For immediate release | June 19, 2018

Freedom to Read Foundation Announces 2018 Roll of Honor Awards

The Freedom to Read Foundation Roll of Honor Committee is excited to announce Doug Archer and Barbara Jones as the recipients of the 2018 Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) Roll of Honor Award. Both recipients have been integral to intellectual freedom work within American libraries for decades. The awards will be presented at the 2018 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans during its Opening General Session on Friday, June 22, 4-5:30 p.m., in Exhibit Hall F of the Morial Convention Center.

Doug Archer is a peace studies, global affairs and political science librarian at the University of Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Libraries. The late Judith Krug hooked him on intellectual freedom in the early 1980s, and he has made the intellectual freedom community his ALA home ever since.

During the past four decades he has served on or chaired most of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table’s committees. He has been IFRT chair; a member of its publication committee; a Board of Director; and an editor of the IFRT Report. During the 2000s he served on or was liaison to the ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee for a decade, including three terms as its chair.

During that time, he led working groups through the revision and drafting of many Library Bill of Rights interpretations. These include “Religion in American Libraries,” “Politics in American Libraries” and “Internet Filtering.” He also prepared statements for use by the ALA president in response to public events (for example, the Charlie Hebdo attack) and participated in the drafting of several resolutions for consideration by ALA Council.

Archer has served as liaison to and member of the FTRF Board of Directors of the Freedom to Read Foundation. He is now serving as a trustee of the Leroy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund and is completing a term as ALA councilor-at-large.

In addition, Archer was an active member of the Indiana Library Federation’s (ILF) Intellectual Freedom Committee for fifteen years and its chair for eight. During that time, the committee sponsored dozens of presentations and workshops at area and state conferences and convinced the ILF Board to join ALA in its challenge to the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). In addition, he has written and presented extensively on First Amendment issues.

Archer holds an BA in religion from Duke University (1964), an MDiv from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (1972) and an MSL from Western Michigan University (1981). He is also an actively ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren.

Barbara Jones served as the director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom and FTRF from 2009 through 2015. In addition to her extensive writing, intellectual freedom advocacy, and teaching, Barbara received the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award from the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science in 2008. This is her second appearance on the Freedom to Read Foundation Honor Roll. She received it first in 1999 at its 30th anniversary gala and is being acknowledged a second time for her continued work and her willingness to come out of retirement to lead the organization.

The freedom to read has been Jones' professional focus for 45 years. She served on the FTRF Board before becoming its executive director. She was a member of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee from 1990-1994, and then 2001-2003. She was chair of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table from 2004-2005, and 2007-2009. She also served on the state intellectual freedom committees in Iowa and Minnesota.

Jones did an extensive amount of international training and workshops for FAIFE (Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression) IFLA Standing Committee, serving as secretary to FAIFE from 2007-2009. She conducted speeches and workshops in South America, Africa, Western and Eastern Europe, and East Asia.

In 2009, she published “Intellectual Freedom in Academic Libraries” with ALA Editions. Earlier writing includes “Libraries, Access, and Intellectual Freedom: Developing Policies for Public and Academic Libraries” (ALA Editions, 1999).

From 2003-2009 she was the Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian and Deans’ Council Member at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She held previous library directorships at Union College, the University of Northern Iowa, and the Fashion Institute of Technology (SUNY), as well as administrative positions at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Minnesota Historical Society, New York University, and Teachers College Library, Columbia University.

In 1995, Barbara Jones received a Ph.D. in U.S. legal history from the University of Minnesota/Twin Cities. She also holds an M.A. in history, archival management, and historical editing from New York University; an MLS from the Columbia University School of Library Service; an M.A.T. in English from Northwestern University; and, a BA in English from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

In 2015 she retired to Urbana, Illinois, and became an Affiliate in the iSchool of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently working on "fake news" projects and on a book, "Information Poverty in Chicago." She currently serves on the board for the Urbana Free Library. She is a member of the Steering Committee for the ACLU of Champaign County and received a grant from the Champaign County League of Women Voters to create a "fake news" program to be used in Champaign County libraries.

The FTRF Roll of Honor was established in 1987 to recognize and honor individuals who have contributed substantially to the foundation through adherence to its principles and/or substantial monetary support. For more information about the Roll of Honor and other FTRF grants, awards, and scholarships, visit www.ftrf.org.

Contact:

Yumeka Brown

Program Officer

Freedom to Read Foundation

ybrown@ala.org

312-280-4223