Month: October 2023

Library Hall of Fame

October is Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month. Today we are highlighting a few noteworthy librarians for the “Library Hall of Fame.”

Zenodotus was the first Librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria

Gene Joseph


Gene Anne Joseph is the founding librarian of the Xwi7xwa Library, an Indigenous Library at the University of British Columbia. She was the first librarian of Indigenous descent in British Columbia. Gene Joseph is from Hagwilget, British Columbia and is a member of the Wet’suwet’en Nadleh’dena First Nations. (source)

Zenodotus

Zenodotus was the first Librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria


Zenodotus was the first Librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria. During his leadership of the Great Library, Zenodutus was credited with establishing the first classification systems and other organizational schemes for the library. (source)

Jessamyn West


Jessamyn West is a librarian whose work has had a profound impact in many different ways, including her activism and her pioneering work in library technology. She is the founder of librarian.net and the owner of Meta Filter. West sees her work as a contribution to social justice. In her own words, “my main interest area is the intersection of technology and civic engagement. I believe the digital divide is just one more symptom of an increasing distance between haves and have-nots…” (source)

Find out more:

Jessamyn.com
Librarian.net
X̱wi7x̱wa Library
Gene Joseph Scholarship
Zenodotus of Ephesus
Great Library of Alexandria

Previous Library Hall of Fame Inductees:
Brian Day
Zoia Horn
Nancy Pearl

October is Canadian Library Month
October is International School Library Month

Richard Wagamese

Richard Wagamese, the celebrated Indigenous Canadian writer, was born October 14, 1955. Wagamese was Ojibwe and a member of the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations. He was born in Ontario and lived there for much of his life. In later years he lived in British Columbia, where he died in 2017 at the the age of 61. Keeper’N Me was his debut novel, published in 1994. Wagamese was perhaps best known for his 2012 novel Indian Horse.