Applications open for 2009 Gordon M. Conable Conference Scholarship, sponsored by Freedom to Read Foundation

The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) has opened applications for the 2009 Gordon M. Conable Conference Scholarship, which will enable a library school student or new professional to attend ALA’s 2009 Annual Conference.

The scholarship’s goal is to advance two principles that Gordon Conable held dear: intellectual freedom and mentorship. The 2009 ALA Annual Conference will be held July 9–15 in Chicago.

It provides for conference registration, transportation, housing for six nights and six days per diem. In return, the recipient will be expected to attend various FTRF and other intellectual freedom meetings and programs at conference, consult with a mentor/board member and present a report about his or her experiences. The 2009 Conable Scholarship recipient also will attend the Freedom to Read Foundation’s 40th Anniversary Gala, scheduled for Sunday, July 12 at the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The deadline for submitting an application for the 2009 Conable Scholarship is Friday, March 20; the award will be announced in April.

Students currently enrolled in a library and information studies degree program and new professionals (those who have worked in librarianship for three years or less) are eligible to receive the Conable Scholarship. Those interested must submit an application that includes two references and an essay detailing their interest in intellectual freedom issues. Applicants also are asked to attach a résumé, particularly those who are working professionals. If the recipient is already registered for ALA’s Annual Conference, he or she will have the conference fee refunded.

To apply for the Gordon M. Conable Conference Scholarship, visit http://www.ftrf.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/oifprograms/ifawards/conablescholarship/Conablemain.cfm. For more information, please contact Jonathan Kelley at (800) 545-2433, ext. 4226 or jokelley@ala.org.

Gordon Conable was a California librarian and intellectual freedom champion who served several terms as president of the Freedom to Read Foundation. He was executive vice president for public libraries at Library Systems and Services (LSSI) in Riverside, Calif., and was responsible for management and performance of LSSI’s public library contracts, including the 30-branch Riverside County, Calif., system. He also served as director of the Monroe County (Mich.) Library System from 1988–1998. During his tenure there, he withstood an intense controversy over Madonna’s book “Sex.” Before that he was associate director of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library in Washington. For his efforts, Conable received the Freedom to Read Foundation Roll of Honor Award and the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award for “intellectual freedom fighters.” In 1994 he was the first librarian recognized as Michigan’s Public Administrator of the Year.

Following his unexpected death in 2005, his wife and FTRF created the Conable Fund, which provides funding for the Conable Scholarship. To contribute to the Conable Fund, visit the Conable Fund page, contact the Freedom to Read Foundation at (800) 545-2433, ext. 4226 or e-mail ftrf@ala.org.

The Freedom to Read Foundation, a sister organization of the American Library Association, was founded in 1969 to promote and defend the right of individuals to freely express ideas and to access information in libraries and elsewhere. FTRF fulfills its mission through the disbursement of grants to individuals and groups, primarily for the purpose of aiding them in litigation, and through direct participation in litigation dealing with freedom of speech and of the press.

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