Transformative Librarians

The 50 individuals who are LJ's 2008 Movers & Shakers represent thousands of others across North America who are transforming libraries for the better. They work in public libraries, in school and academic libraries, in law firms and hospitals, in companies and government. Like those thousands, this year's Movers didn't ask for recognition—in fact, they don't even know when they've been nominated by their colleagues.

While they haven't sought any accolades, they most certainly deserve the personal boost that unexpected recognition delivers. They don't work merely for money, either, though their work merits more than they are generally paid. They do it because they're imbued with a desire to serve.

Candice Gwin at Kirkwood PL, MO (p. 7), says that “every day at work in a public library, 'You will educate a child. You will become an elderly person's confidant. And you will make someone's day better.'”

Describing his job as coordinator for statewide digital reference in Oregon, Caleb Tucker-Raymond, Multnomah County Library, Portland (p. 22), says, “At any given time [my] title...means 'project manager, youth advocate, spokesman, reference librarian, problem-solver, writer, researcher, evangelist, hacker, beggar, blogger, technical support monkey, seer, peer, colleague, and friend.'” That panoply of roles isn't uncommon for a librarian.

Both David Rothman, Community Medical Hospital, Syracuse, NY (p. 24), and Mark Vrabel, Pittsburgh's Oncology Nursing Society (p. 26), demonstrate the impact of a partnership between clinicians and librarians. “Answering a medical question well...can have a direct effect on the life of a patient,” says Rothman.

Reading the profiles in the 2008 Movers & Shakers supplement reinforces the impact that they have on people's lives, directly or indirectly. They don't merely answer questions, though; they create the technologies and tools that make it possible for their users to get what they need anywhere, anytime.

We'll be feting the 2008 Movers (and the 300-plus from previous years) at a luncheon in Anaheim, CA, on June 27, when the American Library Association meets. And we'll be sending this supplement to public officials to raise their awareness of the work these individuals are doing.

Special thanks go to guest editor Marylaine Block, zine publisher and author of The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times, and contributing editor Rachel Singer Gordon, webmaster, LISjobs.com; author of The NextGen Librarian's Survival Guide; and LJ's computer book reviews online columnist. Like Peter Bromberg, our first Mover & Shaker (p. 6), they, too, are “transformative.”