Meet Us

Intellectual Freedom Round Table Executive Committee Biographies

Chair

Amanda VazquezAmanda Sand (Vazquez) is Director at the Dubuque County Library District, a 2019 graduate of the San José State University iSchool, and has over a decade of experience working in public libraries in programming, technical services, and library administration. In her past position as Director of the Orange City Public Library, she gained first-hand experience with intellectual freedom issues through challenges to LGBTQ+ content in the library’s collection. These challenges propelled her to become involved with the Iowa Library Association and ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Round Table. Amanda is a past Freedom to Read Foundation Gordon M. Conable Scholar, chair of the Iowa Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee and the Chapter Councilor for Iowa.

Chair Elect

Jennifer Griswold

Jennifer Griswold is Director of the Pflugerville Public Library in Pflugerville, Texas (just outside of Austin). I grew up in Austin and received a Ba from St. Edward's University and an MSIS from the University of Texas. I've spent more than 20 years in libraries including a newspaper library, an academic library, and a public library. I was the 2018 Texas Librarian of the Year and am a current member of the Texas Library Association Queers and Allies Roundtable; the ALA Social Responsibilities Roundtable, the Freedom to Read Foundation Board of Trustees, the ALA Intellectual Freedom Roundtable, Texans for the Right to Read, and the staff liaison for the Pflugerville Equity Commission. I'm a passionate supporter of animal rights and social justice. When not at the library, my husband and I spend our time hiking, enjoying the local art scene, and caring for our five pets.

Past Chair

Angela OcanaAngela Ocaña is the Community Services Manager with the Eugene Public Library in Oregon and has served as an IFRT Director at Large for two years. She was a member of the 2018 Emerging Leader class and won the ALA John Cotton Dana award in 2013. She also won the 2016 CLA Young Adult Librarian of the Year award, the same year her Teen Pride program was picketed and challenged by some members of her community. She is a diehard graphic novel reader and has spoken at comic book conventions across the nation, merging her passion for comics and the freedom to read. She is currently serving on the GNCRT selection committee for Best Graphic Novels for Children list and is secretly a unicorn.

IFRT Councilor

Peter CoylPeter Coyl is the Library Director & CEO of the Sacramento Public Library. He is passionate about intellectual freedom and the power of information and libraries to change lives. He serves as President of the Freedom to Read Foundation and a member of the Intellectual Freedom Committee.

Treasurer

Jim Neal

Jim Neal is University Librarian Emeritus at Columbia University. He served as the Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia University during 2001-2014, providing leadership for university academic computing and a system of twenty-two libraries. His responsibilities included the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, the Copyright Advisory Office, and the Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research. Previously, he served as the Dean of University Libraries at Indiana University and Johns Hopkins University, and held administrative positions in the libraries at Penn State, Notre Dame, and the City University of New York.

Neal was 2017-18 President of the American Library Association. He has served on the Council and Executive Board, and was ALA Treasurer during 2010-13. He was a member of the OCLC Board of Trustees 2010-2021. He has served on the Board and as President of the Association of Research Libraries, on the Board and as Chair of the Research Libraries Group (RLG), on the Board and as Chair of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), and on the Board of the Digital Preservation Network. He is on the Board and is the Treasurer of the Freedom to Read Foundation, and is on the Board and has served as Treasurer of the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO). He has also participated on numerous international, national, and state professional committees, and has been an active member of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). He is a member of the Library Advisory Board of the University of the People. Within ALA, he is currently serving on the ALA Council and as chair of its Committee on Organization. He was a member of the Steering Committee on Organizational Effectiveness (SCOE), and served on the ALA Executive Director Search Committee. He serves on the IMLS Reopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums Executive Project Steering Committee (REALM). He served on the ALA Forward Together Resolutions Task Force and is a member of the ALA Business Advisory Group. He is the current chair of the International Relations Round Table. He is a member of the ALA Endowment Trustees.

Neal is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, consultant and published author, with focuses in the areas of scholarly communication, intellectual property, digital library programs, and library cooperation. He has served on the Scholarly Communication committees of ARL and ACRL and as Chair of the Steering Committee of SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. He has served on the university press boards at Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Indiana. He has represented the American library community in testimony on copyright matters before Congressional committees, was an advisor to the U.S. delegation at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) diplomatic conference on copyright, has worked on copyright policy and advisory groups for universities and for professional and higher education associations, and during 2005-08 was a member of the U.S. Copyright Office Section 108 Study Group. He was chair of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2017 National Conference, and coordinated the fundraising for the IFLA 2016 scholarship program. In 2019, he was appointed a Senior Policy Fellow at the American Library Association, with a focus on copyright and licensing, and working with the ALA Policy Corps and the National Advocacy Network.

He was selected the 1997 Academic Librarian of the Year by the Association of College and Research Libraries and was the 2007 recipient of ALA’s Hugh Atkinson Memorial Award and the 2009 ALA Melvil Dewey Medal Award. In 2010, he received the honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta. In 2015, he received the ALA Joseph W. Lippincott Award for "distinguished service to the profession of librarianship", and the Freedom to Read Foundation Roll of Honor Award. In 2016, he was awarded the Scroll of Appreciation by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). And he is the recipient of the 2020 Miles Conrad Award from the National Information Standards Organization and the National Federation of Advanced Information Services. He received the 2020 Intellectual Freedom Award from the New York Library Association.

