2005 ALA Annual Conference
The ALA Council adopted this resolution on Wednesday, June 29, 2005.
Memorial Resolution for
Margaret E. Monroe
WHEREAS. The officers and members of the American Library Association recently learned of the death of MARGARET E. MONROE, a distinguished library practitioner, writer, educator, and visionary; and
WHEREAS, Margaret's impressive publication record (more than 100 books, articles, and
reports in such diverse fields as reading guidance, professionalism, collection development, library education, adult education, adult services, and services to special populations) clearly shows her keen intellect and rigorous scholarship; and
WHEREAS, Margaret, in her writing, speaking, and teaching, not only pushed the frontiers of our understanding of reading habits and information patterns but was a tireless innovator and promoter of reading guidance (particularly bibliotherapy); and
WHEREAS, Margaret helped us to conceptualize and implement the library's role as a community learning center and as an agency for the "out of classroom" or "open university" mode of learning, especially in her seminal 1963 book, Library Adult Education: The Biography of an Idea, which is still widely read and cited today; and
WHEREAS, Margaret was on the forefront of the movement to develop library services for persons and groups with special needs (especially the disadvantaged, institutionalized, and aged) based on community analysis and a collaboration between professionals and representatives of the groups to be served; and
WHEREAS, Margaret made significant professional contributions on the state and national level, notably as president of the American Association of Library Schools (now the Association for Library and Information Science Educators), as president of ALA's Adult Services Division (now part of RUSA), as a twice-elected ALA councilor, and as chair of the ALA Committee on Accreditation; and
WHEREAS, Margaret challenged and inspired thousands of library school students in more than a quarter century of service as a library school faculty member first at Rutgers University and then at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and
WHEREAS, Margaret served from 1963 to 1970 as the University of Wisconsin-Madison's library school director, not only guiding the school through the turbulent 1960s but establishing the school's doctoral program and doubling the size of its faculty, student body, and course offerings during that period; and
Memorial Resolution for Margaret E. Monroe/2
WHEREAS, In recognition of these outstanding contributions to library education, Margaret was chosen to receive the top award in that field, the Beta Phi Mu Award; and
WHEREAS, Margaret forever changed the concepts of the "service imperative" and "aid to readers" by adding "stimulation" (any activity that prompts a library's actual or potential patrons to use the library's human or materials resources) to the previously recognized functions of information, instruction, and guidance; and
WHEREAS, In honor of Margaret's retirement in 1981, a series of landmark essays were written by her former students and colleagues (later published as The Service Imperative for Libraries: Essays in Honor of Margaret E. Monroe) that represented the first attempt to work "stimulation" and the other three functions into a paradigm of library public service; and
WHEREAS, In recognition of Margaret's profound effect on adult services in libraries, RUSA's predecessor (RASD) established the Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award in 1985, which has since honored numerous outstanding leaders in the field; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the American Library Association marks with regret the loss of Margaret E. Monroe, and expresses its members’ deepest sympathy to her family; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be sent to her family members as well as to the director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Library and Information Studies to honor her service at that institution and to the library-related organizations with which she was most closely connected: RUSA, the ALA Committee on Accreditation, and the Association for Library and Information Science Educators.
Adopted by the Council of the American Library Association
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
In Chicago, Illinois
