Call for Nominations for the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award

The John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award honors intellectual freedom fighters in and outside the library profession who have demonstrated remarkable personal courage in resisting censorship. The award consists of $500 and a citation. Individuals, a group of individuals or an organization are eligible for the award.

Sponsor and Deadline
The John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award is sponsored by the Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) of the American Library Association (ALA). The deadline for nominations is December 1 of each year.  NOTE: The deadline for 2013 has been extended to February 17, 2013.

Nominations
Established in 1979, upon the death of John Phillip Immroth, this award honors the courage, dedication, and contribution of a living individual or group who has set the finest kind of example for the defense and furtherance of the principles of intellectual freedom.  The award consists of a citation and a $500 prize.

John Phillip Immroth was a teacher, author, scholar, advocate, and defender of First Amendment rights.  He was the founder and first Chair of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table in 1976.  His impact on the ideal of intellectual freedom and its practice was great.

The Immroth nomination form is available from the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611.

Nominations and supporting evidence should be sent to:
Shumeca Pickett,
ALA, 50 E. Huron St.,
Chicago, IL 60611.
Telephone: 312-280-4220 or 800-545-2433, ext. 4220.
Fax: 312-280-4227.
E-mail: spickett@ala.org

Do you have a favorite public library intellectual freedom fighter?

The Public Library Association is now accepting nominations for the Gordon M. Conable Award for public libraries and intellectual freedom.

Eligible nominees include public library staff member, library trustees, or specific public libraries.

The recipient of the Gordon M. Conable Award must have demonstrated a commitment to intellectual freedom and the Library Bill of Rights in various ways, including, but not limited, to the following:

• developed and promoted collections that include diverse points of view; 
• provided programs that promote community dialog on controversial issues; 
• created and nurtured an organizational climate that fosters an understanding of the Library Bill of Rights amongst the library staff, library board, and elected and appointed officials; 
• initiated activities at the local, state, or national level that promote, support, or defend intellectual freedom, the Library Bill of Rights, or the First Amendment; 
• guaranteed open access to library materials and services for children and young adults; 
• guaranteed open access to electronic information; 
• defended library materials, programs, or services when confronted with a censorship challenge. 

Further details are available on PLA's website. Nominations are open until Dec. 1. 

Call for Content: IFRT Report

Call for Content

Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) Newsletter

The editors of The IFRT Report invite articles, news stories, conference reports, intellectual freedom events and news to be published in the next issue of The IFRT Report. Content should be in the form of articles or news reports addressing censorship, challenges to library materials, Banned Book Week events in your state and community, state legislative efforts threatening freedom of expression, academic freedom threats, book reviews and intellectual freedoms concerns in general. State library association reports from Intellectual Freedom Committee chairs are welcome. Articles should be limited to 1000-1500 words and written for the library practitioner. 


The issue will be co-edited by Bridget O’Leary, Central New Mexico Community College Library Instruction Coordinator (boleary at cnm dot edu) and Dr. John B. Harer, Associate Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Library Science, Esat Carolina University (harerj at ecu dot edu) 


Please submit proposals to editors (contact above) by email as soon as possible; articles will be due to the editors no later than November 1, 2012. Questions can be directed to either of the editors.

What are you doing for Banned Books Week?

Banned Books Week is right around the corner! What do you have planned?

Every year, ALA provides suggestions and resources for celebrating the Freedom to Read, but every year, libraries show astonishing creativity in how they celebrate.  

Inspire us! What will your library be doing?

At my library, we just held our Fall Orientation Fair, and I created a 40" x 60" poster out of 5" tall cover images of the top challenged books lists for the past 3 years (provided by ALA, of course). We bought a lot of tiny sticky dots, and asked students to tell us which banned books they had read. It was a huge success! The best part? Enough students commented on the absence of Farenheit 451 from the poster that we had to grab a sticky note and make a place for them to make their mark.

We'll also be doing a book display (starting this week), and putting the poster out for more interactions (I'll replace the sticky note with a cover image this time!). We're also the location for a Banned Books Read-Out put on by the local chapter of the ACLU, the local public library system, the university's writing center, and a local bookstore. Can I tell you how inspired I am that the people in this community came together like that to do this?

Your turn. What will Banned Books Week look like at your library?

ACRL - Core Organizational Values Survey

ACRL has just announced a brief survey for its members on the topics of intellectual freedom and professional ethics.  This survey is intended as a first step towards ensuring that the organization is able to provide its members with the proper resources on these issues. 

If you are an ACRL member and would like to complete the survey, please follow this link.  One respondent will win a free ACRL webcast.  Also, if you have any questions, please contact Janice Welburn, chair of the ACRL Task Force on the Structure for Core Organizational Values.

IFRT Preconference at ALA's Annual Conference in Anaheim

Who Do I Trust to Protect My Privacy?
Privacy Conversation Deliberative Forum And Moderator Training

Sponsored by ALA Intellectual Freedom Round Table and The ALA Center for Civic Life

A Hands-On Preconference
Thursday, June 21, 2012, 1:30 – 5:30
Anaheim Convention Center, Room 303C

Join an afternoon conversation on privacy Thursday, June 21st, from 1:30 to 5:30 at the Anaheim Convention Center, Room 303C. The conversation will be structured with an Issue Map. Following the dialogue, participants will learn how to convene and moderate a deliberative dialogue so they can host their own local forums that explore privacy values and concerns.

Download forum materials including the Issue Map here (ALA Members only).

Register: Nanette Perez nperez@ala.org

$25. To register, sign onto ALA Conference Registration; click on Preconferences and Events, and scroll down to IFRT.

For More Information, contact: Carolyn Caywood cacaywood@cox.net; Nancy Kranich nancy.kranich@rutgers.edu; Nanette Perez nperez@ala.org