Alice Wilcox – There will never be another

She was an acquired taste.  She saw the possibilities and did what needed to be done to get there.  The possibilities included the Rosebud Indian Reservation and Bethany Lutheran College, from which I once looked up to see her imposing presence at the door

 

She knew it was not just books but knowledge and information and wisdom that were to be shared.   

 

Alice Wilcox was a grand lady – the scourge of some, the visionary of others.  Without her vision Minnesota’s libraries would not provide the access to learning  we take for granted.

 

Today we assume Minitex, the beautiful  system it has become.  Today we forget that it was Alice Wilcox who had the vision, if not the means, to make it happen. 

Remembering Dorothy Porter Wesley, Librarian Extraordinaire

When Carter Woodson introduced the idea of Black History Week in 1926 his intent was to illuminate individuals, events, stories of African Americans that were generally unrecognized in common sources of information, including books, museums and libraries.  Though some dismiss what is now generally known as African American History Month I find this month a welcome opportunity to reminisce about great African Americans I have known  – or wish I had known.

Over the decades, an image of Dorothy Burnett Porter Wesley has flitted through my mind.   A bit of research has awakened me to the spirit of this visionary librarian whose indefatigable efforts have played a major role in assuring that the recorded history of African Americans is collected and preserved for posterity.

I never knew Dorothy Porter, but I remember her well.  She was Curator of the Moorland-Spingarn Collection at Howard University while I was a fledgling librarian at the public college across the street, what was then District of Columbia Teachers College.  During the 1968 upheaval following the death of Martin Luther King we were all operating in an interim mode, classes canceled, libraries closed, protests on campus.  Though its status as a federal building – coupled with the fact that there was no campus – left DCTC a relative sea of tranquility Howard became a rallying ground for student protesters.

My clear recollection is of Dorothy Porter, all five feet of her, bustling about the Howard University campus snatching banners and bulletins and whatever memorabilia she could fetch to add to her massive African American history archives – books, photos, pamphlets, art and artifacts, whatever would preserve and share the stories.

Librarian that I am (it’s in the DNA) I googled to discover what had become of Dorothy Porter, that little dynamo etched in my memory as the quintessential librarian/archivist.  A quick search revealed that she had died in 1995, that her first husband, renowned artist and art historian James Amos Porter, died in 1970, and that later she married Charles H. Wesley, former dean of Wilberforce, who died in 1987.

More than this, I found exquisite quotes from Dorothy, snippets that verified my flashes of recall.  When Dorothy was first selected to compile the Howard collection in 1930 it was an unprecedented challenge to shape a library that reflected the lives and writings of Black Americans.  The need to capture the record, written and oral, was in its infancy.  Before Emancipation slaveholders forbade their slaves from speaking their own language and from learning to write or read.  As a result, most of Black history and stories was oral.

Pioneer librarian that she was, Dorothy began the process by rummaging through dusty old boxes that contained about 3000 books, pamphlets and other historical items that had been donated to the University in 1914 by Jesse E. Moorland, a minister and Howard alumnus and trustee.  She also dug through the 1600 piece Anti-Slavery collection donated to Howard in 1873 by New York abolitionist Lewis Tappan.

And thus was launched the first research library in an American university devoted to the history and culture of African Americans. The task of collecting written records of the Diaspora must have been daunting and dispiriting to young Dorothy Porter who is quoted as saying “I recall that not many years ago the African was said to lack all sense of history because African history was not available in the form of written language.”

Dorothy Porter seized the formidable challenge with gusto.  Later she admitted that she had to teach herself Black history.    Later she recalled:  I went around the (Howard) library and pulled out every relevant book I could find – the history of slavery, black poets – for the collection.  Over the years the main thing I had to do was beg – from publishers, authors, families.  Sometimes it meant being there just after the funeral director took out the bodies and saying, ‘you want all this junk in the basement?’

And thus began the story of Dorothy Porter Wesley who went on to become one of the most prominent curators and bibliographers of all that relates to Blacks in America and in the Caribbean.  The list of awards she received during her life and continues to receive posthumously is astronomical.  Among other tributes is the Dorothy B. Porter Reading Room in the Founders Library at Howard; during the dedication the presenter quoted historian Benjamin Quarles as saying “without exaggeration, there hasn’t been a major Black history book in the last 30 years in which the author hasn’t acknowledged Mrs. Porter’s help.”  Possibly the highlight of her professional career came in 1994 when President Clinton hosted a White House ceremony at which he presented her the Charles Frankel Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Though my heart told me that Dorothy’s legacy lives on I was overjoyed beyond words to learn that her lifetime of collecting African American history and culture is today preserved and shared at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC) at the Broward County Library in the Sistrunk area of Fort Lauderdale, an area that was once the heart of the city’s African American community.

