Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture

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Testimonial from the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table Action Council

The Social Responsibilities Round Table Action Council of the American Library Association approved the following testimonial to the work of Jean Coleman in outreach during her work for the ALA Office for Library Outreach Services (later the Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, currently Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services):

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Jean Coleman . . . was outstanding in her willingness to listen to the members of the groups she worked with and to make their wishes effective, translating ideas into action and program, unlike the model of the staff who organizes the agenda and steers the meetings in a controlled setting.

She offered her services especially warmly to the minority librarians and those from small libraries, and did not play a career-promoting role of special services for the powerful. She therefore fully represented the original concerns of ALA in proposing the many outreach organizations and diverse programs under the OLOS umbrella.

She is especially missed by those who found in her the education to become competent officers and received from her the support to make their groups effective.

As printed in Library Journal, May 1, 1987.