Associate Professor Emily Knox has been inducted as an Illinois Library Luminary. The Illinois Library Luminary Program, an initiative of the Illinois Library Association, recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to Illinois libraries. Knox's commitment to intellectual freedom and to shaping the next generation of librarians has touched every library in Illinois.
Her research interests include information access, intellectual freedom and censorship, information ethics and policy, and the intersection of print culture and reading practices. She is a member of many organizations including the American Library Association, the Black Caucus of ALA, the Freedom to Read Foundation, and the Illinois Library Association. She is member of the advisory board for the African Centre of Excellence for Information Ethics and is the chair of the board of the National Coalition Against Censorship.
Her book, Book Banning in 21st Century America (Rowman & Littlefield), is the first monograph in the Beta Phi Mu Scholars' Series. Her most recent book, Foundations of Intellectual Freedom (ALA Neal-Schuman), won the 2023 Eli M. Oboler Prize for best published work in the area of intellectual freedom. Knox's articles have been published in the Library Quarterly, Library and Information Science Research, and Open Information Science.
Knox has received many awards and recognitions, including the 2023 American Library Association/Beta Phi Mu Award of achievement for distinguished service to education for librarianship, 2023 Beta Phi Mu Distinguished Member Award, 2022 iSchool Alumni Association (ISAA) Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2022 Chicagoan of the Year for Books named along with library workers by the Chicago Tribune, and 2015 Illinois Library Association Intellectual Freedom Award.
Knox received her PhD from the doctoral program at the Rutgers University School of Communication & Information. Her master's in library and information science is from the iSchool at Illinois. 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.