The AARLCC is an amazing resource built on the vision of Broward County Library Director Samuel F. Morrison who saw the need for a rich research facility, cultural center and historical archive.  The development of the AARLC is a great story in itself.

At the start, Constance Porter Uzelac, daughter of James and Dorothy Porter, took a lead role.  When she moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1990 she initiated efforts to preserve and provide access to what she called “Mama’s stuff.”   As lasting tribute to her parents Uzelac , a former medical librarian herself, was for a time the custodian of the of the Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection which houses and makes available the bibliographic collection of her mother and the art and research of her father.

Today, the work of curating the Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection resides with the Broward County Library.  Housed within the AARLCC the Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection is home to over five thousand bibliographic treasures and memorabilia spotted and saved by Dorothy Porter Wesley.

Little did I know back in 1968 that the powerhouse snatching the toss-aways of the protesters would leave the legacy that is the Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection at the AARLCC.  What I did recognize and remember so well is that Dorothy Porter was the diminutive model of a librarian.  Though the day-to-day of rummaging through basements, spotting what is rare, organizing, preserving, digitizing, cataloging is not dramatic, the results are a living legacy.  The record of human history and culture demands and deserves the sort of keen eye and intrepid stamina that Dorothy Burnett Porter Wesley demonstrated during those heated days in Washington, D.C.

Little wonder the memory was etched in my mind then and remains there now.

 

 

Minnesota Center for Book Arts Welcomes Artists to the Book Art Biennial, July 30-31

For book artists everywhere the Book Art Biennial at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts brings joy unfettered – immersion in the time-honored art form, time with colleagues who share the passion for the art, and a chance to revel in the beauty of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and the Open Book. And so they will gather in Minneapolis for “Pacing the Page”, the Book Art Biennial, on July 30 and 31.

Planners of the conference write about their art in compelling terms:

The strength of a sequential narrative cannot be denied.  Artists’ books, like no other art form, have the ability to cultivate meaningful and intimate relationships with viewers and readers through the development, refinement and advancement of content over time.

A lovely description of a unique art form kept alive and shared at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

The conference includes workshops, lecturers, conversations and exhibitions, all of which will explore the power of “pacing which the planners define as the “structuring of sequence, the manipulation of rhythm and the significance of physical engagement in contemporary artists’ books.

Keynote speaker, Gary Frost, brings decades of experience in a changing profession.  One example of his many accomplishments is his authorship of Future of the Book, a blog that shares the latest thinking on reading behavior, traditional book use in the context of digital delivery systems, library preservation and book art.

The conference includes a potpourri of intriguing activities.  Leaders in the profession will present numerous workshops.  And there is time for fun, especially the MCBA prize gala, a high point of the gathering.

The MCBA is located in the Open Book Building near downtown Minneapolis at 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55415. .  For more information re. the schedule,  roster and bios of speakers, registration and more,  check the MCBA website.  Email mcba@mnbooks.org or phone 612 215 2520.

It is an honor for local artists and book lovers to join MCBA in welcoming participants in this extraordinary gathering.  We  thank visiting book artists and hope you enjoy your stay as we enjoy your art.

Minneapolis – City of Lakes, Learners, Clubs and Their Records

Busy bibliophiles and lifelong learners trying to squeeze in a quick read or a weekly study club take note – you are joining generations of intellectually curious and engaged Minneapolitans who shared the pleasure of a good read or a deep thought with friends and neighbors.

Discovering the Collection:  Consider the scores of boxes that cram the shelves of the Clubs & Organizations Collection in the James K. Hosmer Special Collections at Minneapolis Central Library.  The collection reveals much of the city’s history through the largely unpublished legacy of neighborhood and professional groups that thrived in an earlier day.  Within the hundreds of archival boxes are the scrapbooks, directories, minutes, ledgers, programs, letters and ephemera that tell the story of the city’s social, learning and professional organizations dating from the mid-nineteenth century.

Best of all, library staff and supporters have created a beautifully annotated index of the contents of those boxes.  The indispensable guide provides a thumbnail sketch of each organization and an inventory of the treasures buried in the archives.

