FTRF Announces Results of 2021 Board of Trustees Election

For Immediate Release
June 30, 2021

Contact:
Joyce McIntosh
Freedom to Read Foundation
312-280-4226
jmcintosh@ala.org

Members of the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) have elected six candidates to the Freedom to the FTRF Board of Trustees.  The organization is managed by a board of 15 trustees, 11 elected and four ex officio. Terms are two years, and board members may serve two terms. Trustees meet twice a year in conjunction with ALA Midwinter and Annual meetings and hold committee meetings throughout the year.

The 2021 elected trustees include:

Stephanie “Cole” Adams has been elected to her first term. She is an attorney in Buffalo, NY whose practice combines municipal law, intellectual property, education law, and employment law. Cole graduated from SUNY Buffalo School of Law (J.D.) and Hampshire College (B.A.). During law school and college, she interned at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, where she saw the importance of a quick and coordinated response to civil liberties threats. “I credit living in a multi-cultural neighborhood and practicing information-related law in helping me see that both information access, and thoughtful engagement with content, are critical. As I answer questions on the “Ask the Lawyer” forum for libraries and museums through the regional library councils of New York, I have a unique window into legal issues that can impact the freedom to read,” said Adams.

Peter Coyl is the Director of the Montclair (NJ) Public Library.  He has been a Trustee of the Freedom to Read Foundation for the past 2 years and has been elected to his second term.  He is committed to the mission of the Freedom to Read Foundation and will work to strengthen its partnerships and amplify its message. He is active in other Library-related intellectual freedom groups including the New Jersey Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee, ALA's Intellectual Freedom Committee, and was recently elected ALA Councilor for the Intellectual Freedom Round Table.  Peter believes strongly that intellectual freedom is a natural partner with social justice and will continue efforts to ensure that all voices are heard.

Sara Dallas is the director of the Southern Adirondack Library System (SALS) and has been elected to her second term as trustee. She is involved with intellectual freedom and privacy issues on a local, state, and national level.  She serves as Chair of the New York Library Association's (NYLA) Intellectual Freedom Committee.  Nationally, Sara served as chair of the ALA Committee on Professional Ethics and is a member of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Roundtable. She has served on numerous working groups that have developed or revised ALA policies on ethics and intellectual freedom, including "Meeting Rooms: An Interpretation of the Amended Library Bill of Rights" ( approved Jan 29, 2019), the revised Copyright: An Interpretation of the Code of Ethics, and is currently working on ALA's Meeting Rooms question and answers.

Sukrit Goswami is the director of the Haverford Township Free Library, and he has been elected for his first term on the Freedom to Read Foundation board. Sukrit is currently on the leadership team of the Pennsylvania Library Association as the Chair of Intellectual Freedom Committee. “One of the most powerful statements I have come across in my professional career is “Free People Read Freely,” he said. “I will promote and advocate the Freedom to Read Foundation’s commitments towards protecting, safeguarding and supporting libraries and librarians in their defense of First Amendment rights as member of the FTRF Board of Trustees.”

Dorcas Hand is a retired school librarian and full-time advocate for libraries from Houston TX. She enjoys supporting libraries in their full power to support lifelong learning, awareness of all sides of political issues, and the overarching Freedom to Read. She was appointed to the Board to fill a vacant slot and has now been elected for a two-year term. “I have become invested in the committee work, especially the Education Committee which works to spread information and inspire deeper thinking about what the freedom to read means in our democracy. I also appreciate with greater understanding the many facets of censorship and invasion of privacy that FTRF works against every day, and I look forward to continuing to contribute to these efforts,” said Hand.

Cindy Hohl is the Director of Branch Operations at the Kansas City Public Library and the current President of the American Indian Library Association. She has been elected to her first term. She is currently enrolled in the Master of Library & Information Science program at Wayne State University. As a proud member of the Santee Sioux Nation, she was awarded the ALA Spectrum Scholarship, and she represents Indigenous Librarianship on several professional committees while also serving as a member of the Steering Committee for the Joint Council of Librarians of Color. She is passionate about Indigenous Knowledge systems, decolonizing classification standards, equity in information access, and honoring the oral-storytelling tradition of tribal communities. Cindy also believes that librarianship is the gateway to protecting intellectual property and expressing intellectual freedom in every community.

The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) is a non-profit legal and educational organization affiliated with the American Library Association. FTRF was created in 1969 with the following purpose; promoting and protecting the freedom of speech and of the press; protecting the public's right of access to information and materials stored in the nation's libraries; safeguarding libraries' right to disseminate all materials contained in their collections; and supporting libraries and librarians in their defense of First Amendment rights by supplying them with legal counsel or the means to secure it.

Visit us at www.ftrf.org to learn more.

Tags

Advocacy, Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association, Freedom to Read Foundation, Intellectual Freedom Round Table