Contact: Elizabeth Dreazen
Director, ALA Governance Office
312-280-3203
For Immediate Release
February 6, 2004
Berman, Horrocks named ALA honorary members
CHICAGO - Sanford Berman and Norman Horrocks were elected to honorary membership in the American Library Association (ALA) in action taken by the ALA Council at the ALA 2004 Midwinter Meeting, held January 9-14, 2004 in San Diego. Honorary membership, ALA's highest honor, is conferred in recognition of outstanding contributions of lasting importance to libraries and librarianship.
Sanford Berman was nominated "for his accomplishments as a cataloging theorist and practitioner and for his commitment to making catalog records accessible to library users. Using subject headings as a tool for social awareness, Berman has had a profound influence on the way librarians think and work."
Throughout his career, Berman has sought ways to bring the message of social responsibility to the forefront of thinking about libraries. A proponent of alternative literature in libraries, he co-edited "Alternative Library Literature: A Biennial Anthology" for 20 years. He also is the author of numerous articles and books, such as "The Joy of Cataloging: Essays, Letters, Reviews, and Other Explosions" (Oryx Press, 1981), "Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People" (Scarecrow Press, 1971, 1993) and "Worth Noting: Editorials, Letters, Essays, an Interview, and Bibliography" (McFarland, 1988).
After receiving his MLS from Catholic University, Berman worked as a librarian in the U.S. Army Special Services Libraries in West Germany for four years and as an assistant librarian at the University of Zambia and Makerere University in Uganda.
While head cataloger at Hennepin County Library, Minn, from 1973 to 1999, he advocated the reform or creation of hundreds of Library of Congress subject headings; promoted more extensive note-making as a general practice; rendered data more comprehensible by eliminating bewildering punctuation and abbreviations; and encouraged full and equitable cataloging for all formats and genres. A prolific speaker and mentor, he continues in his retirement to serve as a committed and outspoken advocate for libraries and democracy.
Berman, a member of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) since 1973 and once its newsletter editor, founded the SRRT Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty Task Force in 1990. Currently he is a contributing editor or advisor for Counterpoise, Journal of Information Ethics, U*N*A*B*A*S*H*E*D Librarian, and MultiCultural Review.
Berman was recognized as Minnesota Librarian of the Year in 1977 and received the Honeywell Project Anniversary Award for Peace and Justice in 1988. He also garnered many national library honors, including the Margaret Mann Citation for outstanding professional achievement in cataloging or classification, the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award, the ALA Equality Award recognizing contributions for promoting equality in the library profession and, most recently, the Gale/EMIERT Multicultural Award. AFSCME Locals 2822 and 2864 at Hennepin County Library in 1999 established the annual Sandy Berman for social responsibility in library services.
Norman Horrocks was nominated "for his long and distinguished career in librarianship that spans several countries and six decades; his contributions as a library educator, parliamentarian, writer and publisher; and his influence as a mentor to generations of librarians."
Horrocks began his career in the Manchester Public Libraries in 1943 before serving in the British Army's Intelligence Corps from 1945 to 1948. After two years of study at the Manchester School of Librarianship, he was elected a Fellow of the Library Association in the U.K. In 1954 he became British Council Librarian in Cyprus. After the library in Nicosia was burned down during a demonstration for island independence, he headed to Perth, Western Australia, and worked in the State Library; obtained his B.A. in Constitutional History; was elected an Associate of the Library Association of Australia (now the Australian Library and Information Association) and taught part-time.
In 1963 he moved to the University of Pittsburgh, where he obtained his MLS
and Ph.D. In 1971 he joined Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he became Director of the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) and Dean of the Faculty of Management. In 1986 he became Editorial Vice President of Scarecrow Press, a position he held until his return to Halifax in 1995. He is currently Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie's SLIS, editorial consultant for Scarecrow Press, and contributing editor for Library Journal.
Horrocks served on ALA's Council for 21 years, was elected to the ALA Executive Board and has held numerous committee assignments. He also has held office in the American Society for Information Science and Technology, the Canadian Library Association (CLA), Atlantic Provinces Library Association (APLA), Nova Scotia Library Association (NSLA) and the Halifax Library Association. He is a past president of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) and of Beta Phi Mu.
He has received ALA's Joseph W. Lippincott Award for distinguished service to the field of librarianship, the John Ames Humphry-OCLC-Forest Press Award for significant contributions to international librarianship, the Canadian Library Association's Outstanding Service to Librarianship Award, Honorary Fellowship from The Library Association (now the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) and awards from ALISE, APLA, Beta Phi Mu, New Jersey Library Association, University of Pittsburgh and Rutgers University. At its fall meeting, the NSLA established the Norman Horrocks Award for Library Leadership "...to honor (his) unflagging support" for that association.
The honorees will receive Honorary Membership plaques in June 2004 during the Opening General Session of the American Library Association Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla.
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