Short Bio & Headshot

Emily is a professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include information access and intellectual freedom and censorship. She is a member of the Mapping Information Access research team.

Her most recent book Foundations of Intellectual Freedom (ALA Neal-Schuman) won the 2023 Eli M. Oboler Prize for best published work in the area of intellectual freedom. Her previous book, Book Banning in 21st Century America (Rowman & Littlefield) is the first monograph in the Beta Phi Mu Scholars’ Series. She has been interviewed by media outlets such as NPR and the New York Times and also testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on book banning.

Emily is chair of the board of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the editor of the Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy.

She received her PhD from the doctoral program at the Rutgers University School of Communication & Information.

Photo: Pamela Cather www.pamelacather.com