Call for nominations for the Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award

Do you know of a state chapter or organization that has:

• bravely defended the freedom to read or access information;
• successfully promoted intellectual freedom issues;
• or demonstrated exemplary coalition-building efforts?

The Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) Coalition Building Committee is accepting nominations for the 2020 Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award.

The Gerald Hodges Award recognizes an intellectual freedom-focused organization that has developed a strong multi-year, ongoing program or a single, one-year project that exemplifies support for intellectual freedom, patron confidentiality and anti-censorship efforts. This award consists of a citation and $1,000. The IFRT will present the award during the 2020 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, IL. Past recipients include the Utah Library Association and the Nebraska Library Association Round Table for Intellectual Freedom. Learn more about past recipients, programs and projects on the IFRT website.

The award is named after Gerald Hodges, who joined the ALA staff in 1989 as director of Membership Services and the Chapter Relations Office. Hodges was the associate director of Communications and Marketing at his death in 2006, but intellectual freedom and chapter relations were still his passions. A charter member of the ALA Legacy Society, he willed a portion of his estate to support ALA’s intellectual freedom efforts. Memorial contributions in recognition of Hodges came from many friends, colleagues and ALA chapters following the establishment of the Gerald Hodges Fund.

The award is sponsored by the Intellectual Freedom Round Table of the American Library Association (ALA). An online nomination form and printable PDF nomination form are available. The deadline for nominations is Jan. 1, 2020.

Members of the Coalition Building Committee are: Chair Shane Roopnarine, University of Central Florida Libraries; Stephanie  Barnaby, Fineman & Pappas Law Libraries; Heather Hopkins; Ray James; Isabel Klein, Cuyahoga County Public Library; Amanda Vazquez, Dubuque County Library.

The Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) provides a forum for the discussion of activities, programs and problems in intellectual freedom of libraries and librarians; serves as a channel of communications on intellectual freedom matters; promotes a greater opportunity for involvement among the members of the ALA in defense of intellectual freedom; promotes a greater feeling of responsibility in the implementation of ALA policies on intellectual freedom. @IFRT_ALA