Perusing the Online Inventory:  The good news is that the well annotated index is available online where you can learn a good deal about the club before you attack the original files.  The index provides an overview of nearly 200 organizations, their mission, officers, membership, years of operation, what they read and discussed, where they met, and anything else you could have ever wanted to know about the famed study and social groups of an earlier time – the roots of which live on in this city of reading groups, neighborhood councils, ethnic gatherings and just plain clubs of every conceivable stripe.

These snippets from the files what your curiosity to dig deeper:

• The Prospect Park Study Club, founded in the tradition of other Federation of Womens Clubs, discussed current interest and academic topics, with programs presented by club members.  The five (huge) boxes cover the Study Club’s doings from 1896 to 2001.

• Or consider the Ramblers, folks who liked to travel and to discuss the “topography, art, literature, and music of different cultures.  Those files cover 1896 to 1949.

• No surprise, the Saturday Lunch Club, 1927-1952, was an all-male upscale club founded by Stiles P. Jones (1862-1920), a prominent Twin Cities newsman.  The five boxes of club records list the membership which includes many familiar names while the list of speakers includes some of the nation’s most prominent leaders – W.E.B.DuBois, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan, Louis D.  Is it any wonder the city created a reputation for engagement and big picture thinking?

Active Minneapolitans didn’t think deep thoughts all the time, though – The collection includes the files of the Kennel Club, the Apollo Club (1895), the first male chorus, the Hostesses, founded in 1898 to make arrangements for a Ball, with the idea of making them a permanent social event each winter, and then there is the Lake Harriet Yacht Club, founded “to promote the physical and mental culture and the social interests of members.”

On a personal note, one issue that strikes me at first blush is that the majority of the files reflect the stories of women’s clubs – the question in my mind is whether there were more women who wanted to read good literature, discuss history, world affairs or social concerns — or did these women just keep their files in better order?

You can bury yourself for untold hours in the online inventory online – I know from experience.  If you don’t have a home computer, your neighborhood library offers a good option.  You’ll laugh, you’ll learn, and you’ll develop a keen appreciation of intellectual and social vitality that shaped today’s cultural, social, political, and recreational profile.

Exploring the Collection:  When you’ve focused on clubs that call out for further study, you’ll pine to dig into those file boxes and folders.  The James K. Hosmer Special Collection is housed in elegant and temperature controlled splendor at the Minneapolis Central Library, 4^th floor, behind the ornate carved arched entryway. (the archway was transported originally from the late lamented Library at 10^th Hennepin from whence it has migrated over time to its present site in this ultra-21^st Century setting.)

And then the fun begins!

• First and always, call ahead  (612 657-8200)  to give staff time to pull the files you seek – it seems like magic but in fact it’s the result of a skilled and extraordinarily committed staff that runs miles to gather the files from their secure location.

• Assuming you called ahead, you’ll find materials waiting for you – in this case, archival boxes filled with files maintained by the club in their day or a sheaf of envelopes filled with carefully dated clippings and photos – always a delightful surprise.

• Then marinate your mind in the stories that leap from the often hand-written notes, membership lists, minutes, and other treasures that divulge the stories of the club about which you want to learn more.

• If you need a coffee break (1^st floor) or have to leave the Library, tell staff and your materials will be waiting for you next trip (assuming it’s soon.)

• If you need photocopies, you’ll find a low cost and efficient copier that takes coins and even gives change.  If you want to scan something, talk with staff.  Tip:  you will need to copy anything you want to take with you – nothing in the Special Collections Library circulates.

• Suggestion:  Leave yourself time to browse the stacks.  Though what’s on the open stacks is a smidgeon of the archives’ holdings there are unexpected finds.  If you’re interested in Minneapolis clubs you’ll want to peruse the shelves of the Minneapolis Collection.

My personal hopes:

1) That this small snippet whets your mental appetite to learn more about the history of this city – the neighborhood leaders,  special interest proponents, ethnic groups,  readers and writers, politicians and good government advocates, education supporters and others who took time and made the effort to think big thoughts about their era and about the future.

2) That I can and do make time to plumb the depths of many of these energetic organizations.  My plan is to start with learning all I can about the Polanie Club, a social club founded in 1927 and still going strong today.  The Club was established by twelve young women who wanted to learn more about, share and preserve their Polish culture.  Polanie, meaning ‘people of the plains, aptly describes their interest in the Polish language, literature, music, food, history, art, folklore and more.  The Polanie Club has played a significant role in preserving the Polish legacy which is so much a part of my adopted Northeast neighborhood.  I can’t wait to learn more and to visit the incredible Twin Cities Polish Festival again this year – it’s August 13-14 on the Mississippi Riverfront!

