LFI 2025

Library Freedom Institute

Library Freedom Institute (LFI) is a training program for library workers focused on privacy, intellectual freedom, and critical technology. We teach librarians the skills necessary to support information democracy in the 21st Century; from educating community members, to installing privacy software, to influencing local policy.

General course information and resources

• Code of Conduct
• Discord for asynchronous discussion (link shared privately)
• Mailing list and wiki for weekly curriculum
• Zoom for weekly synchronous sessions (link shared privately)

Course structure

• 15 weeks and an in-person weekend
• May 7 - August 13
• Off weeks: Memorial Day maybe?; Week of June 30th; Weeks before and after Philly
• Weekend is July 25-27 in Philly
• Weekly sessions are Wednesdays, 12-2 Pacific/1-4 Mountain/2-4 Central/3-5 Eastern on Zoom
• Weekly discussion questions and readings
• Final presentations (optional): During Philly weekend, sharing what you’ve learned, where you’re taking it. Either with a group or individually.

What to expect/what is expected of you

• A generous and generative group to build community with, learn together, share ideas, experiences, and resources
• A unique curriculum rooted in honest engagement with the world
• Attend each weekly session
• If you need to miss a session, please email in advance
• Participate in weekly conversations
• Zoom sessions will be a mix of lecture, large group discussions, and breakouts
• Participate in asynch Discord convos
• Complete weekly readings (amount will vary, but week 2 is the most by far)
• Weekly topics are subject to change, sometimes wildly, based on group vibes, the world, and the prior week

Schedule and curriculum

Schedule overview

Week	Date and time	Topic	Lecturer
1	Wednesday May 7th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	Introduction to this course and each other
2	Wednesday May 14th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	How we got here: internet origins, ideologies, and logics
3	Wednesday May 21st, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	Whither information democracy: what is the world we have, and what is the world we want?
4	Wednesday May 28th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	What are we fighting for? Messaging and talking points to convince others what's at stake (or off week for Memorial Day)
5	Wednesday June 4th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	Responsible data policies and privacy practices 101
6	Wednesday June 11th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	Technology for liberation, or at least just better passwords. Here is where we start tackling threat modeling
7	Wednesday June 18th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	Tech for liberation part two: threat models we encounter every day
8	Wednesday June 25th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	Vendor issues and data brokers
9	Week of June 30th	Off for July 4th week
10	Wednesday July 9th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	The AI hellscape
11	Wednesday July 16th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	TBD based on what we have covered, maybe IF defense, or AI part two, or social media/platformization/enshittification of everything
12	July 25 - 27 (please note - there is no meeting on Wednesday, July 23rd)	In-person weekend, Philadelphia, PA
13	Week of July 28th	Off week following in-person weekend
14	Wednesday August 6th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	Did we miss anything? IF defense, Policing, reproductive health and privacy, anti-doxxing, immigrant threat models? We may need this week if we end up skipping memorial day week
15	Wednesday August 13th, 12-2 pacific/ 1-3 mountain/ 2-4 central/ 3-5 eastern	Closing week, and making information democracy into a sustainable long term practice

In-person weekend subjects

• Powermapping
• Teaching and training others (staff and patrons)
• Building coalitions for support
• Group or individual presentations