Fred Glazer, Former West Virginia State Librarian, Dies

Staff -- Library Journal, 12/16/1997

Former West Virginia State Librarian Fred Glazer succumbed to kidney failure on December 8. At the time of his death, Glazer, 60, was embroiled in litigation against the state's library commissioners for firing him in April 1996. Glazer filed suit against the commission claiming he was dismissed illegally, and citing age discrimination and defamation of character. Glazer's attorney Tom Potter said that the dismissal "destroyed him, took away his self-esteem." The suit will continue. Prior to his dismissal, which many believe to be politically motivated, Glazer had a stellar record. He fought to raise the per capita support of libraries in the state from five cents to $3.81. His efforts brought library service to more than 150 unserved communities with "instant" and "outpost" libraries and the utilization of bookmobiles to serve the most remote corners of the state. Throughout his 24-year tenure, Glazer taught his skills and philosophies of librarianship across the United States, as well as in several foreign nations including China, Sweden, and Russia, where he served as an American Library Association Library Fellow for a four-month stint as an automation consultant at the Library of Foreign Literature in Moscow. In an editorial regarding Glazier's firing, LJ Editor-in-Chief John Berry (See LJ, November 1, 1996) dubbed him "One of the greatest state librarians in the history of our nation."