Toni Samek, PhD, MLIS, Hrs BA
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Contact
Professor, Faculty of Education - School of Library and Information Studies
- asamek@ualberta.ca
- Availability
- On sabbatical July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
Information Ethics Expressive Freedom Intellectual Freedom Librarianship
About
Dr. Toni Samek is Professor and former Chair at the School of Library and Information Studies, Faculty of Education, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Alberta. Toni is Scholar-in-Residence 2024-2025 at the Centre for Free Expression (CFE), Toronto Metropolitan University. Toni co-founded and served as first convenor for the Association for Library and Information Science Education's Information Ethics Special Interest Group, twice convened the Canadian Library Association's Advisory Committee on Intellectual Freedom, served two terms on the Canadian Association of University Teachers' Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, and served on the Canadian Federation of Library Associations' Intellectual Freedom Committee and its Indigenous Matters Committee. She is on advisory boards for CFE and the International Center for Information Ethics and serves on both CFE’s Working Group on Intellectual Freedom and Working Group on Schools and Intellectual Freedom. Toni's scholarship in information ethics (e.g., Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship 1967 to 1974) appears in translation in international locations, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Japan, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. In 2006-2007, Toni was named the inaugural Information Ethics Fellow at the Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Toni developed, and continues as primary instructor, for a graduate course on intellectual freedom and social responsibility in librarianship at the University of Alberta and is recipient of the debut Library Journal Teaching Award in 2007, a Faculty of Education Graduate Teaching Award in 2008, and a 3M National Teaching Fellowship from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in 2012. Toni is honoured with the 2013 University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Library and Information Studies Distinguished Alumna Award, the 2017 Library Association of Alberta’s President’s Award, and 2018 honourary membership into the Golden Key International Honour Society University of Alberta Chapter in recognition of her academic and career achievements, as well as ability to build strong connections between the School of Library and Information Studies, the University of Alberta and students. In 2022, Toni was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for service to the Alberta library community, including sustained efforts on the intellectual freedom front. In 2024, Toni received an Outstanding Reviewer Award from the International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion. Toni is seasoned in Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) international accreditation matters (e.g., led the School's team through its 2020 MLIS accreditation renewal cycle resulting in an unprecedented eight-year renewal to 2028) and has extensive experience in university governance venues, such as the University of Alberta's Advisory Group on Free Expression, Association of Academic Staff Council, Chairs' Council, Chancellor Nomination Committee, Faculty of Education's Dean's Advisory Committee, Faculty Evaluation Committees, General Appeals Committee, General Faculties Council (and its Executive, Nominating Committee, Committee on the Learning Environment and Student Affairs, and Department Chair Search Committee), and President's Review Committee.
Research
Toni's sustained research and scholarship are in information ethics, intercultural information ethics and global information ethics.
Teaching
Toni teaches graduate courses in the foundations of library and information studies and in intellectual freedom and social responsibility in librarianship.
Teaching Awards:
- 3M National Teaching Fellow, Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2012
- Graduate Teaching Award, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, 2008
- Library Journal Teaching Award, 2007
Featured Publications
James L. Turk & Toni Samek
Canadian School Libraries Journal. 2025 March; 9 (1)
Toni Samek
Centre for Free Expression Blog. 2025 January;
Toni Samek
Centre for Free Expression Blog. 2024 December;
Toni Samek
Centre for Free Expression Blog. 2024 December;
Richard Beaudry and Toni Samek
Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy. 2023 December; 8 (1):31-40 10.5860/jifp.v8i1
Shannon M Oltmann, Toni Samek, Louise Cooke
IFLA Journal. 2022 October; 10.1177/03400352221085294
Toni Samek
Palgrave Macmillan. 2022 September;
Charting a Faceted Categorization of AI and Ethics.
Samek, T., Shiri, A.
