Breaking Barriers - by Robert Wedgeworth (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Robert Wedgeworth offers an insightful look at a career that helped shape modern librarianship.
In this compelling first-hand account, Robert Wedgeworth traces his remarkable journey-from growing up in racially intolerant times to becoming executive director of the American Library Association (ALA) and helping shape the national and international library landscape.
With candid insights, including the untold story of what exactly happened at Columbia University, Wedgeworth offers an insider's view of pivotal moments in the histories of influential organizations such as the ALA and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). His reflections offer fascinating insight and thoughtful perspective on the transformation of library leadership and institutions.

Review Quotes

"Breaking Barriers is an insightful and inspiring view into the life and career of one of the most influential and respected leaders in library history. Robert Wedgeworth was in the forefront on every aspect of the international and national arenas promoting literacy and access to libraries. He remains an inspiration to all who believe in the freedom to read." --Carla D. Hayden, 14th Librarian of Congress

"In this book, Dr. Wedgeworth offers a well-documented review of libraries and librarians through the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century. This narrative, both professional and personal, shares the challenges of library leaders learning how to acknowledge and overcome biases, forging new paths with lessons applicable today." --Blanche Woolls, Director and Professor Emerita, School of Library and Information Science, San Jose University, USA, and past president of the American Association of School Libraries and the International Association of School Librarianship

"Dr. Robert Wedgeworth (b. 1937) strode the millennium as libraries evolved from paper-based to electronic. From a boyhood attending segregated schools in Kansas City to President of the International Federation of Library Associations, Dr. Wedgeworth recounts his wide-ranging career which included Executive Director of the American Library Association, Dean of a major research library, Dean of the storied LIS program at Columbia University, and CEO of ProLiteracy Worldwide. This is an engaging and personal autobiography of a basketball standout who worked his way through college as a drummer and whose vision of global librarianship defined by his deeply thoughtful books and scholarship has influenced the world." --Kathleen de la Peña McCook, Distinguished University Professor of Librarianship School of Information, University of South Florida, USA

"Robert Wedgeworth's memoir chronicles a remarkable career that includes leadership of ALA, a library school, a major research library, IFLA, and a national adult literacy organization. He was, in my view, the most effective ALA Executive Director of my professional lifetime. His portrait of the association he inherited-declining membership, calls for greater democracy, and budget pressures-feels strikingly current. This is a memoir worth reading." --Richard Dougherty, Library Director, Emeritus, University of Michigan, USA

About the Author