Introduction to Intellectual Freedom

Registration is required. Click here to attend via Zoom, or register to attend in person below. 

The public is invited to a program titled “Introduction to Intellectual Freedom,” jointly sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Marblehead and Abbot Public Library. The featured speakers include Jennifer Billings and Susan Caulfield. Billings has been teaching in Marblehead for twenty years, starting at Village and Veterans Middle School before spending the last ten years at Marblehead High School. Most recently, she created an elective class called “Reading & Lit” where students read books of their choosing every day. Caulfield is co-chair of the Massachusetts Library Association Intellectual Freedom/Social Responsibility Committee and has served on the Committee since 2017.  She has been a Reference Librarian at the Newton Free Library since 2001. The program will be moderated by Abbot Public Library staff and board members.

The program honors the memory of former Marblehead school librarian and League of Women Voters member, Joan Ehrich. A graduate of Smith College, Ehrich received her master’s degree in Library Science from Columbia University plus a graduate degree from Boston University as a media specialist. In Marblehead, she established the library at Temple Emanu-El. She then became a Marblehead school librarian, first at several elementary schools, and later at the middle school. Ehrich loved to find books to inspire her students, and she introduced many to the joys of reading. A gathering in memory of Joan Ehrich will be held preceding the program, at 6 p.m.

The League of Women Voters is a grassroots organization that is non-partisan with respect to candidates and political parties. It was formed in 1920 and is dedicated to the principles of self-government established by the Constitution of the United States. The League works to promote political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government. Membership is open to all.