Change Agents

by Francine Fialkoff, Editor -- Library Journal, 03/15/2002

Welcome to LJ’s 2002 Movers & Shakers, a celebration of the people who are shaping the library field today—and changing it for tomorrow. We asked working librarians and other industry professionals from all corners of the library field to send us the names of those individuals who are enhancing the way we provide service, who are making us think about what we do and how we do it, who are creating new models for others to use. In particular, we sought out those not widely known outside of their own bailiwick or specialty. We wanted to reach down below the directors, the heads of departments, corporations, or institutions, to identify up-and-comers in all areas of librarianship, whether they work in libraries or not.

We thought when we started that the techies would dominate, and though there are plenty of technological wizards among the 51 people profiled, there are branch librarians and community outreach librarians and defenders of intellectual and political freedom as well. There are writers and book group leaders and library system vendors and ’zine editors. There are nonlibrarians and nonprofessionals, those who work in libraries in the same capacity as professionals but without the MLS degree.

We undertook this project, inspired by the wealth of deserving nominees we receive for our Librarian of the Year and Paraprofessional of the Year awards, as a way to tip our hats to the too-often unacknowledged people who make libraries great. We also hope their spirit and accomplishments will inspire others. Most of the people we’ve included aren’t names in the field, though they have their fans, as you’ll see when you read what their colleagues have to say about them.

Rarely has a project garnered so much response from the field and so much enthusiasm from the staff. We got many more "nominations" than we could incorporate into this initial foray, and some very deserving people simply could not be included for reasons of space and timing. We will save those entries and will be looking for even more for next year’s edition. If you know of someone you think deserves to be included, there is a form on p. 80.

To all those who contributed by sending in names, thank you.
Thanks, too, to the masterminds behind this supplement—Eric Bryant, LJ executive editor; Bette-Lee Fox, managing editor; Kevin Henegan, art director; and Marylaine Block, freelance writer/Internet trainer/librarian extraordinaire, who wrote many of the profiles and who deserves to be in one herself—and to all the writers on staff and outside whose decidedly original profiles grace these pages.