3) That readers will focus on a club that peaks their fancy, check the online inventory, explore the files, interpret and employ 21^st Century tools to share the stories with 21^st Century Minneapolitans.

 

 

 

What’s So SPECIAL about Special Collections? A Patron’s Perspective

In recent times I have been spending some of my happiest – and coolest – hours in the James K. Hosmer Special Collections of the Central Library on Nicollet Mall.  (It’s that quiet sanctum on the 4th Floor behind the elegant arches that were carefully removed and reconstructed from the main Minneapolis Public Library that long graced 10^th and Hennepin and that lives on in the memory of every reader who ever curled up there with a good book.)

Most of the history pieces I have researched there were written for The Northeaster, my community newspaper.  Many reappear in Poking Around with Mary and some have been re-distributed by the Twin Cities Daily Planet.   The essential point is that all reflect what I have learned from the meticulously preserved records and the superb staff in Special Collections.

In posts to come I plan to describe just a few of the incredible treasures that await the curious visitor to the elegant physical space or to the rich online resources based on the collections.  Historians, journalists, genealogists, scholars, some librarians and a broad range of learners know all about Special Collections.  In case the reader has not visited – in person or virtually -  these notes are for you.

Much of this information is online, so there are links to rich resources – clippings, photos, diaries, yearbooks, manuscripts, maps and more -  that have been spotted, collected, organized, preserved and now digitized by generations of librarians who value the record and care about the unknown future user.

My hope is that the online resources, representing but a small sample of what’s possible, will spark the reader’s interest in exploring the physical collection – learning more about our history, our city and region, our families and the contributions of collectors and of the library workers who preserved the record.

For starts, these are the main collections within the James K. Hosmer Special Collections:

• The Minneapolis Collection which covers all aspects of the city’s history and includes books, photographs, yearbooks, archival and manuscript collections, periodicals, maps and miles of catalog drawers filled with carefully identified and organized newspaper clippings.  Much of this collection is available online:
• A large collection of historic images
• A grand guide to researching the history of homes and neighborhoods of the city
• Histories of the city and of city parks
• Archives of clubs and organizations
• Personal archives
• Trade catalogs

• The Kittleson World War II Collections – books on both theaters of the war, the home front, biographies, war-inspired fiction and two thousand digitized war posters.

• The Nineteenth Century American Studies Collection – Forty-five hundred books and manuscripts, including first editions by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

• The Huttner Abolition and Anti-Slavery Collection – books by and about abolition including William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Frederick Douglas.

• The Hoag Mark Twain Collection – approximately 250 books, magazines and pamphlets by or about Mark Twain.

Complementing and working closely with the Hosmer Collections is the historically significant Athenaeum – more about the Athenaeum in a post to follow:

Call 612-543-8200 at least one full business day prior to schedule an appointment. Location Minneapolis Central Library, 4th Floor Hours Monday through Thursday, First and Third Saturdays of the month: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Email specialcoll@hclib.org Special Collections on tumblr

 

 

 

New Boston Branch of the Minneapolis Public Library – The Roots of Northeast

It was in the early eighties that a group of young men and women began building their homes in the pretty rolling woodland in what was then the extreme northeast portion of Minneapolis.  Although they may not have been first to call the locality New Boston, the name appealed to them as being a symbol of what they wished to make their settlement; for they were largely from New England and had the informed conviction that where they should live, raise their children, and build their schools and churches there must certainly be a “hub of culture”, and although the little neighborhood has now grown to a large community made up of representatives of many nations, the ideal of making it a center of culture is still one of its chief characteristics

So wrote an unidentified librarian in a “Community Study” of the New Boston Branch of the Minneapolis Public Library. (Though the carefully handwritten study is not dated, it is no doubt written about the time of the opening of what is now the Northeast Library.)  The history of the Northeast Library, which opened again on April 2, must include the story of  of the New Boston Branch of the Minneapolis Public Library.  New Boston and Northeast share a common, unswerving vision of the library’s role as a “hub of culture” for the community, even as they share their geographic permanence at 25^th and Central Northeast.

