On March 14, the Library Journal announced 50 new inductees to their Movers & Shakers list, including John Palfrey ’01.

Movers & Shakers is a distinguished annual award given to those who are shaping the future of libraries and communities across the United States. “They are innovators who take service to the next level and technology leaders who build bridges between libraries and users. They create positive change during these rapidly changing times.”

Along with eight other recipients, Palfrey was recognized in the ‘change agents’ category of the list. The Journal quotes him saying: “On so many of the most pressing issues in my field, the librarians were the heroes—and they were often there first. From copyright to privacy, information literacy to new cues related to credibility…I came to see a big role for librarians in shaping important aspects of our future. I jumped at the chance to work in the library field, at a place that I loved.”

There are six categories recognized in the list, including change agents, advocates, marketers, tech leaders, community builders and innovators. The Library Journal has honored 500 individuals over the last ten years.

The 2011 honorees were selected by the editors of Library Journal and were featured in the March 15th issue. In June, they will be honored at a special luncheon during the American Library Association’s annual convention in New Orleans.

Palfrey is the Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School.  In these roles at HLS, he is director of the school’s library and co-chair of the IT committee.  He is also a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Palfrey’s research and teaching focus on Internet law, intellectual property, and the potential of new technologies to strengthen democracies locally and around the world.  He is the co-author of Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives (Basic Books, 2008) and co-editor of Access Denied: The Practice and Politics of Global Internet Filtering (MIT Press, 2008).