Margaret Mann

Margaret Mann (April 9, 1873 – August 22, 1960) In 1999, American Libraries named her one of the "100 Most Important Leaders We Had in the 20th Century".

Biography She was born on 1873 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. While Mann was known throughout her career for her breadth of knowledge and contributions to academia, it is worthy to mention that she never formally achieved more than a high school diploma. Because her family was of modest means, Margaret or "Maggie" was strongly persuaded to attend the vocational school that had just opened near her home in Chicago. She completed a two-year study in the Department of Library Economy at the Armour Institute, where she quickly impressed the faculty; after only one year of schoolwork, she was awarded with a library position. In 1897, the Armour Institute was transferred to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where Mann continued to work for an additional six years. At this time, libraries were undergoing rapid change: "Up to the time of the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893, attention had been-I think we may safely say-largely centered in the internal management…Of course I do not mean that other matters did not occupy thought and receive attention, but we may truly say the emphasis was on the internal side. In the next few years two other matters began to forge ahead-buildings and library extension. And then followed with almost alarming rapidity a sudden expansion of the activities of the library in every external relation. First the story hour and children's work was the great discovery, then traveling libraries and commission work, then branch libraries spring up". Indeed, her entire career echoes her devotion to this goal.

Mann retired in 1938 at the age of 65; however, her extraordinary work did not go unrecognized. She was granted Emeritus from the University of Michigan as well as the ALA Joseph W. Lippincott Award. So high did she set the bar for librarians and catalogers that there is now an award named in honor of her. The Margaret Mann Citation is given every year to a distinguished librarian/cataloger. Mann died in 1960. She is buried beside her parents in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.