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Library’s Local
History & Genealogy Department Wins National American
Library Association Labor Award
Special to The Truth
The history of America has been
largely created by the deeds of its working people and their
organizations …
there is scarcely an issue that is not
influenced by labor’s organized efforts or lack of them.” –
Labor historian William Cahn (1912-1976)
The Local History & Genealogy Department of the Toledo-Lucas
County Public Library was recently recognized as the 2014
recipient of the John Sessions Memorial Award by the
Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division
of the American Library Association (ALA).
Established in 1980, the award recognizes a library or
library system which works closely with the labor community
and consequently raises awareness of the history and
contribution of the labor movement to the development of the
United States. The late John Sessions was co-chair of
the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO)/ALA Joint Committee on Library
Service to Labor Groups. Sessions was also an assistant
director of the AFL-CIO Department of Education.
The local history department was selected for its extensive
efforts in building an ongoing legacy recognizing the labor
community, according to the RUSA official website.
“We are very proud of our outreach efforts to local labor
unions, our special labor collection, exhibits and displays
of the area and national labor movement, and of our Rogowski-Kaptur
Labor History Room, which houses materials with a focus on
Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan labor history but also
includes materials on national labor history,” said Jill
Clever, manager of the Local History department, located
on the third level of Main Library, 325 Michigan St.
The honorable U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-9)
helped to secure federal funding for the Labor History room,
dedicated in 2001, which provides researchers with private
space to peruse the library’s collection of photos, books on
union and union history, newspaper clippings
and letters documenting the region’s rich union
history. Many Labor History room materials are purchased
through the Library Legacy Foundation, with proceeds from an
annual event titled, “Labor Loves the Library”.
Rep. Kaptur said she is pleased to recognize and
congratulate the Library and its “outstanding” Local History
department on being the recipient of the national John
Sessions Memorial Award.
“Toledo has been part of the bedrock of the united labor
movement for centuries. Our community proudly and humbly
remembers on whose shoulders we stand,” said Rep. Kaptur.
“The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library has been a leader in
cataloguing and enshrining the epic struggles of our labor
history. The Library has been the ‘keeper of the flame’ that
burns in the hearts of our community’s working men and women
and carries their legacy to the world beyond.”
As the John Sessions Memorial Award recipient, local history
department officials are scheduled to receive $1,000 and a
plaque funded by the Department
for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO. The award is
scheduled to be presented at the RUSA Awards Ceremony and
Reception during the ALA Annual Conference in June.
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