Freedom to Read Foundation Announces 2022 Slate for Board of Trustees Election

The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) is led by a board of fifteen trustees, eleven elected and four ex officio. The term for an elected trustee is two years, and board members may serve two consecutive terms. Trustees meet at least twice a year in conjunction with the ALA Annual meeting and the ALA Midwinter meeting or professional development conference. Trustees hold committee meetings throughout the year. This year members of the Freedom to Read Foundation will elect five trustees to the Board of Trustees, from the ten candidates on the ballot.

FTRF members who were current as of April 1, 2022 will  receive an online ballot from vote@skypunch.tech. Please check your spam mail if you do not see a link.  FTRF members who have not provided us with an email, will receive a paper ballot in the mail which will need to be filled out and returned by May 1, 2022.

Contact Joyce McIntosh, jmcintosh@ala.org or 312-280-4226 with questions.

Members of the FTRF Nominating Committee have evaluated and slated the following candidates for the election:

Jarrett Dapier

I am interested in being a part of the FTRF board because of the vital, crucial work this body does to protect the right of all Americans to read. This right is currently under widespread assault from a variety of groups all working in concert to control schools, teachers, and librarians - all professionals who are trained to provide students with accurate information about our world, its history, and its art. I am a tireless advocate for free expression and the right to read and I don't let things go easily, especially when youth rights are violated. Having worked at the ACLU of IL on the First Amendment Rights Project and since 2009 in public libraries where I have adapted and directed stories about censorship to the stage with teen performers, I have dedicated much of my professional life to fighting censorship. I am also the author of the picture book Mr. Watson's Chickens, which is currently being challenged for removal at a public library in Spanish Fort, Alabama. I will contribute my own experience and my passion to this board in ways that I believe will complement the already excellent work being done there. 

Skip Dye
SKIP DYE is SVP, Library Sales, and Digital Strategy at Penguin Random House. Skip has been at PRH for over 25 years. Skip is a strong advocate for library funding and Intellectual Freedom. He has served as President of United for Libraries (2018-19), Member of ALA Nominating Committee (2020), and is currently serving as Co-Chair of United’s Intellectual Freedom task force. Skip is a board member of the Friends of Lewes Public Library in Lewes, DE (the first town in the first state).

I am honored to be nominated to serve as a Trustee on the FTRF Board. I do not take lightly the active responsibilities that this position holds, and the importance of championing intellectual freedom as new laws are being considered or passed that negatively impact our country’s foundational core. My strength is my staunch belief in and support for the Reader’s Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, and the Library Bill of Rights. I bring a voice and unique experiences and skills to the table which I hope can affect positive change and continue the mission of the Freedom to Read Foundation.

Loida Garcia-Febo

Loida Garcia-Febo is past President of the American Library Association, member of the FTRF Executive Committee, running for a second with FTRF to continue work she started by Co-Chairing the FTRF Social Justice and Intellectual Freedom Task Force which resulted in the development of various lines of action and a forthcoming two-day FTRF symposium about the topic. Served as Chair of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table, long-time active REFORMA's liaison to the FTRF, and Officer of IFLA's FAIFE. Committed to serve diverse communities and to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion achieving joint historical signatory commitment from US library associations to EDI on which they are building new strategies to serve libraries and library workers. Long-time advocate of free access to information and freedom of expression. Actively advocated at national and local levels for laws and measures protecting privacy, against censorship, supporting network neutrality and many other issues within the work of the FTRF. Collaborated with the FTRF, ALA’s IFC and IFRT speaking about freedom to read, ethics and diversity, intellectual freedom 101, and coordinating events to celebrate FTRF 45th anniversary. Eager to continue serving and working together with the FTRF Trustees to continue protecting and defending the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Harvey Graff

 I am a distinguished historian of literacy. Author of many books and articles, until my retirement, I was the inaugural Ohio Eminent Scholar in Literacy Studies at  Ohio State University, where I founded and directed the unique, university-wide, interdisciplinary initiative LiteracyStudies@OSU.

I have been honored in Europe, the Middle East, and South America as well as the United States and Canada. My writings are translated widely. They include the landmark The Literacy Myth; The Legacies of Literacy; Literacy Myths, Legacies, and Lessons; and in press Searching for Literacy: The Social and Intellectual Origins of Literacy Studies. 

I am also a leading historian of children, youth, and families in North America and Europe, and comparative U.S., Canadian, and European history. My 1995 book, Conflicting Paths: Growing Up in America and 2015 Undisciplining Knowledge are considered  classic.

I speak from almost half a century of classroom teaching and close relationships with young people and their intellectual, social, and emotional development as they become young citizens. 

I speak with professional and personal knowledge of most of the works of literature that the radical banners seek to remove. I am active nationally with  groups ranging from Honesty in Ohio Education to ACLU and AAUP.

Jennifer Griswold

My name is Jennifer Griswold, I am the Director of the Pflugerville Public Library in Pflugerville, Texas. I am running for the Board of Trustees to challenge censorship locally, and on the national level.

