Jim Rettig receives the 2017 Norman Horrocks-Rowman & Littlefield Annual Conference Award

CHICAGO — The Retired Members Round Table of the American Library Association is pleased to announce that this year’s recipient of The Norman Horrocks-Rowman & Littlefield Annual Conference Award is Jim Rettig.  

This award honors the late Dr. Norman Horrocks, who was an active participant in the American Library Association both during career and in retirement.  Over decades he regularly attended ALA’s Annual Conference and generously shared his knowledge with members too numerous to count or name.  He exemplified the RMRT spirit summarized in “I retired from my job but not from my profession.”  

Rettig is well deserving of this award. He retired after 40+ years as an academic librarian in six jobs in five states.  For the past 38 of his 41 years as an ALA member, he has continuously served ALA in a variety of appointed and elected positions. Association governance, with invaluable mentoring by Dr. Horrocks, has been a significant theme in his service. He has chaired ALA’s Organization (chair), Constitution and Bylaws (chair) and Budget Analysis and Review committees, served on the ALA Council, the ALA Executive Board, as LLAMA treasurer and as RASD (now RUSA) president and as ALA president (2008-09). 

In his application, he said, "With the boost from the Horrocks Award, I could begin my second career in Chicago, this time as a retired librarian, learning from the paths my fellow RMRT members have charted as they have continued their engagement and contributions to our profession and association."

To be eligible for the RMRT Norman Horrocks-Rowman & Littlefield Annual Conference Travel Award one must:

• Be a member of ALA and RMRT
• Be retired from full-time paid employment
• Have a record of active involvement in the American Library Association prior to retirement
• Has not previously received the Norman Horrocks-Rowman & Littlefield Annual Conference Travel Award       

The recipient will be reimbursed up to $1,000 in actual expenses, supported by generally acceptable receipts.  An application form can be found on the ALA website at http://www.ala.org/rmrt/awardform.