Betty J. Turock

Betty J. Turock is an American librarian and educator who served as president of the American Library Association from 1995 to 1996.[1] She was a member of the faculty of the Rutgers School of Communication and Information for 22 years.[2] Turock is best known for her advocacy for equity of access to electronic information via the Internet as well as for championing diversity in the library profession.[3][4]

Betty J. Turock
Turock in 2017
President of the American Library Association
In office 1995–1996
Preceded by	Arthur Curley
Succeeded by	Mary R. Somerville
Personal details
Born	June 12, 1936 Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States
Education	Syracuse University Rutgers University
Occupation	Librarian, educator
Website	comminfo.rutgers.edu/turock-betty-j

Early life and education

Betty J. Turock was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on June 12, 1936.[5]

Turock graduated from Keystone Junior College in 1953 and received her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University in 1955.[2][6] She earned her Master of Library Science degree in 1970 and a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science in 1981 from Rutgers University.[7]

Career

Early in her career Turock was a librarian for the East Winston branch of the Forsyth County system in North Carolina, where she enlisted members of the Black Panthers to bring people into the recently desegregated library.[3] She held a number of managerial positions in school, public and academic libraries, including serving as Director of the Montclair Public Library, where she worked to "make the library an activist community center"[7] and as Assistant Director of the Rochester and Monroe County Library System.[8] She was appointed to serve as a senior advisor in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement.[8] Turock shifted from library administration to educating future librarians in 1980 when upon completing her Ph.D. she was invited to join the faculty of the Department of Library and Information Science in the newly formed Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Library Science.[7] She served as the department chair from 1989 to 1995 and again from 2001 to 2002; from 2002 to 2003 she was the Associate Dean of the School.[7]

She has authored over 100 reports and publications, and was the founding editor of The Bottom Line, a journal dedicated to the study of library finances.[2] Some of her books include Evaluating Federally Funded Library Programs (1990), Serving the Older Adult: A Guide to Library Programs and Information Sources (1992), and Envisioning a Nation Connected: Librarians Define the Public Interest in the Information Superhighway (1996).[8] Turock has also lectured and worked as a consultant in the United States, Russia, India, China, Taiwan, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.[2]

ALA presidency

After serving in multiple leadership positions within the American Library Association, Turock was elected president of ALA, serving from 1995 to 1996.[8] As president she focused national attention on the digital divide and promoted libraries as the publicly funded point of equalization in access to information.[4] During her presidency she testified before Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to advocate for just and equitable access to electronic information.[1] James H. Billington, then Librarian of Congress, referred to her as “the Paul Revere of the Information Age."[3] A prominent goal of Turock's presidency was recruiting and funding the education of at least fifty students from racial and ethnic minority populations each year.[9] Her efforts, along with those of then-ALA Executive Director Elizabeth Martinez, resulted in the formation of ALA's Spectrum Scholarship Program, which continues to support members of underrepresented groups in attending library and information science programs.[1]

Awards and honors

In 2017, Keystone College renamed their School of Arts and Sciences to the Turock School of Arts and Sciences in honor of Betty Turock and her son David L. Turock to recognize their decades of support.[2] The family received Keystone’s Presidential Medallion in 2000.[2]

Turock has received numerous awards, including the American Library Association's highest honor, honorary membership, conferred for contribution to librarianship that it is so outstanding that it is of lasting importance to the advancement of the whole field of library service.[4] In 2000, ALA honored her as one of the Extraordinary Library Advocates of the Twentieth Century.[8] Other honors received include:

• ALA Jesse Shera Award for Outstanding Research (1989)[4]
• Rutgers University Distinguished Alumna Award (1994)[4]
• New Jersey Library Leadership Award (1995)[4]
• Rutgers Presidential Award for Distinguished Public Service (1997)[4]
• ALA Equality Award (1998)[4]
• ALA Lippincott Award (2006)[4]
• Rutgers Graduate School Distinguished Alumni Award (2011)[4]

References

1. "Reflections on Spectrum's Beginnings". American Library Association. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
2. "School of Arts and Sciences named in honor of Turock Family". 6 November 2017. Keystone College. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
3. Smith, Dinitia (6 July 1996). "Librarians' Challenge: Offering Internet". New York Times. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
4. "Turock and Reed named ALA honorary members". American Library Association. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
5. Mautner, Lyn (30 October 1994). "New Jersey Q & A: Betty Turock; Bringing Libraries Into the 21st Century". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
6. Johnston, Laurie (19 December 1976). "The Peripatetic Librarian". New York Times. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
7. Deyrup, Marta Mestrovic (Summer 2005). "An Interview with Betty J. Turock". Library Administration & Management. 19 (3): 119–124.
8. "Betty J. Turock, Professor Emerita". Rutgers School of Communication and Information. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
9. Cooke, Nicole A. (2016). Information Services to Diverse Populations: Developing Culturally Competent Library Professionals. Libraries Unlimited. p. 90. ISBN 9781440834608.