The Justice Albie Sachs Freedom Award
In the June edition of :LIASA-in-Touch", Clare Walker, former Deputy Librarian of Wits University Library announced that LIASA would be introducing a new award and presenting it for the first time at this year’s annual conference. A portion of Ms. Walker's article is provided below as background to the award.
"At the opening of the 2007 IFLA WLIC in Durban, Justice Albie Sachs gave an address that everyone who heard it has remembered. Describing his detention as a young advocate under the “90 Day Law” by the Security Police in Cape Town in October 1963, he told the audience that the only book he was allowed, “alone, in a concrete cube”, was the Bible, so that he rationed himself, reading only so many pages a day. Then, sometime later, by order of the Supreme Court, he was allowed reading material. The arrangement was that he wrote on a piece of paper the books he wanted to read, and this piece of paper was taken – he assumed by a policeman – to the nearby library (Cape Town City Libraries). He dedicated his IFLA address that day to
“the unknown librarian … probably she, who provided me with these marvellous books. She never knew she was doing it, but she was saving me. Without those books I would not have survived my detention … my spirit and soul would have been destroyed. So it was a librarian, quite unwittingly, like so many librarians in so many parts of the world, simply doing his or her job by providing a resource, a bit of illumination and access to a world that otherwise might never exist. It is something very wonderful, something very precious, something magical that your profession does.”
To honour what that “unknown” librarian unwittingly did over those months in the darkest days of the early 1960s detention laws LIASA has established this award in Justice Albie Sach’s name".
We are pleased to announce that the criteria for the award has now been finalised and we ask you to nominate suitable candidates for consideration.
Selection criteria
It has been agreed that this Award should be open to any member or person who supports the Library and Information Profession, who has in some way furthered the cause of freedom of access to information.
The nominee may have worked to create an environment where more people have greater access to wider information resources;
OR
The nominee may have shown a particular commitment to furthering the role of information in supporting a democratic environment or projects that relate to this;
OR
The nominee may have personally actively and proactively campaigned for freedom of access to information or greater freedom of expression in a more personal way;
OR
The nominee may have actively worked against the censorship of information;
OR
The nominee may have been instrumental in providing access to information to the previously disadvantaged through a literacy project;
OR
The nominee may have been involved in an oral history project making indigenous knowledge accessible to a particular community, to be retained for future generations.
The closing date for nominations to reach the Awards Committee is the 17th of September. The nomination form is available on the LIASA website at http://www.liasa.org.za.
The Award will be presented at the Conference for the first time on the 30th of September by Justice Sachs
Myra E Boyes
Chair LIASA Awards Committee
meboyes@saol.com
Tel: 031 460 3364 (W) Fax: 031 460 3539
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5429 (20100906) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5429 (20100906) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com
Justice Albie Sachs will present the new Justice Albie Sachs Freedom Award at the LIASA Conference on Thursday 30 September!!
The LIASA 12th Annual Conference
