Intellectual Freedom Round Table Seeks Nominations for the Eli M. Oboler Award

CHICAGO — The Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) is seeking journal article nominations for the 2024 Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award.

The award winner will be announced in the spring of 2024. A certificate of recognition and $500 cash award will be presented at the 2024 American Library Association Annual Conference in San Diego, California.

The Oboler Award honors a literary work or series of works in the area of intellectual freedom. This can include matters of ethical, political, or social concerns related to intellectual freedom. The award recognizes journal articles in even number years (2022, 2024, etc.) and honors books in odd number years (2023, 2025, etc.).

Articles for 2024 award consideration should have been published on the local, state, or national level in English or English translation in the 2022 or 2023 calendar years through the end of December 2023.

The deadline for nominations is January 2, 2024. For more information on criteria of the award and to submit a nomination, please visit the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award website here.

The award was named for Eli M. Oboler, the extensively published Idaho State University librarian known as a champion of intellectual freedom who demanded the dismantling of all barriers to freedom of expression. The award was first offered biennially in 1986 and has been awarded annually since 2022.

Members of the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award Committee Chair Stephanie Barnaby (Northeastern University Library), Michael D. Kirby (Kingsborough Community College), Marisa Eytalis (Las Vegas – Clark County Library District), Johannah Genett (Hennepin County Library), Leila Green Little (University of North Texas SLIS), and Mara Zonderman (Westhampton Free Library).

About the Intellectual Freedom Round Table

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. For more information, visit www.ala.org/rt/ifrt

IFRT on X: @IFRT_ALA