Librarian Patricia M. Battin, who has led a long national campaign to save millions of disintegrating books, has been selected to receive the National Humanities Medal, to be presented September 29 at the White House by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The other honorees will be writer Taylor Branch, scholar Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, radio’s Garrison Keillor, journalist Jim Lehrer, philosopher John Rawls, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, and playwright August Wilson.
“The 1999 National Humanities Medalists are distinguished individuals who have set the highest standards for American cultural achievement,” said William R. Ferris, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which sponsors the award.
Battin was selected for her “exemplary public service by organizing and leading a national campaign to save millions of brittle books in America’s libraries and archives.” She served as the first president of the Commission on Preservation and Access, established in 1986 by the Council on Library and Information Resources, and was instrumental in NEH’s long-term commitment to microfilm disintegrating books.
Posted September 27, 1999.