Chicago, IL -- May 9, 2024. The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), a non-profit legal and educational organization affiliated with the American Library Association, concluded its annual election on April 30, 2024. FTRF members elected five people to its Board of Trustees for two-year terms that begin on June 27, 2024. Since 1969 FTRF trustees, staff, and members have been dedicated to protecting and defending each person's First Amendment right to access information through education, litigation, and advocacy.

FTRF President Sukrit Goswami had the following welcome for new trustees. "Congratulations to all who were elected to the FTRF Board – we look forward to doing this important work with you. I would also like to thank everyone who ran for the board positions; we hope that you will choose to work with us on committees and be involved with the work of this organization. Every person counts in our efforts to stop censorship and ensure that Free People Read Freely."

The elected trustees are:

• Shauntee Burns-Simpson has been elected for a 2-year term. Burns-Simpson is the Director of Youth & Family Services at the District of Columbia Public Library. She served as President of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) from 2020 to 2022, and she has also chaired the ALA Committee on Diversity. Burns-Simpson is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion on a national scale within the profession.
• Dorcas Hand has been elected for a 2- year term. She is a retired school librarian from Houston TX who is a co-chair of Students Need Libraries in HISD (Houston), a grass-roots advocacy effort to return school librarians and libraries to all campuses in HISD. Hand served on the FTRF Board from 2019-22, is an active member of the ALA COLA Ecosystem Subcommittee, is the Texas Chapter Councilor to the ALA Governing Council (2021-2024) and sits on the TXLA Executive Board (2021-2024).
• Lesliediana Jones has been elected for a 2-year term. She is currently an Associate Director and Interim Assistant Dean at the Harvard Law School Library. Lesliediana has been the Chair of the Intellectual Freedom Committee, 2022 - present and a member of the Executive Board of the Freedom to Read Foundation. She has been a past member of the ALA Committee on Legislation. Lesliediana has been a speaker at conferences locally and internationally on the subject of intellectual freedom and the vital role of libraries in our communities.
• Pat Scales has been elected for her second 2-year term. She is a free-speech advocate and is the author of Banned Books for Children and Teens, Protecting Intellectual Freedom in Your School Library and Books Under Fire: A Hit List of Banned and Challenged Children's Books. She writes a bi-monthly column, Scales on Censorship, for School Library Journal. She has also served as a member and chair of the American Library Association's (ALA) Intellectual Freedom Committee.
• Sophia Sotilleo has been elected for her second 2-year term. Sotilleo is the Dean of the Thurgood Marshall Library at Bowie State University, is a current ALA Executive Board Member, and a member of the New Castle County Library Advisory Board for the state of Delaware. She also serves on the College and Research Library (CRL) Budget and Finance Committee. She has also served as a past Freedom to Read Foundation Vice president, serving on the education committee and Liaison to the Black Caucus of American Library Association. She also served as the Co-Chair for FTRF's launch of the Symposium on Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice.

The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) is led by a board of fifteen trustees. The term for an elected trustee is two years, and board members may serve two consecutive terms. Trustees meet at least twice a year in conjunction with the ALA conferences or professional development events and hold virtual committee meetings throughout the year. If you are interested in working with the Freedom to Read Foundation visit us at www.ftrf.org or email jmcintosh@ala.org for information on how to become involved.