LFI Course Materials

Library Freedom Institute

Library Freedom Institute (LFI) is a privacy-focused six-month program for librarians to teach them the skills necessary to thrive as Privacy Advocates; from educating community members, to installing privacy software, to influencing public policy.

On this page, you'll find materials that we're using for the current cohort. If you're looking for application materials and a timeline for the next cohort, [this is what you want https://libraryfreedomproject.org/lfi/].

Cohort group pages

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3: Librarians for Librarians
• Group 4
• Group 5
• Group 6

General course information and resources

• Code of Conduct
• LFI message board: Most LFI discussion happens here. Anyone can read public posts on the board, but only LFI cohort members can post.
• LFI Github: We'll use this Github repo occasionally when we need to host large size documents.
• Riseup mailing list: a private list that cohort members get subscribed to when LFI begins.
• Zoom video conference room: a private Zoom room that cohort members get the address to when LFI begins.

Schedule and curriculum

Schedule overview

Week	Dates	Real time lecture	Topic	Lecturer
1	May 20 - 26	May 24th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Introduction to LFI	Alison
2	May 27 - June 2	May 31st 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Introduction to threat modeling and teaching privacy	Alison
3	June 3 - 9	June 7th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Surveillance technology in our communities	Kade Crockford, ACLU of Massachusetts
4	June 10 - 16	June 14th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	More privacy tools	Alison
5	June 17 - 23	NO LECTURE	ALA/discussion only week	ALA/discussion only week
6	June 24 - 30	June 28th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Facial recognition and other AI	Varoon Mathur, AI Now Institute
7	July 1 - 7	July 5th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Cybersecurity for librarians	Tracy Z. Maleeff, Cyber Analyst at GSK
8	July 8 - 14	July 12th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Corporate power on the internet	April Glaser, Slate
9	July 15 - 21	July 5th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Influencing local policy	Brian Hofer, Oakland Privacy
10	July 22 - 28	NYC WEEKEND	NYC WEEKEND	SEE NYC WEEKEND SCHEDULE BELOW
11	July 29 - Aug 4	August 2nd 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Discussion week	Discussion week
12	Aug 5 - 11	August 9th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Vendor agreements and library privacy policies	Erin Berman, Alameda County Library
13	Aug 12 - 18	August 16th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Digital redlining: the implications of discriminatory algorithms	Dr. Chris Gilliard, hypervisible.com
14	Aug 19 - 25	August 23rd 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Terrible surveillance laws	Julian Sanchez, Cato Institute
15	Aug 26 - Sept 1	August 30th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	The lifecycle of your library's data	Becky Yoose, LDH Consulting
16	Sept 2 - 8	September 6th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	The right to privacy	Jessie Rossman, ACLU of Massachusetts
17	Sept 9 - 15	September 13th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Algorithms and predictive technologies	Janus
18	Sept 16 - 22	September 20th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Social media surveillance	Abi Hassen, Black Movement Law Project
19	Sept 23 - 29	September 27th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Discussion week	Discussion week
20	Sept 30 - Oct 6	October 4th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Scams of the Internet	Harlo Holmes, Freedom of the Press Foundation
21	Oct 7 - 13	October 11th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Mobile privacy	Mike Tigas, ProPublica
22	Oct 14 - 20	October 18th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	More privacy tools	TBD
23	Oct 21 - 27	October 25th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Student privacy	Abigail Goben, Data Doubles
24	Oct 28 - Nov 3	November 1st 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Free software for privacy	Maka, Rhizomatica
25	Nov 4 - 10	November 8th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	TBD	TBD
26	Nov 11 - 17	November 15th 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern	Final project presentations	Cohort