Professor Toni Samek named CFE Scholar-in-Residence for 2024-25

Professor Dr. Toni Samek

The School of Library and Information Studies is thrilled to announce the appointment of Professor Dr. Toni Samek as the Centre for Free Expression's (CFE) Scholar-in-Residence for 2024-25. This prestigious appointment reflects Dr. Samek's outstanding contributions to intellectual freedom and her commitment to advancing academic excellence and research in information ethics.

“Prof. Samek is one of Canada’s leading authorities on intellectual freedom, as well as one of its most effective advocates,” said James L. Turk, Director of the CFE.

As Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Samek's expertise will play a vital role in CFE's work to counter the growing attempts to censor books and curriculum materials in Canadian schools.

You can read CFE's full press release here.

Dr. Toni Samek is a Professor and former Chair at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta. Dr. Samek has sustained interest in intellectual freedom, academic freedom, librarianship and human rights and social justice, global information ethics, and global information justice. Dr. Samek's earlier books include: Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship 1967 to 1974; Librarianship and Human Rights: A twenty-first century guide; and She Was a Booklegger: Remembering Celeste West (co-edited with Moyra Lang and K.R. Roberto). Her latest (2017) monograph (co-edited with Lynette Shultz) is entitled Information Ethics, Globalization and Citizenship: Essays on Ideas to Praxis. Most recently she was an editor for Minds Alive: Libraries and Archives Now (2020) from University of Toronto Press. Dr. Samek's scholarship has appeared in translation in such countries as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Türkiye.