Toni Samek to Keynote on "Academic Freedom and the Responsibility of Librarianship" at CAUT Librarians Conference [October 23-25, 2009.]

Canadian Association of University Teachers.
2009 Conference: Negotiating for Parity: Closing the Librarian/Faculty Gap. [October 23-25, 2009].

Academic Freedom and the Responsibility of Librarianship.

Toni Samek (Professor, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta)

Academic freedom allows librarians to vigorously oppose efforts to censor,filter or divert information. It also allows librarians to critique workplace mechanisms and structures that interfere with the exercise of their duties. It is therefore essential that academic freedom parity exists between academic librarians and faculty in respect to collective agreement language. It is equally important that librarians elevate the exercise of academic freedom to a central place in the culture of their workplaces, as faculty have done.

Program in pdf is here .