Proceedings of the Canadian Association of Information Science 50th Annual Conference, June 7 – 10, 2022.. 2022 June;
Shannon M. Oltmann, Toni Samek, Louise Cooke
IFLA Journal [Preprint]. 2022 March; 10.1177/03400352221085294
Toni Samek
New York: Routledge. 2021 December; 10.4324/9781003129219-19
Huang, C., Samek, T. and Shiri, A.
Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. 2021 August; 64 (2):351-365
Toni Samek
Revista EDICIC. 2021 April; 10.62758/re.v1i1.19
Minds Alive: Libraries and Archives Now.
Editors Patricia Demers and Toni Samek
University of Toronto Press. 2020 January;
An examination of IFLA and Data Science Association ethical codes.
C. Trepanier, A. Shiri and T. Samek
IFLA Journal. 2019 May; 45 (4):289-301
Reflection on Risk in the Endeavours of Librarianship and Human Rights.
Samek, T.
Türk Kütüphaneciliği (of the Turkish Librarians’ Association). 2018 January; 32 (1):19-25
Seeking “Global Citizenship” in Graduate Library and Information Studies Education, a chapter in the book entitled In Global Citizenship, Common Wealth and Uncommon Citizenships. Edited by Lynette Shultz and Thashika Pillay.
Toni Samek and Christina Palech
Leiden/Boston: Brill Sense. . 2018 January;
Information Ethics, Globalization and Citizenship: Essays on Ideas to Praxis.
Editors Toni Samek and Lynette Shultz
McFarland Publishers, Inc. (USA). 2017 January;
Critical Reflection on Librarianship and Human Rights: A Book and Continuing Endeavor.
Toni Samek
In Emerald Book Series: Advances in Librarianship (Volume 41) Perspectives on Libraries as Institutions of Human Rights and Social Justice. Edited by Ursula Gorham, Natalie Greene Taylor & Paul T. Jaeger. . 2016 January; 41
Assembling PeerlessU: A Canadian Makeover Comes to Grief, a chapter in the book entitled Assembling and Governing the Higher Education Institution: Democracy, Social Justice and Leadership in Global Higher Education. Edited by Lynette Schultz and Melody Viczcko.
Len Findlay and Toni Samek
London: Palgrave MacMillan. 2016 January;
University Social Software Guidelines and Academic Freedom: An Alarming Labour Trend.
Tayrn Lough and Toni Samek
International Review of Information Ethics. 2014 July;
Looking to Our Own: Ethical Library and Information Workers at Risk, in Ethical Dilemmas in the Information Society: Codes of Ethics for Librarians and Archivists.
Toni Samek
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, Papers from the IFLA/FAIFE – Satellite Meeting 2014. 2014 January; Edited by Amélie Vallotton Preisig, Hermann Rösch and Christoph Stückelberger
"You Can’t Hurry Love”: Slow Library Education in Culturally Diverse Society”.
Toni Samek
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, World Library and Information Congress 2013 Paper Repository. 2013 January;
“”I Guess We’ll Just Have to Wait for the Movie to Come Out”: A Protracted First Stand for Teaching Information Ethics".
Toni Samek
Journal of Information Ethics. 2012 January; 21 (2):33-51
Inclusión digital: un nuevo derecho humano.
Pedro López López and Toni Samek
in Alfabetación informacional e inclusión digital, hacia un modelo de infoinclusión social. Editors: CUEVAS CERVERO, A. SIMEÃO. Gijón: TREA.. 2011 January;
Intellectual Freedom: Issues and Information (Feature Article).
Alvin Schrader, Samuel E. Trosow, Toni Samek, and Donna Bowman
Feliciter. 2011 January; 57 (1):10-13
Digital labour shortage: A new divide in library and information studies education?
Anthony Worman and Toni Samek
Information, Society & Justice. 2011 January; 4 (2):71-82
Teaching Information Ethics in Higher Education: A Crash Course in Academic Labour.
Toni Samek
International Review of Information Ethics. Vol. 14 (December 2010). Pages 4-9.. 2010 January; 14 (December):4-9
She Was a Booklegger: Remembering Celeste West.
