Knox receives ILA Intellectual Freedom Award

Emily Knox
Emily Knox, Professor

Assistant Professor Emily Knox is the 2015 recipient of the Illinois Library Association (ILA) Intellectual Freedom Award. The award, presented by the ILA Intellectual Freedom Committee, recognizes an individual or group for outstanding contributions in defending intellectual freedom or the advancement of these principles. The award is sponsored by Quality Books Inc. (QBI).

With research interests in intellectual freedom and censorship, print culture and reading practices, and information ethics and policy, Knox is a prolific author of articles and book chapters. She recently published her second book, Book Banning in 21st Century America, the first monograph in the Beta Phi Mu Scholars Series. She is also a popular speaker, presenting at conferences both in the United States and abroad.

This fall, Knox enters her fourth year teaching courses such as Information Organization and Access and Intellectual Freedom and Censorship. Intellectual Freedom and Censorship allows students to examine these issues throughout the U.S. and worldwide and to develop the skills needed to navigate censorship controversies in the workplace. Additionally, through a partnership with the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), FTRF staff and volunteers will lend their expertise as guest speakers, and FTRF and ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom archival materials will be made available to students.

Knox received her PhD from Rutgers University School of Communication & Information. She received her MS in library and information science is from GSLIS. She also holds a BA in religious studies from Smith College and an AM in the same field from The University of Chicago Divinity School.

The Intellectual Freedom Award will be presented the Awards Gala held on Friday evening, October 23, 2015, during the 2015 Illinois Library Conference in Peoria.

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

Wong co-edits new edition of Reference and Information Services

Adjunct Lecturer Melissa Wong (MSLIS '94) and Laura Saunders, professor of library and information science at Simmons University, are the co-editors of Reference and Information Services: An Introduction, Seventh Edition, which was recently published by Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited. The textbook provides a comprehensive update to the previous edition, also co-edited by Wong and Saunders, and serves as an essential resource for LIS students and practitioners alike.

Melissa Wong

iSchool researchers to present at ASSETS 2024

iSchool faculty and students will present their research at the 26th International Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group (SIG) ACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024), which will be held on October 28-30 in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The conference is the premier forum for presenting research on design, evaluation, use, and education related to computing for people with disabilities and older adults.

MSIM students win Chicago round of NASA hackathon

A team including MSIM students Kritika Singh and Jainam Rajput won the Chicago hackathon of the NASA Space Apps Challenge, which was held in over 450 locations worldwide on October 5-6. The students partnered with computer science master's students Shraddhaa Mohan, Jinang Gandhi, and Sai Krishna Rohith and engineering in autonomy and robotics master's student Jugal Upadhyay to form Team Cuberts.

Members of Team Cuberts:  Jugal Bipinkumar Upadhyay, Jainam Rajput, Sai Krishna Rohith Kattamuri, Shraddhaa Mohan, Kritika Singh, and Jinang Gandhi.

Spectrum Scholar Spotlight: Armaan Singh Kalkat

Twelve iSchool master's students were named 2024-2025 Spectrum Scholars by the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services. This "Spectrum Scholar Spotlight" series highlights the School's scholars. MSLIS student Armaan Singh Kalkat graduated from the University of Florida with a BA in linguistics and BS in psychology (with an emphasis on neuroscience).

Armaan Singh Kalkat

iSchool well represented at ASIS&T 2024

iSchool faculty, staff, and students will participate in the 87th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), which will be held on October 25-29 in Calgary, Canada. The theme of this year's conference is "Putting People First: Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Care in Information Research and Practice." The meeting is the premier international conference dedicated to the study of information, people, and technology in contemporary society.

iSchool Building