Nominations invited for annual Downs Intellectual Freedom Award

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign seeks nominations for the 2021 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award. The deadline for nominations is March 15, 2022. The award is cosponsored by SAGE Publishing.

Given annually, the award acknowledges individuals or groups who have furthered the cause of intellectual freedom, particularly as it impacts libraries and information centers and the dissemination of ideas. Granted to those who have resisted censorship or efforts to abridge the freedom of individuals to read or view materials of their choice or to hear or express ideas,  the award may be in recognition of a particular action or a long-term interest in and dedication to the cause of intellectual freedom.

The Downs Award was established in 1969 by the iSchool's faculty to honor Dean Emeritus Robert B. Downs, a champion of intellectual freedom, on the occasion of his twenty-fifth anniversary as director of the School.

Previous winners have included Amy Dodson, former director of the Douglas County Public Library, Nevada, for supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion as part of the library's mission and service (2020); the Education Justice Project, for its defense of the First Amendment rights of incarcerated individuals (2019); the Iowa Library Association (2018) for taking a leadership role in several highly visible challenges to intellectual freedom; and The Kansas City Public Library (2017) for its defense of a library patron's First Amendment rights.

SAGE Publishing provides an honorarium to the Downs Intellectual Freedom Award recipient and cohosts the reception held in honor of the recipient. The reception and award ceremony for the 2021 recipient will take place in June 2022 at the American Library Association Annual Conference.

Letters of nomination and documentation about the nominee should be sent by March 15, 2022, to Associate Professor Terry Weech, chair of the Nominations Selection Committee, either by email at weech@illinois.edu with a copy to ischool-dean@illinois.edu, or in paper form to: 

Terry Weech, Downs Award Chair
School of Information Sciences
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
501 East Daniel Street
Champaign, IL 61820

Please email any questions to Associate Professor Terry Weech.

Tags:
Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

Gabriel joins academic affairs team

Gillian Gabriel joined the iSchool on June 3 as an office administrator - course scheduler. In this position, she will work with the Academic Affairs team to design the schedule and input it into Banner, work with Catalog Management and Section Scheduling (CMSS) to arrange classroom space, manage the final exam schedule, and coordinate with the bookstore on textbook orders.

Gillian Gabriel

Miller joins administrative support team

Alexis Miller joined the iSchool on June 4 as an office manager. In this position, she will provide support to the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and assist with various student affairs activities.

Alexis Miller

CCB collaboration receives award from the Organization of American Historians

A collaborative project of the iSchool's Center for Children's Books (CCB) and the National Park Service (NPS) has been honored by the Organization of American Historians. The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, which features the Books to Parks website, received the Stanton-Horton Award, which recognizes "excellence in National Park Service historical efforts that make the NPS a leader in promoting public understanding of and engagement with American history."

The Watsons Go To Birmingham

Library Trends "Cultural Heritage and Digital Scholarship in China: Part II" now available

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is pleased to announce the publication of Library Trends 71 (4), edited by Lian J. Ruan and Shengping Xia. "Cultural Heritage and Digital Scholarship in China: Part II," explores the rich, diverse, and long history of China's cultural heritage and the innovative digital scholarship that is currently being utilized to study it. 

Introductory course teaches information science concepts through game design

As part of Teaching Associate Professor Judith Pintar's Introduction to Information Sciences (IS 101) course, students are tasked with creating board games that teach various aspects of information science targeted to particular audiences. The students presented their creations on April 19 at the Game Studies and Design Spring 2024 Showcase. In addition to the game demonstrations, the event featured posters and presentations by students and faculty.