University of Illinois GLIS honors Orland Park Library for Intellectual Freedom

The Orland Park Public Library’s Board of Trustees and staff were recently honored with the 2014 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science’s (GSLIS) faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Libraries Unlimited. This national award recognizes exceptional contributions in defending intellectual freedom.

Board President Nancy Healy and Library Director Mary Weimar accepted the award on January 31 at a reception held during the American Library Association’s (ALA) midwinter conference in Chicago. University of Illinois GLIS faculty members, alumni, and staff from ALA and Illinois Library Association (ILA) attended the reception.
The library was acknowledged for its commitment to defending intellectual freedom and the First Amendment by supporting an Internet policy that allows adults unfiltered access to the Internet. After a challenge by two non-residents, the Board voted in 2014 to continue unfiltered access for adults as part of “…the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment” as stated in the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights.

The Board also voted to ensure strong safeguards by continuing to filter children’s and teen computers for inappropriate content. In addition, the Internet and patron behavior policy were strengthened in 2014 to further define and prohibit illegal and inappropriate behavior, as well as the role of staff in effectively dealing with these situations.

Barbara Jones, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, included this statement when she nominated the library for the award:
“I have never experienced in person such vicious attacks on a staff simply trying to do their job, and a board of trustees that has remained steadfast in its support for the freedom to read. I don’t use the word, “steadfast,” frivolously. This controversy over filtering the adult Internet terminals has been going on for almost a year now and has not stopped—despite the fact that the courageous board of trustees voted NOT to filter.”

This national award is given annually to acknowledge individuals or groups who have furthered the cause of intellectual freedom, particularly as it affects libraries and information centers and the dissemination of ideas. Granted to those who have resisted censorship or efforts to abridge the freedom of individuals to read or view materials of their choice, the award may recognize a particular action or long-term interest in, and dedication to, the cause of intellectual freedom. Established in 1969 by the GSLIS faculty on Downs’ twenty-fifth anniversary as director of the school, the award venerates him as a champion of intellectual freedom.

This is the second major award bestowed on the Orland Park Public Library: in October, ILA named the library as winners of the 2014 ILA Intellectual Freedom Award.

For more information on the Board’s policies, visit www.orlandparklibrary.org /about.htm or call 708-428-5100. The Orland Park Public Library is located at 14921 Ravinia Avenue in Orland Park.

Photo caption From left: University of Illinois Graduate School of Library & Information Science Dean Allen Renear, American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom Director Barbara Jones, Orland Park Public Library Board President Nancy Healy, OPPL Director Mary Weimar, OPPL Public Information Coordinator Bridget Bittman and Libraries Unlimited Publisher Kathryn Suárez gather to showcase the 2014 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award granted to the Orland Park Public Library.