I have worked for Pflugerville since 2006 as the Reference Librarian, Assistant Director, and for the past six years, Library Director. I have a background in news research and academic librarianship. I have a B.A. in English from St. Edwards University, and a Master of Science in Information from the University of Texas.

I was the 2018 Texas Librarian of the Year, and am a current member of the Texas Library Association Queers and Allies Roundtable; the Ethnic and Multicultural Exchange Roundtable, the ALA Intellectual Freedom Roundtable, and the staff liaison for the Pflugerville Equity Commission.

Libraries in Texas are on the frontlines of the censorship battle. Area directors meet to discuss the issue, those who are experiencing challenges, and those who are policing themselves out of fear. I believe I can offer a unique perspective not only from myself, but also my colleagues who are involved in active challenges. Thank you for the opportunity to voice my interest in running for the Board of Trustees.

Paul Grondahl

As director of the New York State Writers Institute, as a journalist for four decades and as the author of numerous books, my work and my actions have underscored my commitment to the First Amendment, freedom of the press and right to read and write whatever one wishes without censorship. This freedom of intellectual and artistic expression is a fragile and challenged constitutional right that must be fostered and defended.

I am submitting my name as a candidate for Freedom to Read Foundation’s Board of Trustees because I believe in these bedrock democratic principles. I actively practice and defend them in my professional life and push back against challenges on my broad platform of a weekly column in the Albany Times Union and large social media audience.

Sherelle Harris

I am Director of the Norwalk Public Library, where I have worked for 23 years, starting as a part-time YA Librarian. Hailing from Illinois, I am a die-hard Midwesterner in Connecticut. I have a BA in Journalism from Columbia College Chicago and an MLS from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. 

I am freelance journalist.
I have been awarded for my creative works.
I love the core values of librarianship.

Let’s talk about trial by fire! I was promoted to my current post last April. One month later I received persistent requests to remove a book from the library. I sympathized, but called ALA and CLA for help. 

I recall the time I was a long-term substitute in a school library and the principal told
me to remove a particular book from the library. I challenged him. In my home I have
the type of books I want to read, but when I’d build collections, I purchased many
books that offend me. I believe in the challenge of opposing viewpoints.

I will bring to the Freedom to Read Foundation Trustees my belief in and support of the First Amendment, and my understanding of the fiduciary responsibility that supports the legal work.

Wanda Huffaker

Wanda Mae Huffaker served on the Board of Trustees 2020-2022. She particularly enjoyed working with the Roll of Honor committee, as a liaison for the Robert B. Downs Award and helping coordinate a joint, virtual award ceremony with IFRT (Intellectual Freedom Roundtable) recipients in 2021. Honoring intellectual freedom champions, and awarding grants, like the Judith Krug Banned Books Week Grants is a way to share the excitement we feel about being involved with the Freedom to Read Foundation. Wanda has served as IFRT chair, her state chapter IFC chair and even a few ALA IFC working groups.

She has been proud to represent FTRF the past few months; as book banning’s have increased, reporters doing advance research on her name often found reference to the foundation and asked about it. It underscores that all we do, including press releases, can play a role in the work of the freedom to read. It also reminds us that everyone can have a role in protecting that freedom.

Pat Scales

Pat Scales is a retired middle and high school librarian. She is a free-speech advocate and is the author of  Teaching Banned Books: 32 Guides for Children and Teens, Protecting Intellectual Freedom in Your School Library and Books Under Fire: A Hit List of Banned and Challenged Children’s Books. She writes a bi-monthly column, Scales on Censorship, for School Library Journal, and is a regular contributor to Book Links magazine. She has served as a member and chair of the ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee.

Book censorship is at epidemic levels, and America’s youth are the target. The FTRF promotes and defends students’ right to read, but now, more than ever, the young need to be guided and taught to advocate for themselves. Proactively involving youth in defending their First Amendment rights assures a new generation of free speech advocates and could inoculate them against falling victim to a virus called censorship.

Sophia Sotilleo

Professor Sophia Sotilleo is an Associate Professor and the Interim Library Director at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania for the Langston Hughes Memorial Library. In this capacity, she has the privilege to teach Information Literacy across all subject areas, and works with the Library Team to support and ensure that the Library is a part of the Lincoln University curriculum and co-curriculum strategic plans for student success. Her current area of research and interest is in Embedded Librarianship, with a focus on access, advocacy, and leadership in the field of Librarianship.

I am interested in serving on the Freedom to Read Board to support the work of an organization that defends and promote the rights of libraries to ensure access to books and information. Working as a librarian at an Historically Black College and University (HBCU), serving first generation college students, I see daily the importance of having access to various types of books that not only educate, but also empower and encourage our next generation of leaders. The freedom to read foundation continues to do an amazing job at defending and supporting access to information and I look forward to serving with the organization in this inspiring and important work.