Intellectual Freedom Awards are presented to individuals or groups who have met or resisted attempts at censorship and have otherwise furthered the cause of intellectual and academic freedom. Previous winners include public and school librarians, teachers, administrators, school board members, authors, parents, bookstore owners, community groups and students.

The program now encompasses 30 different intellectual and academic freedom awards. These awards are administered on state, national and international levels in conjunction with intellectual freedom committees, the American Library Association and various academic associations and presented at annual professional meetings.

"ProQuest supports the efforts of intellectual freedom committees. By honoring those who oppose censorship, we hope to increase awareness of the challenges to intellectual freedom and to reinforce the idea that we can't take First Amendment freedoms for granted," said Ron Klausner, president of ProQuest Information and Learning.

The IFA program has a proud history. For more than 25 years, the company has demonstrated its commitment to intellectual freedom and excellence in education. To further this concept, the ProQuest/SIRS Intellectual Freedom Awards were established in 1981.

For information about the 2004 Intellectual Freedom Awards program, please contact Constance Crump at 1-800-521-0600, ext. 6489 or email pr@il.proquest.com

ProQuest Information and Learning is a world leader in collecting, organizing, and publishing information worldwide for researchers, faculty, and students in libraries and schools. Known widely for its strength in business and economics, general reference, humanities, social sciences, and STM content, the company develops premium databases comprising periodicals, newspapers, dissertations, out-of-print books, and other scholarly information from more than 8,500 publishers worldwide.  Users access the information through the ProQuest® Web-based online information system, Chadwyck-Healey^TM electronic and microform resources, UMI® microform and print reference products, eLibrary^TM and SIRS® educational resources, and XanEdu^TM online faculty and student resources.  For more information about ProQuest Information and Learning, visit www.il.proquest.com.