In 2022, he was elected to honorary membership in the American Library Association the ALA's highest honor, in recognition of outstanding contributions of lasting importance to libraries and librarianship. Also in 2022, he was selected as the winner of the L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award, which recognizes contributions of an individual or group that pursues and supports the Constitutional purpose of the U.S. Copyright Law, fair use and the public domain.

Secretary

Rita EnnenRita Ennen currently serves as the Library Director of the Dickinson Area Public Library in North Dakota. She was previously the Director of Library Services at the Dickinson State University Library. She has served in a variety of capacities for the North Dakota Library Association including President, chair of multiple conferences, and Intellectual Freedom chair and representative. In her spare time, Rita is a lay minister at her church. When she is not reading or studying, she loves to build with LEGOs and watch baseball or the Great British Baking Show with her two kitties in her lap.

Director-at-Large

Cynthia DudenhofferCynthia is currently an Associate Teaching Professor and Program Coordinator in the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Director-at-Large

Michael KirbyMichael Kirby is an Assistant Professor/Reader Services Librarian at Kingsborough Community College. He received his MLS from Queens College, the City University of New York and currently serves as a Director-at-Large for the Intellectual Freedom Round Table.

Director-at-Large

Rebecca MoormanRebecca Moorman is Head of Technical Services at the University of Alaska Anchorage Consortium Library. She received her MSLIS from the University of Illinois, and has worked in academic and special libraries. Rebecca has lived in Alaska for over 15 years, and is active in the Alaska Library Association. She enjoys traveling, adding frequently challenged books to Little Free Libraries, and cheering for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Director-at-Large

Kristin PekollKristin Pekoll is a former YA librarian from Wisconsin. For eight years she provided professional and emotional support to library workers experiencing bans and challenges as the assistant director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. She is the author of Beyond Banned Books: Defending Intellectual Freedom throughout Your Library published by ALA Editions in 2019. Currently she works with the Illinois Library Association as their Conference and Continuing Education Manager.

Bylaws and Organization Committee Chair

Steve NormanSteve Norman has been the Director at the Belfast Free Library in Belfast (ME) since 2001. He has a degree in English from Macalester College and a Master’s in Library Studies from the University of Chicago. He has been IFRT Treasurer and Secretary and has worked on several IFRT committees (mainly, awards committees and the Membership Committee). Currently, he is a Trustee of the LeRoy Merritt Humanitarian Fund.

Coalition Building Committee Chair

coming soonMatthew Sylvain

Immroth Award Committee Chair

Wanda HuffakerWanda is a Public Services Library for Salt Lake County Library Services in Utah. She sits at the desk, and stands on a soapbox, but is trying to listen more to others. Her hobbies are her grandchildren, 4 episode crime series and guessing the days until the A/C is off and the furnace goes on.

Membership Promotion Committee Chair

Jennifer SteeleDr. Jennifer Steele is an Assistant Professor in the School of Library and Information Science at The University of Southern Mississippi, located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She earned both her MLIS degree and her Ph.D. in Communication and Information Sciences from The University of Alabama, completing the degrees in 2013 and 2017 respectively. She has years of professional experience working as an academic librarian. Her research focuses on intellectual freedom, censorship, and information access.

Merritt Fund Promotion Committee Chair

coming soonMolly Meisenheimer

Nominating Committee Chair

Angela OcanaAngela Ocaña is the Community Services Manager with the Eugene Public Library in Oregon and has served as an IFRT Director at Large for two years. She was a member of the 2018 Emerging Leader class and won the ALA John Cotton Dana award in 2013. She also won the 2016 CLA Young Adult Librarian of the Year award, the same year her Teen Pride program was picketed and challenged by some members of her community. She is a diehard graphic novel reader and has spoken at comic book conventions across the nation, merging her passion for comics and the freedom to read. She is currently serving on the GNCRT selection committee for Best Graphic Novels for Children list and is secretly a unicorn.

Oboler Award Committee Chair

Stephanie BarnabySteph Barnaby is the IDEAS (Information Delivery & Access Services) Librarian at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She received her Masters' in Library and Information Science at San Jose State University's School of Information in 2018. She previously worked at the Fineman & Pappas Law Libraries at Boston University's School of Law as the Evening Library Supervisor. She loves books, vegan comfort food, traveling, meeting new people, coffee, music, and Doctor Who.

Programming and Events Committee Chair

Edward RemusEdward Remus is an Assistant Professor and Social Sciences Librarian at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. He has previously served as a member of the Illinois Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee as well as of the IFRT Programming and Events Committee. He has presented at state and national conferences on the topic of how public and academic libraries can advance intellectual freedom by organizing public events featuring speakers with diverse and differing viewpoints on controversial topics. He is currently preparing a scholarly article on this topic for publication. He has also presented historical research on the topic of the political left and its support for the freedom of speech (and for civil liberties more broadly) in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Publications & Communications Committee Chair

coming soonSam Jack

ALA Executive Board Liaison

Sam HelmickSam Helmick is the Community & Access Services Coordinator at the Iowa City Public Library. Sam is President of the Iowa Library Association and currently serves on the American Library Association Executive Board. They enjoy LEGO, cosplay, comic cons, travel, jogging, and their rescue kitty, Rilke. Their favorite book and quote come from Daphne du Maurier who wrote "a dreamer, I walked enchanted, and nothing held me back" in her thriller Rebecca.

Updated September 2023
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