Sanford Berman recipient of SRRT's Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Social Justice & Equality

CHICAGO - The Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) of the American Library Association has named Sanford (Sandy) Berman as the 2025 winner of the Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Social Justice & Equality.

The $4000 award is funded by an SRRT/ALA endowment and Library Juice Academy, and the purpose of this award is to recognize an individual for outstanding leadership in promoting social justice and/or equality within the library profession.

Herb Biblo and Sandy Berman were contemporaries and they both were involved in the early years of the Social Responsibilities Round Table. Berman was extensively involved with advocating for people living in poverty within ALA. He co-authored the 1990 ALA Policy on Library Services to Poor People and helped to create what has now become the Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force within SRRT. One of his many nominators, Mitch Freedman, said “The commitment of Herb and Sandy to Social Justice and Equality was never a question—but always an answer. Both were among the great freedom fighters of ALA and in our broad society as well.”

Berman's book, Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People was published in 1971 and helped to lead to the development of critical cataloging and classification practice. Sandy’s influence over librarianship and librarians cannot be overestimated. Another nominator, Andrew Wertheimer said, “As a library historian who focuses on the 20th century, I can easily state that Sandy has been the most influential librarian, especially in terms of nurturing a praxis that is rooted in social justice, equity, diversity, inclusion.”

More information about Sandy Berman's contributions to social justice can be found in the March/April 2025 SRRT Newsletter.

About SRRT

The Social Responsibilities Round Tables (SRRT) is a unit within the American Library Association. It works to make ALA more democratic and to establish progressive priorities not only for the Association but also for the entire profession. Concern for human and economic rights was an important element in the founding of SRRT and remains an urgent concern today. SRRT believes that libraries and librarians must recognize and help solve social problems and inequities in order to carry out their mandate to work for the common good and bolster democracy.