracy. Political interference to enforce a president’s point of view in our libraries is the hallmark of an anti democratic & authoritarian state. It must be opposed if freedom is to survive.