A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users.
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members as of 2021.
Sanford Berman is a librarian. He is known for radicalism, promoting alternative viewpoints in librarianship, and acting as a proactive information conduit to other librarians around the world. His vehicles of influence include public speaking, voluminous correspondence, and unsolicited "care packages" delivered via the U.S. Postal Service. Will Manley, columnist for the American Library Association (ALA) publication, American Libraries, has praised Berman: "He makes you proud to be a librarian."
Elonnie J. Josey was an African-American activist and librarian. Josey was the first chair of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, having been instrumental in its formation in 1970; served as president of the American Library Association from 1984 to 1985; and was the author of over 400 books and other publications.
The United States Social Forum is an ongoing series of gatherings of social justice activists in the United States which grew out of the World Social Forum process, bringing together activists, organizers, people of color, working people, poor people, and indigenous people from across the United States. Its purpose is to build unity around common goals of social justice, build ties between organizations at the event, and help build a broader social justice movement. Planning for the first event was spearheaded by the organization Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide, and involved dozens of other organizations around the United States. The Forum defines itself as "a movement-building process. It is not a conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the economic and ecological crisis. The USSF is the next most important step in our struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational, diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms this country and changes history."
The Progressive Librarians Guild(PLG) was founded in New York City in January 1990 by librarians concerned with the library profession's "rapid drift into dubious alliances with business and the information industry, and into complacent acceptance of service to an unquestioned political, economic and cultural status quo," according to the organization's statement of purpose. The initial three organizers were Elaine Harger, Mark Rosenzweig and Elliot Shore. The PLG addresses issues especially relating to librarianship and human rights.
Carla Diane Hayden is an American librarian who is serving as the 14th Librarian of Congress. Since the creation of the office of the Librarian of Congress in 1802, Hayden is both the first African American and the first woman to hold this post. Appointed in 2016, she is the first professional librarian to hold the post since 1974.
Arthur Curley was an American librarian who was listed as one of the 100 most important library leaders of the 20th century by journal American Libraries.
Librarianship and human rights in the U.S. are linked by the philosophy and practice of library and information professionals supporting the rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), particularly the established rights to information, knowledge and free expression.
The University of Arizona School of Information is a multidisciplinary academic department and professional school that is housed within the university's College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The school focuses on the many aspects of information organization, management, or use and its impact on individuals and society. A combination of the School of Information Resources & Library Science (SIRLS) and the School of Information: Science, Technology, and Arts (SISTA), this new department plays host to faculty and students engaged in research and education on facets of the information sciences.
The John Sessions Memorial Award is presented annually by the Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association. It recognizes a library or library system which has made a significant effort to work with the labor community and by doing so has brought recognition to the history and contribution of the labor movement to the development of the United States. John Sessions of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) was co-chair of the AFL-CIO/ ALA Joint Committee on Library Service to Labor Groups.
The Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize, named after librarian Miriam Braverman, is sponsored by the Progressive Librarians Guild (PLG). The intent of the award is "to celebrate Miriam's spirit of activism and faith in the power of people's collective social justice efforts and inspire future generations of librarians." The Prize is awarded each year for the best graduate student paper about some aspect of the social responsibilities of librarians, libraries, or librarianship. Papers related to archivists, archives, and archival work are also eligible.
Kathleen de la Peña McCook is a library scholar, librarian, and activist. Much of her work centers around social justice, human rights, First Amendment issues, and the freedom of information.
Henry Joseph Foner was a 20th-century Jewish-American social activist and president for more than two decades of the Joint Board, Fur, Leather and Machine Workers Union (FLM).
Flora Belle Ludington was an American librarian and author. Ludington served as the head librarian for Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, from 1938 until 1964.
Emily Drabinski is an academic librarian, author, and teacher, serving as president of the American Library Association since 2023.
Carol Anmuth Nemeyer was an American librarian and a president of the American Library Association from 1982 to 1983. she married Lieutenant Commander Sheldon Nemeyer on September 23, 1950.
Maurice J. (Mitch) Freedman is an American librarian best known for his advocacy for socially responsible cataloging and library technologies, as well as for championing the cause of intellectual freedom. He served as president of the American Library Association from 2002 to 2003.
Wanda Kay Brown is an American librarian, and the president of the American Library Association for the 2019–2020 term. She is the director of the C. G. O'Kelly Library at Winston-Salem State University and a leader in state and national library associations. She is the first American Library Association president who is a library director at one of the nation's historically black colleges and universities.
