Dr. Norman Horrocks (October 18, 1927 – October 14, 2010)
Dr. Norman Horrocks began his career in libraries in Manchester, England, from 1945 – 53, interrupted by three years in the British Army's Intelligence Corps. He then worked in Cyprus, Western Australia, and Pittsburgh, before joining Dalhousie University in 1971. He became director of the School of Library and Information Studies and was later dean of the faculty of management. He left Halifax in 1986 to become editorial vice president of Scarecrow Press in Metuchen, N.J., where he also was an adjunct professor at Rutgers University, until he returned to Nova Scotia in 1995.
Dr. Horrocks is the only person to have been elected to Honorary Membership in the three national library Associations-Canadian, British and American (2004).
He was president of the Association for Library and Information Science Education in 1985-86.
Dr. Horrocks served 30 years on the American Library Association Council. He possessed an encyclopedic and historical knowledge of the organization, its policies, and their rationales, and utilized this knowledge to advise ALA officers, Councilors, and other members, and also utilized this knowledge in his appointments as the chair of the Constitution and Bylaws, Committee for both ALA and ALA-APA, and Policy Monitoring Committee, and Committee on Organization.
In the American Library Association Memorial Resolution Honoring Norman Horrocks, it was noted;
"With a deft and gentle touch, he guided many ALA Executive Board Members, Presidents, Councilors, and committee members and chairs through
the thickets of ALA policy"
The government of Canada named him an officer in the Order of Canada for his devotion and service to libraries and librarianship.
Dr. Horrocks was also recognized with the American Library Association Joseph W. Lippincott Award, the Canadian Library Association's Outstanding Service to Librarianship Award, and the Rutgers' Honorary Alumnus Award and Phi Beta Mu Honorary Membership,
As Vice President and Editorial Director of Scarecrow Press Dr. Horrocks encouraged and brought to fruition the work of hundreds of library authors. He edited Perspectives, Insights & Priorities : 17 Leaders Speak Freely of Librarianship. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005.
More:
- Berry, John N. "Knowing Norman Horrocks." Library Journal 135, no. 18 (2010): 10.
- Shimmon, Ross, Mary Ghikas, and Madeleine Lefebvre. "Tributes to Norman Horrocks, OC, PhD, FCLIP." Feliciter (Ottawa) 56, no. 6 (2010): 234–36.
- Norman Horrocks - Wikipedia
------------------------------
Kathleen de la Peña McCook
Distinguished University Professor
School of Information
University of South Florida
------------------------------