Responding to First Amendment Audits at Your Library: Survival Tools for Leaders and Staff with Leith Harrell
Presented by Jeff Owens, CSP, CTM
A Library 2.0 Service, Safety, and Security Webinar with Dr. Steve Albrecht
OVERVIEW:
First Amendment Audits, and the protesters who do them, have been on the rise for more than a decade. Each day, new videos are posted to various social media platforms, featuring public employees who appear completely unprepared for the encounters. “Failed” audits, as defined by the protesters who upload their content, can undermine public trust in our already embattled institutions and, all too often, result in increasingly costly civil suits.
All library leaders and staff must be equipped with the most current case law, the requisite communication skills, and the right mental attitude, if we are to expect them to meet this challenge and uphold the public trust. There are service concerns, legal issues, and stress control approaches.
This session is taught by a national expert on this subject, a former law enforcement supervisor from Florida, who has actually met with the organizers of these events and knows their tactics.
This training offers practical tools for both public-facing, frontline library personnel, including library security officers, and library policy makers alike.
LEARNING AGENDA:
How to Recognize an Audit
- What do they look like?
- Where do they take place?
- What are common Auditor tactics?
Current Case Law
- Which activities are protected?
- Who may film? When? Where?
- What is a “Journalist”?
Their Strategies and Tactics versus Ours
- Things you should say and do during an Audit.
- Traps and pitfalls to avoid.
- How to recognize and professionally deflect the Auditor’s attempts to provoke library leaders, library security, and library staff.
- How to be better at what you do than they are at what they do.
DATE: Thursday, July 9th, 2026, 2:00 - 3:00 pm US - Eastern Time
COST:
- $99/person - includes live attendance and any-time access to the recording and the presentation slides and receiving a participation certificate.
- To arrange group discounts (see below), to submit a purchase order, or for any registration difficulties or questions, email admin@library20.com.
TO REGISTER:
Use the payment box above to register and pay. You can pay by credit card. You will receive an email within a day with information on how to attend the webinar live and how you can access the permanent webinar recording. If you are paying for someone else to attend, you'll be prompted to send an email to admin@library20.com with the name and email address of the actual attendee.
NOTE: Please check your spam folder if you don't receive your confirmation email within a day.
SPECIAL GROUP RATES (email admin@library20.com to arrange):
- Multiple individual log-ins and access from the same organization paid together: $75 each for 3+ registrations, $65 each for 5+ registrations. Unlimited and non-expiring access for those log-ins.
- The ability to show the webinar (live or recorded) to a group located in the same physical location or in the same virtual meeting from one log-in: $299.
- Large-scale institutional access for viewing with individual login capability: $499 (hosted either at Library 2.0 or in Niche Academy). Unlimited and non-expiring access for those log-ins.
Leith Harrell retired from the Orlando (FL) Police Department after 28 years of police service. He worked as a uniformed first responder for more than 20 years, and as a supervisor for 13 years. He has delivered more than 5,000 hours of training, as a Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission (CJSTC) certified instructor, in service and advanced specialized programs. He’s presented courses for civilian and sworn personnel from more than 300 federal, state, and local public agencies, as well as private sector organizations. He holds a M.S. in Counseling from Troy University. He’s been studying the First Amendment Auditing phenomenon since it first emerged more than 15 years ago.
Since 2000, Dr. Steve Albrecht has trained tens of thousands of library employees in 28+ states, live and online, in service, safety, security, and leadership. His programs for both staff and library leaders are fast, entertaining, and provide tools that can be put to use immediately in the library workspace. His books include:
The Library Leader’s Guide to Employee Coaching: Building a Performance Culture One Meeting at a Time (in-press, Bloomsbury, 2026)
The Library Leader’s Guide to Human Resources: Keeping it Real, Legal, and Ethical (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025)
The Safe Library: Keeping Users, Staff, and Collections Secure (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023)
Library Security: Better Communication, Safer Facilities (ALA, 2015)
Steve holds a doctoral degree in Business Administration (D.B.A.), an M.A. in Security Management, a B.S. in Psychology, and a B.A. in English. He is board-certified in HR, security management, employee coaching, and threat assessment. He has written 28 books on business, security, and leadership. He provides a loving home for four rescue dogs.
More on The Safe Library at thesafelibrary.com. Follow on X (Twitter) at @thesafelibrary and on YouTube @thesafelibrary. Dr. Albrecht's professional website is drstevealbrecht.com.
 |
|