In December 1889 the Minneapolis Public Library opened its doors on Hennepin Avenue near the South end of the downtown area.  The new library was clearly designed to serve as the “hub of culture” for a growing city.  The Director, Herbert Putnam, lit a fire when he offered an early appointment to Gratia Alta Countryman, a fledgling graduate of the University of Minnesota with “no special training for library work” but a strong recommendation from the University President.  By 1892, Putnam had assumed the Director position at the Boston Public Library and James Kendall Hosmer was named Director of the Minneapolis Public Library.  It was Hosmer who named Countryman as his assistant.

Countryman wasted no time.   In December, 1892, a delivery station, “H”, was opened in Moody’s Drug Store at Central and 25^th.  In that same year several branches and stations were established.  Countryman reported that “an extra man with horse and wagon was required to make the necessary deliveries form the Main Library” to the several stations.

The Director’s Report for 1893 notes that these delivery stations “have been excellently cared for by the gentlemen in whose stores they have been located and have served a most useful purpose.”  When Mr. Moody went out of business in 1899 the deposit station was placed in Mr. Gormley’s Drug Store at Central and 24^th.  A reported 14,000-18,000 books circulated each year at Station “H” under the supervision of the proprietor of the drug store. The neighborhood did indeed have a thirst for learning and a commitment to development of a “hub of culture.

Public response to the storefront deposit station was so enthusiastic that on January 19, 1907, the New Boston Sub-Branch of the Minneapolis Public Library opened in a rented 30xfoot storefront at 24^th and Central.  “The landlord obligingly agreed to wait a year for his rent, and $150,000 was raised by the people in the community to buy tables, chairs and bookcases.”  The books were all borrowed from the Main Library which offered delivery three times a week from downtown to the New Boston Sub-Branch.

A later report from yet another unnamed librarian offers a broad stroke summary of the early years:

Many children, 200 and 300 a day, used the branch, as well as men employed in the Soo Shops, the members of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Club, a well-known women’s study club of the day in that neighborhood, and other people in the flourishing district.  24, 701 books were circulated in 1907.

The meticulous reports from the New Boston Sub-Branch indicate that the venerable Gratia Alta Countryman was a stickler for accountability!

By 1908 the New Boston Branch was beginning to take shape.  One indicator is the addition of named Branch Librarian, one Martha Ingerson, who actually signed her name to her totally inclusive annual report.  Ingerson remained with the library until 1928.  The librarian’s report for that year indicates that “we have a large well-lighted room.  During the past year we have had a neat sign printed on our front window and pictures hung upon our walls.  New shelving, a dictionary stand, magazine rack and card cabinet have been added.”

The annual report for the year reflects a fledgling operation, describing in detail the expansion of the collection, with special reference to the fact that 32% of the library’s circulation was of juvenile titles.

In her next annual report to the Administration Ingerson writes more explicitly of the collection and thus the users – e.g. the fact that foreign literature accounted for 52% of the collection and the continued importance of service to children.  The anonymous Community Study of the New Boston Branch speaks lovingly of these children:  “Not only do the children come the humblest homes attend the East High School, but their names appear in the recitals of the local music teachers and on the programs of entertainments given by churches and lodges.”

The study asserts that  “the home attitude toward education is likewise held in the community life, far more than fine buildings or large enterprises for enriching themselves, they have labored to have ‘the church spire near the school’ and to keep a quiet, orderly, Godfearing neighbborhood.  They have stood firmly against the encroachment of the saloon and other lower influences, welcoming at the same time, the advent of any institution of an uplifting nature.”  The report even covers the patriotism displayed in the names of the presidential streets in Northeast.

The New Boston Library worked closely with the schools, specifically naming Prescott, Eli Whitney, Van Cleve, Northwest, J.S. Pillsbury, St. Anthony and Thomas Lowry.  “The cordial relations, which exist between the schools and the library, had their beginning when the branch was new and principals and teachers united with the branch librarian to make the two public institutions of public benefit.´  There was a night school in the Prescott building where students learned cooking, serving, millinery, bookkeeping and much more.

Home study was another element in New Boston’s program as was service to those, “working and studying, each in a class by himself, to make his spare minutes his college.” There are mentions of the Soo line workers, the largest of the many factories and foundries in the Northeast district, of the predominance of Scandinavian and German descendents, and of the library’s extension of services to the people of Columbia Heights.

