Sarah Thomas receives the 2007 Melvil Dewey Medal
Contact: Cheryl Malden
Program Officer
312-280-3247
cmalden@ala.org
For Immediate Release
March 23, 2007
Sarah Thomas receives the 2007 Melvil Dewey Medal
CHICAGO – Sarah Thomas, PhD, Bodley's Librarian and Director, Oxford University Library Services, is the 2007 recipient of the American Library Association (ALA) Melvil Dewey Medal, which recognizes distinguished service to the profession of librarianship.
“The jury for this year’s Melvil Dewey Medal is pleased to honor Dr. Sarah Thomas for her extraordinary leadership in the advancement of research libraries in general, and cataloging and bibliographic standards and practices in particular, both nationally and internationally, during a distinguished career spanning more than three decades,” said Melvil Dewey Jury Chair Winston Tabb of Johns Hopkins University. “Dr. Thomas has demonstrated inspiring vision, relentless determination, and unfailing optimism as an innovative leader in three great American libraries - the Library of Congress, the National Agricultural Library, and Cornell University - and will undoubtedly enhance this impressive record of achievement as she assumes leadership of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.
“Among the achievements specially noted by the Dewey jury and the numerous colleagues who wrote in support of this award were Dr. Thomas’s vision, perseverance and diplomacy in conceiving, launching and nurturing the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, which ushered cooperative cataloging into the 21st century; innovative initiatives at Cornell such as the Library Gateway, Project Euclid and DPubS; her commitment to diversity in library workforces and collections; and her leadership of numerous professional organizations, including the presidency of the Association of Research Libraries, which she led in a major, transformative strategic planning process.
Taken together these manifold achievements demonstrate accomplishments of the highest order.”
Thomas is an active life member of the American Library Association. She received her PhD. From Johns Hopkins University, a M.S. from Simmons College, Graduate School of Library and Information Science and a A.B. from Smith College. She is a noted author, consultant, trainer and has a long and impressive list of presentations, appointments and grants.
Other members of the 2007 Melvil Dewy Award Jury are: Carl A. Antonucci, Capital Community College, Ludlow, Mass.; Patricia S. Banach, Eastern Connecticut State University, Somers, Conn.; Emily A. Berbman, Occidental College, Glendale, Calif.; Angela A. William, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.
The Melvil Dewey Award will be presented Tuesday, June 26, during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington DC.
The deadline for submissions of applications for the 2008 Melvil Dewey is December 1, 2007. Guidelines and application forms are available at http://www.ala.org/ala/awardsbucket/deweymedal/deweymedal.htm.
