Freedom to Read Foundation Announces 2022 - 2023 Executive Committee

For Immediate Release

Wed, July 20, 2022

Chicago, Illinois

Contact: Joyce McIntosh

Assistant Program Director

Freedom to Read Foundation

jmcintosh@ala.org

Freedom to Read Foundation Announces 2022 - 2023 Executive Committee

The trustees of the  Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), a non-profit legal and educational organization affiliated with the American Library Association dedicated to protecting and defending each person’s First Amendment right to read, elected its officers and members of its Executive Committee for the 2022-2023 term at its Annual Meeting held on June 23, 2022. 

Peter Coyl, Director and CEO of the Sacramento Public Library in Sacramento, California is the newly-elected President of the Freedom to Read Foundation. He has previously served as Vice President of the Freedom to Read Foundation and currently serves as Councilor for the American Library Association’s (ALA) Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) and as a member of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC). "I am honored to be selected as the President of the Freedom to Read Foundation. The First Amendment is the cornerstone of our democracy and now, more than ever, it is vital we protect, defend, and strengthen it," said Coyl. "I look forward to working with our colleagues in the library, publishing, bookselling, and academic arenas to ensure that our right to read remains strong and enduring.  We welcome those who share our vision to join us in this fight."

Sophia Sotilleo, Interim Library Director/Associate Professor at the Langston Hughes Memorial Library, Lincoln University, Pennsylvania has been elected Vice-President of FTRF. “Working as a librarian at a 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,” said Sotilleo. Sotilleo was also elected as a 2022-2025 ALA Councilor-at-Large and is a 2022 Association of Research Libraries Leadership Fellow.

Cindy Hohl, Director of Branch Operations at Kansas City Public Library and immediate past president of the American Indian Library Association, will serve as FTRF’s Treasurer. Hohl said she is “committed to supporting library workers and champions equal access for everyone to defend their right to read.” Hohl is also the ALA representative to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Indigenous Matters Section, Co-Chair of the ALA Spectrum Scholarship Program, and Co-Chair of the ALA Working Group on White Supremacy & Fascism as Antithetical to Library Work, and part of the LibLearnX Programs Committee.

Sukrit Goswami and Lesliediana Jones have been elected to serve as members of FTRF’s Executive Committee.  

Goswami is the Director at Haverford Township Free Library, Havertown, Pennsylvania. He is currently the Chair of ALA's Information Technology Policy Advisory Committee (ITP), and a member of ALA's Intellectual Freedom Committee. “One of the most powerful statements I have come across in my professional career is Freedom to Read Foundation's slogan, “Free People Read Freely.” I would like to continue to promote and advocate Freedom To Read Foundation’s commitments towards protecting, safeguarding and supporting libraries and librarians in their defense of first amendment rights as a member of the FTRF Executive Committee.“

Lesliediana Jones is the Associate Director of Public Services at Harvard Law School Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts and currently serves as Chair of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee. “I believe in the words of Frederick Douglass, ‘Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.’ The freedom to read is a right that all persons should be able to use however they choose,” said Jones.

The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), a non-profit legal and educational organization affiliated with the American Library Association, is dedicated to protecting and defending each person’s First Amendment right to read. Since 1969 FTRF trustees, staff, and members have worked to protect First Amendment rights through education, litigation, and advocacy.