ALA News
Margaret Hung’s library history dissertation wins the 2017 Dain Award
For Immediate Release
Tue, 03/20/2018
Contact:
Kathy Rosa
Program Officer
Office for Research and Evaluation (ORE)
American Library Association
krosa@ala.org
CHICAGO — The Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library
Association (ALA) is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2017
Phyllis Dain Library History Dissertation Award. The winner is Margaret
Hung for her dissertation, “English Public Libraries, 1919-1975:
Vocation and Popularisation” (Leeds Metropolitan University, 2015).
Hung’s dissertation describes the development of English public
libraries from their sometimes rudimentary condition in the 1920s to
their “golden age” in the 1960s and 1970s in the context of social and
cultural changes. Using primary sources from numerous archives and a
creative methodology, she meticulously documents how divergent
perceptions of the mission and role of public libraries (e.g.,
enrichment versus entertainment) created tensions and conflict in both
the library work place and the public discourse. Hung’s scholarship,
presented in a lively and engaging narrative, challenges traditional
assumptions about librarians during the inter-war period by effectively
arguing that librarians were, in the main, not middle class paternalists
seeking to improve the public but working class autodidacts seeking to
share their hard-won cultural privilege with people similar to themselves.
Margaret Hung lives in London, UK, and is a practicing librarian at the
Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service.
Two Certificates of Merit were also awarded: Brenda Mitchell-Powell is
recognized for “A Seat at the Reading Table: The 1939 Alexandria,
Virginia, Public Library Sit-in Demonstration – A Study in Library
History, 1937-1941” (Simmons College, 2015), and Julia Skinner is
recognized for “Ernestine Rose and the Harlem Public Library: Theory
Testing Using Historical Sources” (Florida State University, 2015).
The 2017 Dain Award Committee Chair, Sharon McQueen, stated that the
Committee was “pleased with not only the unusually high number of
submissions but also the remarkable quality of so many. Competition was
stiff, which is an indication that the study of library history is
attracting talented doctoral students, and our field is endowed with
gifted faculty to guide them.”
The Phyllis Dain Library History Dissertation Award is presented
biennially and is named in honor of a library historian widely known as
a supportive advisor and mentor as well as a rigorous scholar with great
breadth of vision. The award is given for an outstanding dissertation in
English that embodies original research on a significant topic relating
to the history of libraries during any period, in any region of the world.
The ALA Library History Round Table aims to facilitate communication
among scholars and students of library history, supports research in
library history, and advocates for issues that concern library
historians, such as preservation and access. The LHRT sponsors
conferences, publishes a newsletter, and presents prizes such as the
Dain Award to promote excellence in library history research.
The 2017 Phyllis Dain Library History Dissertation Award Committee
Sharon McQueen, Chair
Megan Browndorf
Georgetown University
J. Michael Hunter
Brigham Young University
Barry W. Seaver
Durham Technical Community College