My daughter is in Grade 5 and has just completed a project on Leaders and Legends as part of a major unit at school. She did a short assignment on two legends from the sixties, a PowerPoint presentation on a political figure and a major assignment on Princess Grace.
Desert Leader uploaded to Flickr by Hamed Saber 15th December 2006, Attribution 2.0 Generic
Which got me thinking about who are the leaders and legends in the library world. Ranganathan and his laws come immediately to mind, as does Dewey.
Thinking about more modern times and I think it becomes more of a personal preference. I think about who I would have considered library leaders or legends a few years ago and things have changed. Although the leaders I looked to then may have moved on, they will continue to have a legend type status to me.
My leaders and legends these days include Warwick Cathro, Paul Hagon, Mal Booth and our own Kathryn Greenhill, all great Aussies in libraries. Further afield, its easy to create a list, beginning with Walt Crawford, David Lee King and Stephen Abrams. And that’s just from a couple of minutes of thinking.
But as librarians, we should be and are looking for new ideas and new inspiration, so I put it to you: Who are your library leaders and legends? Who are you looking to for your inspiration? I look forward to finding some of my own from the people you suggest.
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September 12, 2010 at 08:08
Just for starters (and this is a really quick list and not an inclusive list so apologies to the many amazing library leaders and legends I have not listed) I would add for locals Vassilki Veros for her readers advisory work and Cathy Johnson with her collaborative work with reference and readers advisory work. Mylee Joseph is doing interesting work raising the profile of library services for older people.
For elsewhere Liz Danforth on libraries and games and Jenny Levine (same area). Library academics doing interesting things – the list would have to start with Michael Stephens and Scott Nicholson.
This is just a start. Also I think the idea of legends and leaders could have a little stretch as the people I admire the most are doing amazing collaborative work rather than being lone stars.
September 12, 2010 at 08:15
You have a good point about the stretch, as I think about all the people who provide me with great information, but who I wouldn’t necessarily consider leaders or legends. Maybe more library stars! Great suggestions Ellen, thanks!