A Minnesota group that for years has been helping keep public information free and accessible is getting a national award--cool.
Minneapolis connection: A Mpls resident is accepting the award and the award is named after a Mpls native and former staff person at the Mpls public library. NATIONAL AWARD TO MINNESOTA COALITION The American Library Association, an organization of nearly 60,000 individual and organizational members, announces that the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information has been selected as recipient of the inaugural Eileen Cooke State and Local Madison Award. http://www.leg.state.mn.us/foi/cogi.html Named for distinguished Minnesota native, Eileen Cooke, the award will be presented annually on the anniversary of the birth of James Madison, champion of access to information. For the past fifteen years the American Library Association and other supporting groups have celebrated March 16 as Freedom of Information Day. http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/woawards. Since 1989 the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information has sponsored Freedom of Information Day and the annual John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award. In announcing the national recognition , Carol Brey-Casiano cited the Minnesota Coalition for having been "persistent in promoting open access and the role of the state in that process. It is a tribute to the Coalition that you have sustained your work for fifteen years with a remarkable diversity of partners." The State Madison Award is named for Eileen Cooke, a Minneapolis native, graduate of the College of St. Catherine and member of the staff of the Minneapolis Public Library. Ms. Cooke rose to national prominence as the Director of the Washington Office of the American Library Association. For three decades she was, in effect, the chief lobbyist for libraries, freedom of access and literacy. Ms. Cooke died in May 2000. The national award will be presented at the Freedom Forum's World Center in Arlington, VA on March 16. http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=14772. Mary Treacy will accept the national award on behalf of the Minnesota Coalition Government Information. Ms. Treacy's leadership as Director of Metronet, a Minnesota consortium of Twin Cities libraries of all kinds, provided memtum for Minnesota to offer its own Freedom of Information Award for the past fifteen years. For additional information, contact: Mary Treacy 612 781 4234 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ................................. Sheldon Mains Seward Neighborhood, Minneapolis, Minnesota REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
