2001
Irene Cooley
Media Specialist
Barron Senior High School
Barron, Wisconsin

"I am writing to thank you for selecting me for the SIRS/WLA Intellectual Freedom Award. It affirms all that I stood for and contnue to stand for as a school library media spoecialist. It is reassuring to know that a company as well respected as SIRS acknowledges the principles of intellectual freedom. I appreciate the support of SIRS that is expressed through the Intellectual Freedom Award and the gift that goes with it. I selected the Barron Senior High Library as the recipient of the monetary award. The money will be used to purchase books."

2000
Dianne McAfee Hopkins
University of Madison-Wisconsin
Madison, WI

"It is a great privilege to stand before you as the recipient of this year's Wisconsin/SIRS Publishing Intellectual Freedom Award. I would like to thank SIRS Publishing and the Wisconsin Library Association for this recognition.

I teach a graduate class in intellectual freedom in which we study and critique pertinent statements of the profession. What excites students most are the true stories written and spoken by people like you ­ public, academic, school and special librarians ­ who share daily triumphs and struggles to promote access to information in the real world. Each of your stories serves as a guide and as inspiration for others to follow. I thank you for your commitment to the right to know and receive information, and I urge you to continue to share your stories, for it is in that sharing that we truly know that we are not alone."

1999
Carolyn Winters Folke
Former Director, Bureau for Instructional Media & Technolgy
Department of Public Instruction

"As our society enters the 21st century, we are faced with a technology that rivals the printing press with its ability to quickly spread ideas. Ideas are powerful - that is why so many have attempted and will continue to attempt to limit and control them. As threatening as some ideas seem to our way of life, the greater threat is the effort of some to limit access to ideas. Our great challenge is to equip all our citizens - from our youngest to our oldest - to make wise use of these new resources. Perhaps an even greater challenge is to resist the temptation to set ourselves up, or allow anyone else to set themselves up, as gatekeepers of ideas. We must keep our eyes on the principle of intellectual freedom as we experience the Information Age."
 

1998
Dr. Nicholas J. Karolides
Chalmer Davee Library
River Falls, WI
 

1996
Ginny Moore Kruse
Director, Cooperative Children's Book Center
Madison, WI

1995
Hales Corners Public Library
Hales Corners, WI