Susan Roman receives the Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship

CHICAGO — Dr. Susan Roman, Dean Emerita, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Dominican University, is the American Library Association (ALA) 2018 Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship recipient.  

The award, that seeks to acknowledge exceptional contributions to promoting the field of Library Science, is reflective of Dr. Roman’s accomplishments and service to the profession.  Dr. Roman’s career spanned the breadth of the library profession including time spent in public libraries, as the Executive Director of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the Executive Director of the American Library Trustee Association (ALTA, now part of United for Libraries), Director of Development for ALA, and as Dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University.

Dr. Roman began her career in libraries working in children’s and youth services in public libraries.  She then became the Director of Reference Services at the American Medical Association Library.  From this background and experience in public libraries and association work, she became the Executive Director of ALSC.

As the Executive Director of ALSC, Dr. Roman played a part in many major initiatives focusing on literature choices and literacy rights for children.  She worked with or served on the board of almost every organization that worked with children’s literature and literacy.  These include: the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, Head Start, the Public Broadcasting System, First Book, the Association of Youth Museums, the Children’s Book Council, the Wallace Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation, the Reader’s Digest Foundation, and many others.  She also led children’s literature delegations to Brazil, Cuba, Australia, China, Eastern and Central Europe, South Africa, and the USSR.    

 During her tenure as Director of Development for ALA, she continued to use her skills in advocacy, budgeting, management, outreach, and grant writing to support initiatives including The Campaign for America’s Libraries, Spectrum Scholarships, the Born to Read initiative, 21^st Century Literacy, the CIPA Legal Fund, and to implement the ALA’s Planned Giving program.  

 Later in her career, Dr. Roman, as Dean, led the effort at Dominican University to regain full ALA accreditation for the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), an effort at which she succeeded.  Additionally, during her tenure, the Ph.D. in Library and Information Science degree was established at Dominican University.  Her focus on marketing, promotion, and advocacy is what has brought the GSLIS program at Dominican University to the place where it is today.  She went on to found the Butler Children’s Literature Center at Dominican and to serve as Principle Investigator for the Dominican Study, Public Library Summer Reading Programs Close the Reading Gap.

The 2018 Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship Jury members: Janice Flug, (retired); James Johnston, Executive Director, Farmington (CT) Public Library; Sarah Ann Long, (retired); Roderick MacNeil, Director of Library Operations, Thomas Jefferson University; Dr. John Sandstrom, Acquisitions Librarian, New Mexico State University.  The award will be presented at the American Library Association Annual Meeting, June 24, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

 The deadline for submission of applications for the 2019 Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship is February 1, 2019.  Guidelines and applications are available on the ALA website.