Barbara M. Jones

Barbara M. Jones chose intellectual freedom as her primary professional interest early in her career. Since the 1980s she has served in such varied roles as chair of ALA's Intellectual Freedom Round Table, two terms as a member of the Intellectual Freedom Committee, and a member of the state intellectual freedom committees in Iowa and Minnesota. She was the first chair of the recently created ACRL Intellectual Freedom Committee. Ms. Jones has spoken to library, general academic, legislative, and community groups about the First Amendment in libraries of all types. Her writing on intellectual freedom culminated in her Ph.D. in United States history from the University of Minnesota in 1995, with a focus on legal history. Ms. Jones received her Masters in Library Service, with high honors, from Columbia University in 1978. Since that time she has worked in academic and research libraries in a variety of capacities, including head of reference, head of cataloging, and director. She is currently coordinator of the special collections division, and rare book and special collections librarian, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her current project focuses on the expansion and description of the Baskette Freedom of Expression Collection at UIUC.