As growth in circulation and library users grew, so did the need for a self-contained library.  With substantial community support and the largesse of Andrew Carnegie the Central Avenue Branch of the Minneapolis Library opened on November 15, 1915.  The cost of library – and its architecture – were the result of Andrew Carnegie’s gift of $25,000 which the city fathers originally spurned as “tainted money”.(Carnegie’s gift of $125,000 also built the Pillsbury Library, now an office building at Central and University, and the Franklin Avenue Library, restored and the last of the Carnegie Libraries still operational in Minneapolis.)

Though the Carnegie Library was razed in 1971 the spirit, even the programs and services of the New Boston Library, endure – and at the same 25^th and Central Avenue location.  Today’s Northeast Community Library serves the same community and embraces the same vision of a “hub of culture” that has infused the library since those first seeds were plated in 1892.

The architecture is new, technology has changed nearly everything, and the clientele continues to evolve.  Still, the essentials remain and will prosper in this community where the vision of a hub of culture, built on a strong foundation, nurtured by decades of commitment, is a constant

—————–

Timeline:

1892 – First deposit station “H” for New Boston community – located at Moody’s Drug Store, 25^th and Central

1907 -  New Boston Sub Branch Library opens in storefront on 24^th and Central

1915 -  Central Library opens at 25^th and Central

1971 -  Central Library razed

1973 -  Northeast Community Library opens

2008    Merger of Minneapolis Public Library and Hennepin County Library

2011  – Renovated Northeast Library re-opens

—————————-

Margaret Mann Citation Honors Librarian Edward Swanson

Some weeks ago, when Edward Swanson died  prematurely, my first thought was to reflect on his contributions to the Quatrefoil Library and to our collective understanding of GLBT literature and writers. That tribute recalled a minor snippet of Edward’s contribution to the library profession he loved throughout his life.  (The rumor persists that he actually joined the Minnesota Library Association when he was still in high school!)

Recemt;u we have learned that the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS), a division of the American Library Association, will honor Edward for his lifetime of professionalism by awarding him posthumously with the distinguished Margaret Mann Citation.  The Citation is conferred by the Cataloging and Classification Section of ALCTS. Too many acronyms, but the message is that Edward will receive a major award from the professional association he served so well.

In truth, the fine points of cataloging and classification have always intrigued me for their complexity.  I have long admired the commitment of librarians who choose cataloging and classification as their career path.  They exemplify uncanny understanding of and unswerving commitment to the vagaries of the inscrutable and unpredictable human being on a personal information quest.

The Margaret Mann Citation and Edward’s commitment to organizing information with the user in mind leads me now to learn more about the passion of these outstanding professionals.  This leads me to reflect on the ways that, in the rush to spew forth ever more information, the technology  revolution has seemed to render irrelevant that zeal for organization, access and the proclivities of the individual on an information quest.

My growing concern is that it is at our peril that we construct Digital Towers of Babel  destined to overwhelm and thus confound the hapless user. Useful as they may be, tags, full-text search engines and their endless progeny have yet to master human interaction with knowledge –  the skills, tools, and discernment of a librarian toiling behind the scenes to catalog and classify information and ideas for a community of users whose interests and search habits know no bounds.

As so I go back to contemplating the life and legacy of Margaret Mann.  Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1873 Mann was an independent learner – and. it would seem, an all round independent person.  After two years of study in the Department of Library Economy at the Armour Institute near Chicago, Mead stayed on to work at Armour, following the Institute as it was transferred to the University of Illinois at Springfield.

At the end of the 19^th Century, Margaret was swept into the fray when, at the end of libraries experienced rapid change, moving from institutions that focused on organization and preservation to public resources that opened their doors and collections to the world at large. (Think Andrew Carnegie or Gratia Countryman!)

As libraries reached out, Margaret Mann moved up; in spite of her limited credentials she was recognized as an administrator and as a teacher who shared freely her knowledge, experience and perceptive interpretation of cataloging and classification.  To her rules were not ends in themselves, but well-wrought aids to assure standards and clear definitions, building blocks of today’s interoperability, shared resources, skills and communication in a digital environment.

At her core, Margaret Mann was driven by a motivation to share recorded and human information.  In fact, Mann spent most of her professional life, from 1926 until 1948, as a Professor of Library Science at the University of Michigan.  Under her tutelage, hundreds of graduates of the School of Library Studies experienced her vision and learned from her the elegant intricacies of describing and organizing information to assure retrievability. (That’s 21^st talk for cataloging and classification).

