Master's students Jessica Colbert and Daniel Mills will be presenting workshops on behalf of the iSchool Queer Library Alliance at the 2017 Midwest Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Trans, and Ally College Conference (MBLGTACC 2017), which will be held February 17-19 at Navy Pier in Chicago. "United in Solidarity" is the theme of this year's conference, which marks the 25th anniversary of the MBLGTACC.
Colbert and Mills will present a workshop designed to educate LGBT college students about online privacy inspired by the Library Freedom Project:
Library Freedom Project is a partnership among librarians, technologists, attorneys, and privacy advocates which aims to address the problems of surveillance by making real the promise of intellectual freedom in libraries. By teaching librarians about surveillance threats, privacy rights and responsibilities, and digital tools to stop surveillance, we hope to create a privacy-centric paradigm shift in libraries and the communities they serve.
"We think online privacy is important for various reasons," Colbert explained. "In our current political climate, especially with surveillance, oppressed groups and activists are targeted through their online activity. People can also be outed through their web history."
Colbert also will lead a workshop on locating LGBTQ materials in libraries, which she presented at the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference in February 2016.