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 Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC)         

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Jeffrey Beall wins Julie J. Boucher Award for Intellectual Freedom

One of the most important parts of librarianship is having the freedom to engage in professional judgment about information. With the growing volume of information that is now present, and a ever changing scholarly information environment, the ability of librarians to provide sober professional advice about the quality of information is more vital than ever.  

This year's award recipient, Jeffrey Beall, a Scholarly Initiatives Librarian at the University of Colorado Denver, epitomizes this aspect of librarianship. His blog, Scholarly OA, is a forum where he provides a list of OA journals he judges to be predatory.  By doing so Mr. Beall provides a valuable resource in the ongoing debates about Open Access resources.  

As a result of his work, Mr. Beall has been threatened with lawsuits by publishers that would like to constrain the impact of voice.  For refusing to buckle under these threats while continuing to make a significant contribution to the debates surrounding Open Access and predatory journals, the Intellectual Freedom Committee is glad to give this years Julie J. Boucher award for Intellectual Freedom to Jeffrey Beall.

Charge:

• Educate the Colorado library community about intellectual freedom principles and issues through programs, lectures, and publications
• Support First Amendment rights in all appropriate venues and, in conjunction with the Legislative Committee, support legislation and ballot initiatives that promote the principles of intellectual freedom
• Recommend expenditures of the Julie J. Boucher Memorial Fund to the CAL Executive Board

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