Fred Glazer

Frederic Jay Glazer (February 20, 1937 – December 8, 1997) was an American librarian and director of the West Virginia Library Commission from 1972 to 1996. Nicknamed the "P.T. Barnum of libraries," he was an outspoken promoter of libraries who was instrumental in greatly expanding library service and funding throughout West Virginia. In 1999, American Libraries named him one of the "100 Most Important Leaders We Had in the 20th Century."

Biography Glazer was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, on February 20, 1937, to Esther Blachman and Moses Herman Glazer. He married Sylvia Katherine Lerner in 1963 and was the father of two children.

Glazer earned his B.A. in economics from Columbia University in 1958. After that, he worked for the advertising company Dancer Fitzgerald Sample as a media buyer. In 1960, he entered the U.S. Army Infantry at Fort Dix, New Jersey. From 1961 to 1962, he served as a private first class at Fort Lee in Virginia. In 1962 and 1963, he worked as a library assistant at the Special Services Library in Fort Lee. From 1963 to 1964, he returned to Columbia for his Master's in Library Science.

Glazer worked as an adult services librarian at the Norfolk Public Library in Virginia from 1964 to 1967, He died of kidney failure at age 60 on December 8, 1997.

As head of the West Virginia Library Commission, Glazer helped develop and implement a statewide library automation network, which greatly improved inter-library communications and gave patrons greater access to library materials throughout the state. The system, designed by Vinod Chachra of the library automation software developer Virginia Tech Library Systems (now VTLS), went active at its Charleston-based hub in November 1982. Other library networks have since been modeled after West Virginia's example.

As head of the West Virginia Library Commission, Glazer spearheaded several public relations campaigns to promote libraries. One particularly successful effort was the nationwide “Be with a Book for a Day” campaign, which urged people to carry a favorite book with them for the day while wearing the campaign's logo. It garnered several celebrity participants, including then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, Walter Cronkite, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Glazer also lobbied directly for higher library funding. While library funding was below 10 cents per capita, he handed out rolls of Life Savers candy to legislators and told them, “That's how much you're supporting libraries.” By the end of his tenure, per capita library funding increased to about $3.75.

On July 24 of the same year, Glazer filed suit against the commission, claiming his firing was unlawful and citing age discrimination and defamation of character. He died before litigation was completed, however, and his family dropped the suit in 1998.