SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

March 15, 2013 by Gary Price

Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s Statement on 2013 James Madison Award Honoree Aaron Swartz

March 15, 2013 by Gary Price

Yesterday we posted that Aaron Swartz would be posthumously awarded ALA’s James Madison Award today.
The award was to have been presented by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) but she was unable to attend the ceremony. Lofgren received the Madison Award last year.
However, she has released the following statement:

My apologies for not being able to be with you all today to pay tribute to a young man who was an outspoken advocate for the public’s “right to know” – and whose voice was silenced, tragically, too soon. It was a great honor to accept the 2012 James Madison Award last year and I had looked forward to participating in today’s ceremony honoring Aaron Swartz.
Aaron knew how important the Internet is as a platform for open communication and access to information.
From an early age, Aaron made significant contributions to free speech and technology. As a brilliant prodigy he helped develop the web feed format RSS, the Creative Commons, and the social news and information site Reddit. Each of these achievements was geared toward making information easily available to anyone that wants it.
Those achievements helped drive him to protect and promote the public’s “right to know.” He founded the group Demand Progress as a vehicle for his activism in favor of online free expression and against censorship of the Internet. This activism was crucial in the fight to stop SOPA.
“Aaron worked to break down barriers to the public’s “right to know.” It was Aaron who opened up the complete bibliographic data for books held by the Library of Congress, making this information free on the Open Library.
He did the same with PACER, a federal court website that charges the public to access court records – all of which are public records, and free of copyright. To Aaron, the PACER action was a civil act to alert the public, and pressure the government, about the growing problem of restricting open access to public information.
When I read about Aaron’s passing, and as the details of the prosecution against him became more publically known, I was outraged. It made me think about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his time in a Birmingham jail. When you commit an act of civil disobedience, you do so with the knowledge that you could be punished. In Dr. King’s case, it was eleven days in jail. Aaron faced thirteen felony charges with the possibility of thirty-five years in prison.
It’s appropriate we honor Aaron today with the 2013 James Madison Award. We should also recommit ourselves to a bedrock principle that goes back to our country’s founding: that society has an interest in the free flow of ideas, information and commerce. That is why we have a free press, a nationwide postal system, public libraries, and publically supported educational opportunities that are meant to be ever-expanding and accessible.
“The public domain has always been a vital source for creativity and innovation, and with the advent of the Internet, it is now more important than ever. The free flow of information and ideas is at the core of American ingenuity, and the emergence of digital technology empowers more and more of us to become creators in our own right.
“By protecting and advancing the free flow of information, we can nurture opportunity and maximize the progress of science, the furthering of discovery, and the growth of the American economy. Thank you for honoring the work of this brilliant and passionate advocate. And thank you all for the work you do to ensure and advance the freedom of information in our society.”

See Also:  Rep. Zoe Lofgren Introduces Legislation to Protect Free Expression of Internet Users and an Open Global Marketplace (March 5, 2013)
See Also: Modified Draft Bill “Aaron’s Law” Regarding the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)

Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Awards, Data Files, Libraries, News, Open Access, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries

SHARE:

lj

About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

Report: "Australian Authors to Receive Compensation for E-Book Loans for First Time"

From The Sydney Morning Herald: Authors, illustrators, and editors will be compensated for e-book and audiobook library borrowings for the first time, in a move by the federal government to ...

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Publishes  Customer Research Agenda

From the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has posted its . A draft Customer Research Agenda was open for public review and comment ...

Report: "A Watermark for Chatbots Can Expose Text Written by an AI"

From MIT Technology Review: Hidden patterns purposely buried in AI-generated texts could help identify them as such, allowing us to tell whether the words we’re reading are written by a ...

The Accessibility of Federal Information and Data: A Brief Overview of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (Updated...

From the Congressional Research Service: Nearly one in four Americans has a disability, according to 2018 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Congress has recognized that in addition to making ...

NY Times: "New York Public Library Acquires Joan Didion’s Papers"

From The NY Times: When [Joan] Didion died in 2021 at age 87, the news set off an outpouring of tributes to a writer who fused penetrating insight and idiosyncratic personal voice, ...

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: María Estorino Named Vice Provost for University Libraries and University Librarian

Below, Find the Full Text of a Letter Sent to the Carolina Community From Kevin M. Guskiewicz University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz and J. ...

Boston Public Library Celebrates Black History Month with Annual “Black Is…” Booklist & Special Events

From the Boston Public Library: The Boston Public Library is proud to contribute to the celebration of Black History Month with its annual “Black Is…” booklist. The booklist aims to commemorate ...

Research Resources: New Online Tool Provides Health Snapshot of All 435 U.S. Congressional Districts (Congressional District Health Dashboard)

From NYU Langone: Researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, unveiled the Congressional District Health Dashboard (CDHD), a new online tool that ...

Report: "cOAlition S Confirms the End of Its Financial Support for Open Access Publishing Under Transformative Arrangements After...

From a cOAlition S  Announcement: Transformative arrangements – including Transformative Agreements and Transformative Journals – were developed to encourage subscription journals to transition to full and immediate open access within a defined timeframe (31st December 2024, ...

Library of Congress: Hannah Sommers Appointed New Associate Librarian for Researcher and Collections Services

From the Library of Congress: The Library of Congress announced today the appointment of Hannah Sommers as the new Associate Librarian for Researcher and Collections Services in the Library Collections and Services Group. In this role, Sommers will lead the future of the Library’s collections and the services it delivers to researchers and users. She will be central ...

Virginia Tech: University Libraries Dean Tyler Walters Appointed Board Chair of Academic Preservation Trust; IEEE Computer Society 2023...

As Book Bans Increase Across the Country, a Boston University Scholar is Fighting Back Core’s Library Resources & Technical Services Journal Goes Fully Open Access Digital Image Processing: It’s All ...

Funding: Library Freedom Project Receives $1 Million Grant Award From the Mellon Foundation to Advance Critical Privacy and...

Here’s the Full Text of the Library Freedom Project (LFP) Announcement:   Library Freedom Project (LFP) has been awarded $1,000,000 from the Mellon Foundation to expand the program’s work. For ...

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Tweets by infoDOCKET

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2023 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.