Peggy Barber and Ernest Martin, ALA associate executive directors who have served the organization for a total of 60 years, both have announced that they will retire September 1.
Barber joined ALA in 1969 as director of the Office for Recruitment. In 1974, she founded and became head of the Public Information Office and launched ALA Graphics, now a $1-million-a-year business. She also recruited ALA’s first READ poster celebrities: Miss Piggy and Yoda.
Since 1984, Barber has headed the Communications Department and oversees American Libraries, the ALA Library and Research Center, the International Relations Office, the Public Programs Office, Chapter Relations, and the Public Information Office. In 1999, she received ALA’s Joseph W. Lippincott Award for distinguished service to the profession.
Martin joined ALA in 1971. As AED of staff support services, he is responsible for two key ALA units, Information Technology & Telecommunications Services and Customer Service (formerly Membership Services), as well as Building Services, Huron Plaza/Facilities Management, Purchasing, Reprographics, and Distribution.
Over the years Martin has supervised the construction of the Huron Plaza building, brought ALA’s accounting system into the age of automation, and implemented a new association management system.
Posted June 5, 2000.