Margaret Monroe (May 21, 1914-Dec. 17, 2005)

Margaret was born in New York City, where she later served as staff at the NY Public Library for thirteen years. She got her BSLS in 1937 from New York State College for Teachers at Albany, and in 1962 got a DLS from Columbia. After her time at NY Public, she went on to serve as the Director of the American Heritage Project of the

American Library Association in Chicago from 1951 to 1954. From there she went on to be faculty at Rutgers University Graduate School of Library Service, 1954-1963.

In 1963, she came to UW-Madison SLIS and became the director. She served in that position until 1970, after which she continued on as faculty until 1981, when she retired. During her time as director, her best known accomplishment is the founding of the doctoral program. She also helped the school grow a great deal and served as a teacher and mentor to some of the current faculty of SLIS and other librarians across the UW-Madison campus.

She was a great advocate of adult services in public libraries, including adult education, and worked to establish it as a part of the profession. She was also deeply commited to outreach and helping underserved populations. She taught her students that they could make a difference in their communities, that librarians were agents of change.

A scholar, she authored multiple books on public librarianship, plus numerous reports and articles, during her career. Even retirement didn't stop her from continuing to research, advocate, and write; and in 1983, she and Rhea J. Rubin co-authored a book, The Challenge of Aging: A Bibliography . Nor was that her last book, a partial bibliography is listed below.

In 2004, Margaret celebrated her 90th birthday, receiving greetings and accolades from former students and colleagues from across the country. In December 2005, she passed away in her sleep at Attic Angel Place in Middleton, Wisconsin. She continues to be remembered by many, including by way of the Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award, named after her for her commitment to the profession.

(Partial) Bibliography of Monroe's works:

Alcohol education for the layman: a bibliography (1959)

The challenge of aging : a bibliography (1983)

Emerging patterns of community service (1975)

The evolving conception of adult education in three public libraries: 1920-1955 (1965)

__Memoirs of a public librarian __(1997)

Partners for lifelong learning : public libraries & adult education (1991)

Reader services and bibliotherapy (1968)

Sources:

WorldCat

Obituary for Margaret Monroe, by Louise Robbins

Correspondence with Terry Dawson, a former student of Monroe's