Toni Samek, K.R. Roberto and Moyra Lang
Library Juice Press (USA). 2010 January;
Bibliotek i Samhälle: Long May You Live!
Toni Samek
In En ny förening är nödvändig BIS 1969-2009. Edited by Karin Fahller. Bibliotek i Samhälle. Sweden. . 2009 January;
“An Introduction to Librarianship for Human Rights”
Toni Samek
In Educating for Human Rights and Global Citizenship. Edited by Ali A. Abdi and Lynette Shultz. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. . 2008 January;
Guest Editorial: “Cultivating a Culture of Freedom of Expression in the Library Workplace”
Toni Samek
Progressive Librarian. 2008 January; 31 (Summer):3-5
Biblioteconomía y derechos humanos: Una guía para el siglo xxi
Toni Samek
Gijón, España: Ediciones Trea, S.L. (Spanish translation). 2008 January;
“Los derechos humanos en el trabajo bibliotecario”
Toni Samek
Educación y Biblioteca. 2008 January; July/August (166):70-76
Kütüphane ve Bilgi Çalismalarinda Insan Haklari Bulgulari.
Toni Samek
Bilgi Dünyasi. 2008 January; 9 (2):527-540
Librarianship and Human Rights: A Twenty-first century guide
Toni Samek
Chandos (Oxford UK). 2007 January;
“Librarians and Information Justice”
Toni Samek
Academic Matters: The Journal of Higher Education. 2007 January; October
Unbossed and Unbought: Booklegger Press the First Women-Owned American Library Publisher, a chapter in the book entitled Women In Print: Essays on the Print Culture of American Women from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Edited by James P. Danky and Wayne A. Wiegand. Foreword by Elizabeth Long.
Toni Samek
Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press in collaboration with the Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. . 2006 January;
“Internet AND Intention: An Infrastructure for Progressive Librarianship”
Toni Samek
International Journal of Information Ethics [In summer 2005, the journal name changed to International Review of Information Ethics. 2004 January; 2 (11)
Pioneering Progressive Library Discourse, a chapter in the book entitled Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out.
Toni Samek
Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. . 2003 January;
Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship, 1967-1974.
Toni Samek
Kyoto, Japan: Kyoto University Library and Information Science Study Group. (Japanese translation). 2003 January;
Synergy, Social Responsibilities and the Sixties: Pivotal Points in the Evolution of American Outreach Library Service, a chapter in the book entitled In Libraries to the People: Histories of Library Outreach.
Toni Samek
Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.. 2003 January;
Ethics and the Canadian Library Association: Building on a Philosophical Framework of Intellectual Freedom.
Toni Samek
In The Ethics of Librarianship: An International Survey. München: K.G. Saur. . 2002 January;
Introducing Intellectual Freedom Courses into the Canadian LIS Curriculum.
Toni Samek
Feliciter. 2001 January; 47 (1):28-30
Library Ethics, Rights, and Values: Provocative Commentary on the Utility of Library Rhetoric.
Toni Samek
PNLA Quarterly. 2001 January; 65 (3):15-17
Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship, 1967-1974.
Toni Samek
McFarland Publishers, Inc. (USA). 2001 January;
Intellectual Freedom Within the Profession: A Look Back at Freedom of Expression and the Alternative Library Press.
Toni Samek
Counterpoise: For Social Responsibilities, Liberty and Dissent. 2000 January; 4 (1/2):10-16
Humble empowerment: the LIS practicum.
Dianne Oberg and Toni Samek
PNLA Quarterly. 1999 January; 63 (3):20-22
Learning to think like a professional: reflections from LIS students.
Toni Samek and Dianne Oberg
Journal Canadian Association for Information Science Conference Proceedings. 1996 January;
The Library Bill of Rights in the 1960s: One Profession, One Ethic.
Toni Samek
Library Trends. 1996 January; 45 (1):50-60
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