Future Librarians for Intellectual Freedom (FLIF): A Student Initiative
Valerie Thomson
Issue Contents
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After a two-year hiatus, the Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility committee has been resurrected at the University of Alberta’s School of Library and Information Studies. Co-chaired by Jenny Ryan and Valerie Thomson, the group is committed to promoting intellectual freedom and social responsibility both within the school and throughout the University of Alberta community.
One of its first projects actually influenced a name change for the committee. The project involved a campus screening of a documentary film, and a guest appearance on the campus radio station, CJSR. The decision to change the committee name to Future Librarians for Intellectual Freedom (FLIF) was made in order to sound more “radio friendly” (Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility is quite a mouthful!), and also to have a more self-explanatory name to those outside of the library school community. The screening and radio guest spot were both successes and the name of FLIF stuck.
FLIF also headed out on campus in the spring, celebrating Freedom to Read Week by promoting the awareness of challenged books. Taking a cue from the Freedom to Read Week website, FLIF decided to take part in the Book crossing campaign by randomly distributing challenged books in public places on campus. Book crossing labels were attached to the books that provided a short explanation about challenged books and freedom of expression while inviting the finder of the book to visit the Bookcrossing website. There they could register the book as “found” as well as discover more information about challenged books. In addition, FLIF set up an information table in the Students’ Union Building to raise awareness of the Bookcrossing campaign and intellectual freedom. This campaign turned out to be very successful, and of the 26 books released so far, 6 have been caught and registered by their founders, which is on par with the national Bookcrossing catch and release rate.
Intellectual freedom and social responsibility were promoted within the school as well, the most impressive project being a school art show. Enjoyed by all who attended, the show displayed art by both students and staff, using a very liberal definition of the word “art”. Crafts, experimental art, poetry and writing, works in progress, and a website accompanied the many pieces of traditional fine art in a proud display of talent and creativity.
FLIF’s inaugural year (2004/2005) saw some huge achievements, and there is every reason to believe that the work begun this year will only continue to grow in the years to come. It was an exciting and accomplished year. FLIF was able to circulate within the University community and spread the word about intellectual freedom and social responsibility, and also raise the profile of the library school and of future librarians. For more information, please direct any questions to our continuing student representative, James Reimer, at jreimer@ualberta.ca.
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