I am sharing the sad news that retired University of Alabama SLIS faculty member and library historian Dr. Margaret Steig Dalton passed away peacefully in her home on Tuesday morning March 1, 2022.
Dr. Dalton was a professor at University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies from 1972-1975, and from 1983-2011, where she taught references services to thousands of graduate students and held the Bristol Endowed Professorship.
A former reference librarian at Harvard University, Dr. Dalton began her library education career at the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama in the early 1970s. She also served on faculty at Columbia University's School of Library Services from 1975-1983. Dalton's publications in history, librarianship, and scholarly communication are well known throughout the library and history communities. A prolific scholar, she wrote several books, including The Origin and Development of Scholarly Historic Periodicals, which received considerable acclaim; Change and Challenge in Library and Information Science Education; Catholicism, Popular Culture, and the Arts in Germany, 1880-1933; and Public Libraries in Nazi Germany, for which she received the first Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History. Dr. Dalton was the recipient of a University of Alabama Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award, the ALISE Award for Professional Contribution to Library and Information Science Education, the Gilbert Mudge Award from the American Library Association for her distinguished contribution to reference librarianship, and the Justin Windsor Prize from the American Library Association.
The memorial service for Dr. Dalton will be at Christ Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa, AL on Friday March 11 at 11am. In lieu of flowers, any remembrances may be sent to the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter or to the "Graduate School of Library Service Gift Fund" at the University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies.
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Rev. John Paul Myrick, MLS, SJDM.
Regional Librarian
410 E. Merriman Avenue, Wynne, Arkansas 72396
Tel: 870.587.0587, Fax: 870.238.3141
Email: jpaul@ecarls.org
Web URL: www.ecarls.org
"Two Counties – Many Communities – ONE GREAT LIBRARY!"
