West Bend Library Wins Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award

Congratulations to the West Bend Community Memorial Library in Wisconsin!

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign announced on December 8th that the West library was the winner of the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award.  Their web page says, in part:

The faculty voted overwhelmingly to give this year's award to the West Bend Library for its steadfast advocacy on behalf of intellectual freedom in the face of a library challenge that garnered national attention. The efforts of the library board, Library Director Michael Tyree, the library staff, and many supportive community members are to be commended.

and:

"The West Bend librarians, library board, and library supporters demonstrated the strong and steadfast advocacy on behalf of intellectual freedom that is the focus of the Downs Award. Despite the enormous media attention that the controversy received, they were unwavering in their support of the public library's responsibility to provide a diverse collection to serve *all* community members," said Christine Jenkins, GSLIS associate professor and director of the Center for Children's Books.

 See the announcement at the GSLIS web page, and other information at:

• Library Journal.com: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6710883.html 
• MichaelZimmer.org: http://michaelzimmer.org/2009/12/09/west-bend-public-library-wins-downs-intellectual-freedom-award/