During her time at Michigan Margaret Mann wrote prolifically on a broad range of topics including what was then known as “special librarianship” and today is called by whatever title works for HR professionals stymied by what to call an employee who locates, retrieves, evaluates, filters, tailors and otherwise makes timely and reliable information useful for management.

Mann also wrote about her personal interests including government publications, subject analysis and children’s literature.  Her magnum opus, was a textbook familiar to – though not necessarily beloved by – every graduate of a program in library or information science program.  Mann’s  Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, first published in 1930,  is a classic that remains today a major guide to the principles and philosophy of cataloging and classification.

Though she retired from teaching in 1938 Mann’s spirit lives on, best expressed in her own words.   Public service, Mann writes, is the goal towards which  “one turns his attention not to gratifying his own hunger for literature, but to the far broader task of studying, recording, and interpreting books so that they may reach the thousands of readers who are in search of reading matter of various kinds and for various persons.”

Mann’s mention of the book dates the quote.  Still her philosophy – and the contributions of those honored with the Margaret Mann Citation — meet the test of time.  Though information and telecommunications technology have reconfigured the format of recorded knowledge and redefined “ the task of studying, recording, and interpreting books” the challenge endures, to “reach the thousands of readers who are in search of reading matter of various kinds and for various persons.”

This was Edward Swanson’s  contribution to the profession of librarianship which was, in truth, his life’s work.  This, then, is the reason that his professional colleagues honor Edward, his professional forebearer, and a noble profession with the 2011 Margaret Meat Citation.

Human Rights – Framing the issue

As a librarian of very long standing I have worked with a mix of like-minded souls to frame access to information as a human right.  A powerful and much-appreciated resource is now accessible online.  Last week, in commemoration of MLK Day, the Advocates for Human Rights and the US Human Rights Network issued a significant resource useful to a broad range of advocates.

A Practitioner’s Guide to Human Rights Monitoring, Documentation and Advocacy provides comprehensive information and guidance on how to use a human rights framework to facilitate domestic social change.”

This eminently useable resource has broad potential use.  The Manual will guide practitioners through steps to “push forward recommendations using education, lobbying and litigation strategies as well as international human rights mechanisms.”

Most important is the Manual’s help for advocacy organizations to understand how they can use the human rights framework in their ongoing efforts. Though this all sounds a bit esoteric, the guide is practical, useful, down-to-earth, and totally approachable by any individual advocate or advocacy group.

This powerful resource is a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. and a gift to advocates of every conceivable stripe.

 

 

 

Saint Catherine University Master of Library and Information Science Program Accredited

There is good news this week for a brilliant and committed cadre of information professionals, aka librarians.   The basic announcement is brief and to the point:

January 12, 2011

The Master of Library and information science (MLIS) Program faculty and staff of St. Catherine University are delighted to announce that we have received initial accreditation from the American Library Association. We want to thank all of our students, alumnae/i, friends, and colleagues for their ongoing support and encouragement. To say that we are ecstatic would be an understatement. All of the St. Kate’s community has worked hard to make this happen for all of us. Please stay tuned for more.

Not mentioned here is that essential fact that this is also great news for this community that appreciates and needs the contribution these professionals will make..  The St. Catherine University Master of of Library and Information Science program is the only graduate professional library school in Minnesota.  As of now the program and its graduates are accredited and recognized by the American Library Association.  To some, that is a blip on the screen, to the students, graduates and the profession – not to mention the community – this is good and essential news.

For several years I served on the Committee on Accreditation of the American Library Association.  I know what an accomplishment accreditation is.  I applaud those who played a role and appreciate the work they have done to create a solid and sustainable program that deserves accreditation.  Most important, the St. Catherine University program looks to the future of life in the information age.

My primary concern is that we might well perish for lack of the skills, attitudes and deep understanding that the graduates of this program will contribute to this community.  It means clashing with the outrageously outdated stereotype of librarianship, carving out a niche in overpowering information age, understanding the organization of information and, far more important, the needs (today and future) of users.

Traditionally, the graduates of the SCU Library Science program have set a pace of excellence and service.  The graduates of this accredited program will have an easier row to hoe because they will have “the accredited degree.”  This augurs well – they’ve accomplished rung one, and from that vantage point they will rise high and contribute essential wisdom and class to the information age.

Full disclosure – I was once a librarian, not a graduate of the St. Catherine University MLIS program.  I fell into the profession, a plummet I have seldom regretted.