Nicole A. Cooke has been named the 2025 recipient of the Downs Intellectual Freedom Award for her advocacy, groundbreaking research, and dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the field of library and information science. Cooke is the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and professor in the College of Information and Communications at the University of South Carolina. The award is given annually by the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is co-sponsored by Sage, a global academic publisher of books, journals, and library resources.
"At its core, intellectual freedom is about all of us being able to speak openly about the issues, values, and ideas that we care about. I can think of no other person in our field who has exemplified intellectual freedom more in 2025 than Dr. Nicole Cooke," wrote Joseph Winberry, assistant professor in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in his letter of nomination.
Cooke's research and teaching interests include human information behavior, fake news consumption and resistance, critical cultural information studies, and diversity and social justice in librarianship. She has at times been the target of doxxing and harassment because of her research on topics such as microaggressions experienced by librarians of color.
"Despite these [harassment campaigns] and other efforts to intimidate, Dr. Cooke has continued her important and groundbreaking writing around ensuring that libraries are inclusive for all no matter which side of the reference desk they sit," wrote Winberry.
Cooke worked as a librarian in public, medical, and academic libraries for 13 years before completing her PhD. She has served as a mentor to new library practitioners and scholars, and she has helped provide librarians at all career levels with resources such as webinars from leading figures in the field. At the University of South Carolina, she has developed and taught classes based in part on her research, including a new course on the history of Black librarianship.
She is the founding editor of ALA Editions/Neal-Schuman’s Critical Cultural Information Studies series. Her latest book is The Legacy of Black Women in Librarianship: When They Dared to Be Powerful. Her honors include the Joseph W. Lippincott Award (2024), Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Justice Award (2021), American Library Association (ALA) Intellectual Freedom Award (2019), ALA Achievement in Library Diversity Research Award (2017), and ALA Equality Award (2016). She holds a PhD in communication, information, and library studies from Rutgers University.
A reception to honor Cooke will be held during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. The event will be held June 28 from 5:00–7:00 p.m. in the Great Lakes E Room of the Marriott Marquis.
The Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award is presented annually to individuals or groups who have furthered the cause of intellectual freedom, particularly as it affects libraries and information centers and the dissemination of ideas. It was established in 1969 by the iSchool's faculty to honor Robert Downs, a champion of intellectual freedom, on his 25th anniversary as director of the School.