Library Hall of Fame

October is Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month. As we celebrate CLM and ISLM each year, we highlight notable librarians who have made significant contributions to libraries and librarianship. We also celebrate librarians who have raised the profile of libraries and librarianship with their fame in other fields. Here are the 2026 inductees into our Library Hall of Fame. Please note that all of them worked closely with many other people, some whose names we will never hear:

Abdel Kader Haidara

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Abdel Kader Haidara (b.1964) In 2012, Abdel Kader Haidara and his team helped save hundreds of thousands of historic manuscripts from destruction in Mali. Fundamentalist Jihadist forces, aligned with Al-Queda, had seized power in Mali. They target Books and any other media which presented a more moderate expression of Islam for destruction. Haidera, who had inherited responsibility for a substantial private library of historic manuscripts, took great personal risks in masterminding a smuggling operation to protect the precious pieces of Timbuktu’s glorious history. His story is told in The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer

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Amanda Jones

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Amanda Jones is one of the heroic librarians featured in the 2025 documentary feature “The Librarians.” Jones is an award winning teacher librarian from Louisiana who is a prominent anti-censorship advocate. Her story is told in “The Librarians,” recounting the attacks she faced for speaking out against book banning, and her resolve to stand up and fight back.

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Dick Ellis
Toni Samek

Dick Ellis and Toni Samek were the co-recipients of the 2025 CFLA-FCAB Intellectual Freedom Award. Both were honoured for lifetime achievements in advocacy for Intellectual Freedom in Canada. Dick Ellis (1942-2025) had a distinguished career as a librarian and educator, including decades at Memorial University in Newfoundland.

Toni Samek has also been one of Canada’s most prominent advocates for Intellectual Freedom. She is a University of Alberta Professor, and has spoken out about the current issues facing Alberta school and public libraries. Samek is a strong voice both in Canada and internationally. Among her current roles is Scholar in Residence for the Centre for Free Expression.

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Previous Library Hall of Fame Inductees:

  • Brian Deer
  • Shiela Egoff
  • Ed Greenwood
  • Zoia Horn
  • Gene Joseph
  • Audre Lorde
  • Nancy Pearl
  • S.R. Ranganathan
  • Ken Roberts
  • Leslie Weir
  • Jessamyn West
  • Zenodotus




Canadian Library Workers Day

October 16 is Canadian Library Workers Day. Today we celebrate the vital role of Library Team in our school. We are especially thankful for the student volunteers who come in on their own time to serve the staff and students of our school. We also thank our lunch-time Supervisor. Further, we acknowledge the work of the many thousands of staff in school libraries, public libraries, and a variety of other libraries around the nation. Thank you!

source: librarianship.ca

October is Canadian Library Month
October is International School Library Month