E. J. Josey, Legendary Activist Librarian and Leader, Dies at 85

Founder of ALA Black Caucus also forced integration of state library associations

John Berry & Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 7/6/2009

• Activist at core
• Pushed Council toward integration
• Authored The Black Librarian in America, articles books

Library civil rights activist, administrator, author, and educator E. J. Josey, founder of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (ALA) and the ALA's second black president (1984-85), died July 3, in Washington, NC. He was 85. In 2002, Josey was elected to honorary membership, ALA’s highest honor, cited by the ALA Council "in recognition of his tireless commitment to the association, to equal access to information resources, and to the education and employment of librarians."

A service will be held Saturday at Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church, Greenville, NC, according to messages posted on the ALA Council electronic mailing list. (Image from University of Pittsburgh page on Josey.) 

Also, he will be honored via a foundation set up to honor his life and work: The E.J. Josey Foundation for Justice and Peace, 526 West Second Street, Washington, NC 27889.

Josey was professor emeritus, Department of Library and Information Science, School of Library and Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, and held a series of prominent administrative jobs during his career, but he was most famous for leading the charge against segregated library associations, sponsoring the 1964 ALA Council resolution which banned ALA officers from participating in state associations that denied membership to black librarians and sought to expel segregated chapters in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

The four chapters quickly integrated. One of those chapters, the Georgia Library Association, had previously refused membership to Josey, who from 1959-1966 was Chief Librarian and Associate Professor at Savannah State University, GA. Later he was the first African-American allowed to join.

In 1970, he edited the pioneering book The Black Librarian in America (Scarecrow Press) and in 1994 edited a sequel, The Black Librarian in America Revisited (Scarecrow Press; LJ review).

Activist at core
A 29-year member of Council, Josey, as old timers in ALA will remember, regularly disrupted Council meetings when its members refused to adopt policies and measures to improve the situation of minorities in librarianship. He challenged the ALA establishment throughout the late 1950s and into the next decade; once he became so angry he noisily condemned the Council, walking out of the session. 

He was the first of an activist, militant generation of black leaders, African-American librarians who no longer would wait to “pay their dues” before being allowed to participate in the politics of the library profession.

Josey’s activism was unceasing. He joined the picket line in 1970 when a group of librarians attending the ALA Midwinter Meeting marched in the near-zero weather around the federal courthouse in Chicago in support of Abbie Hoffman and the “Chicago Seven,” on trial before the notoriously harsh Judge Julius Hoffman. 

After the founding of the Social Responsibilities Round Table, Josey would travel to New York City from Albany and elsewhere to attend regular meetings. 

Library militancy
“Libraries to the People” was the campaign slogan that library activists meeting at the New York Public Library devised to launch Josey’s ALA presidency. The book that came out of the ALA conference Josey and his militant library cadre put together was Libraries, Coalitions, and the Public Good (1987), published by Neal-Schuman, the house presided over by fellow activist and a subsequent ALA president, Pat Schuman; it featured writings from some of the most militant library leaders of that era.

In his inaugural address in June 1984, Josey declared, “The information industry has the technology to control information, but its price tag on information distribution and its profit goal create a bias in what information is made available and how it is dispensed. Only the nonprofit organization, the library, dedicated to a total community service goal with trained experts, librarians, running the operation can provide the full scope of information for the total population in a fair and objective manner."

Career highlights
Before teaching at Pitt, Josey held multiple positions in the New York State Education Department’s Division of Library Development. Prior to his appointment as head of the library at Savannah State, he directed the library of Delaware State College, Dover. He also served on the staff of Columbia University Library, Free Library of Philadelphia, and the New York Public Library.

Josey wrote more than 400 journal articles and wrote or edited a dozen books, including What Black Librarians Are Saying  (Scarecrow Press, 1972) and Ethnic Collections (Neal-Schuman, 1983).

BCALA annually offers two E.J. Josey Scholarships, unrestricted grants of $2000 awarded annually to African American students enrolled in or accepted by ALA accredited programs.