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New OIF Director Announced - Litwin Books & Library Juice Press

New OIF Director Announced

ALA has announced that they have chosen Barbara M. Jones to be the new head of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, replacing the long-serving Judith Krug, who passed away in April.

The ALA Press Release quotes Jones describing the present day context of intellectual freedom in her letter of application:

Twenty-first century IF issues are evolving quickly from those of the twentieth, due to the following: globalization of intellectual freedom issues; technology and privacy concerns; and an increasingly contentious civic discourse as witnessed in the recent health care Town Meetings…New intellectual freedom issues will need to be articulated in terms of our unchanging IF ideals – to the ALA membership, the general public, and to the organizations with which ALA collaborates.

I am very happy to see the new head of the OIF taking a broader view of Intellectual Freedom. It looks to me like the search committee made a very good choice. It will be very interesting to see what role the new OIF plays in things.