Tag Archives: Madison Award

American Library Association Honors Aaron Swartz with Madison Award

Posted on March 15, 2013 by | 5 Comments

Today, the American Library Association posthumously awarded activist Aaron Swartz the 2013 James Madison Award for his dedication to promoting and protecting public access to research and government information. ALA President, Maureen Sullivan presented the award to Swartz’s family during the 15th Annual Freedom of Information Day in Washington, D.C.

Before his untimely death in January, Swartz was an outspoken advocate for public participation in government and unrestricted access to peer-reviewed scholarly articles. Swartz was a co-founder of Demand Progress, an advocacy group that organizes people to take action on civil liberties and government reform issues. Swartz was also a leader in the national campaign to prevent the passing of the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill that would have diminished critical online legal protections.

“Aaron loved libraries,” said Bob Swartz, Aaron’s father. “I remember how excited he was to get library privileges at Harvard and be able to use the Widener library there. I know he would have been humbled and honored to receive this award. We thank you. Aaron’s goal was to make knowledge freely available to everyone and we can all further his legacy by making this happen.”

“We are honored for Aaron to become the first person to win the James Madison Award posthumously,” said Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, Swartz’s partner. “Librarians have always understood the importance of open access better than anyone, and they were great friends to Aaron. Aaron fought to ensure that the corpus of human knowledge would be available to anyone who wanted to learn, not just those with the privilege of access to a major research university.

“He saw the revolutionary potential of the internet in this regard. I hope that Aaron’s death and this award can serve as a wake-up call to the U.S. Congress and the federal government: We must no longer allow corporate greed to be the bottleneck to people’s access to academic knowledge.”

Swartz was revered as a gifted computer programmer long before he became a public activist.  He helped to develop the web feed format RSS, the website framework web.py and the social news website Reddit. As a teenager, Swartz designed the code layer for the Creative Commons licenses. Continue reading →

About Jazzy Wright

Jazzy Wright is the Press Officer of the American Library Association's Washington Office. Email her at jwright@alawash.org.

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Posted in Government Information, Intellectual Freedom, OGR, Open Access

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ALA Washington Office seeks nominations for 2013 Madison awards

Posted on November 16, 2012 by | 1 Comment

ALA President, Roberta Stevens with Madion Award Winner, Patrice McDermott

The American Library Association’s (ALA) Washington Office is calling for nominations for two awards to honor individuals or groups who have championed, protected and promoted public access to government information and the public’s right to know.

The James Madison Award, named in honor of President James Madison, was established in 1986 to celebrate an individual or group who has brought awareness to these issues at the national level. Madison is widely regarded as the Father of the Constitution and as the foremost advocate for openness in government.

The Eileen Cooke Award honors an extraordinary leader who has built local grassroots awareness of the importance of access to information. Cooke, former director of the ALA Washington Office, was a tireless advocate for the public’s right to know and a mentor to many librarians and trustees.

Both awards are presented during Freedom of Information (FOI) Day, an annual event on or near March 16, Madison’s birthday.

Nominations should be submitted to the ALA Washington Office no later than January 16, 2013. Submissions should include a statement (maximum one page) about the nominee’s contribution to public access to government information, why it merits the award and one seconding letter. Please include a brief biography and contact information for the nominee.

Send e-mail nominations to Jessica McGilvray, Assistant Director for the ALA Office of Government Relations, at jmcgilvray@alawash.org. Submissions can also be mailed to:

James Madison Award / Eileen Cooke Award
American Library Association
Washington Office
1615 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20009-2520

About Jessica McGilvray

Jessica McGilvary is the Assistant Director of ALA Washington Office's Office of Government Relations (OGR).

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Posted in Copyright, Government Information, OGR, Open Access

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REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA) NAMED 2012 JAMES MADISON AWARD RECIPIENT

Posted on March 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

American Library Association (ALA) President Molly Raphael presented Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) with one of the association’s highest honors – the James Madison Award. Lofgren received the award during the National Freedom of Information Day Conference held at the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The James Madison Award, named in honor of President James Madison, was established by the ALA in 1986 to honor individuals or groups who have championed, protected and promoted public access to government information and the public’s “right to know” on the national level. The award is presented annually on the anniversary of Madison’s birth during Freedom of Information (FOI) Day, March 16.

Lofgren was recognized both for her commitment to sponsoring legislation that strengthens the public’s right to access information and her opposition to legislation that impedes First Amendment rights.

“The American public has a true advocate in Representative Lofgren. Time and again she stands up for their right to access information in its many forms,” Raphael said.

She is a cosponsor of the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA). Introduced in February, the bill is aimed at improving access to federally funded research. It requires taxpayer-funded manuscripts to be made available to the public online and without cost, no later than six months after the article was published. The bill would expand the amount of research made available to the masses and would further the work of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy, which ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research no later than 12 months after publication.

Recently Lofgren fought against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), legislation that would require Internet service providers to police users’ activities in an attempt to combat online infringement overseas. Recognizing the potential harm that SOPA could have on First Amendment rights, intellectual freedom and privacy, Lofgren fought tirelessly to oppose the bill.

About Jessica McGilvray

Jessica McGilvary is the Assistant Director of ALA Washington Office's Office of Government Relations (OGR).

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Posted in Copyright, Events, Government Information, OGR, Open Access, Washington Office News

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Celebrate Sunshine Week!

Posted on March 1, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Sunshine Week – the time to celebrate and investigate open government – is coming up soon, and this year the ALA is participating in two events. 

The first is the Freedom of Information Day celebration on March 16, where ALA President Roberta Stevens will present the Madison Award.

The second event is the annual OpenTheGovernment.org Sunshine Week Webcast. This year’s event, titled “ The Road Forward on Open Government,” will take place on March 18, from noon to 1:30 p.m.  To learn more about the event and discover how you can host a viewing party at your library, visit this site.

About Jenni Terry

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Posted in Government Information, OGR, Washington Office News

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Roberta Stevens to present Madison Award on Freedom of Information Day

Posted on February 22, 2011 by | Leave a comment

ALA President Roberta Stevens will present the Madison Award to honor this year’s recipient’s work to promote public access to government information and the public’s right to know during the March 16th Freedom of Information Day celebration at the Newseum. The full day of events includes panel discussions and presentations.  Lunch will also be provided.  If you live in or are planning to visit the DC Metro area and want to attend the event, please register today! 

This event is sponsored by the American Library Association, the First Amendment Center, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, OMB Watch, OpenTheGovernment.org, and the National Security Archive at George Washington University; and in cooperation with the annual Sunshine Week initiative sponsored by the American Society of News Editors. 

Registration
There is no charge to attend, but because there is somewhat limited space, participants must register individually in advance. To register for the 2011 conference, e-mail or telephone Ashlie Hampton of the First Amendment Center at ahampton@freedomforum.org, or 202-292-6288. When registering, please provide your name, title, affiliation and contact information.

About Jenni Terry

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Posted in Events, Intellectual Freedom, OGR

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