Remembering+Diane+Kadanoff

by Sherrie Bergman
//[////Diane Gordon Kadanoff, a passionate feminist and bibliophile, a foe of censorship and champion of free speech, passed away on March 5th. Active in ALA during her 40-year career, she served as Coordinator of the SRRT Task Force on Women (now the Feminist Task Force) and on SRRT Action Council, and was an early member of the Committee on the Status of Women (COSWL). She also chaired the Notable Books Committee, the Awards Committee, and the Public Awareness Committee, and was a Trustee of the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund, and an ALA Councilor. She retired in 2003 after 23 years as Director, Norwell, MA Public Library.// //A Memorial Resolution is being prepared for submission to ALA Council at the Annual Conference later this month. Diane's daughter Marcia Kadanoff wrote: "As children, myself and my sisters called my mother Diane's friends from ALA "Hell's Librarians" for their raucous ways. The plan was that all of Hell's Librarian's would buy a guest home in New Orleans, run it, and retire together. Of course that didn't happen. So it seems particularly fitting to have this great honor bestowed upon my mother posthumously from New Orleans. Diane signed her emails "The buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching for infinity" . Needless to say, she died with many books unread. This resolution honors her life, her work, her spirit of advocacy, and underlines her impact on the profession. We - her family - cannot thank you enough for the recognition and honor of my mother's life work."]//

In recent weeks I’ve been grappling with the death of Diane Kadanoff, who was for many years my closest friend. I’ve been wondering how her librarian friends might appropriately pay tribute to the many ways she advanced the role of women in our profession. My thoughts keep returning to the 1974 ALA Preconference on Women at Douglass College, NJ, and to the deep friendships that evolved from that gathering. The Preconference was the first ALA convention Diane attended; we drove down together from Providence. But I should start at the beginning.

In 1973 I attempted to enroll in a graduate English course at the University of Rhode Island extension program in Providence. Disappointed that the contemporary literature course I wanted had been cancelled, I fell into conversation with another woman in the hallway. Together we wandered into a class on 18th century literature. A severe-looking male professor intoned, “We shall read //Pamela// and then we shall read //Shamela// and then…” And then this woman and I looked at each other and as of one mind, rose and left this pompous man and his class. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Over coffee, Diane and I learned we shared much in common: we both were librarians--she the Assistant Director of Cumberland Public Library, I the Library Director at Roger Williams College (now Roger Williams University). We were both Jewish and from urban backgrounds--she - Boston, I - Manhattan. We both were feminists. The conversation that flowed that night was to continue over the decades, until her death this past March.

I was immediately was struck by Diane’s personal warmth, her brilliant mind and strong opinions--she did not suffer fools easily--and oh, that broad Boston accent! She was a voracious reader, had a fabulous sense of humor, was insightful, an excellent listener, and a great raconteur. When I learned Diane had never attended an ALA conference, I urged her to join me at the upcoming preconference, “Women in a Woman’s Profession: Strategies.”

Women in a Woman’s Profession
Through encouragement from Kathleen Weibel, my friend from Columbia library school days, and Pat Schuman whom I’d met at NYC SRRT Chapter meetings through Kathleen, I had started to become active in ALA. In 1969 they had established the National Women’s Liberation Front for Librarians (NWLFFL) which they later presented to ALA SRRT as a Round Table Task Force on the Status of Women in Librarianship. At an early meeting of that Task Force, the preconference was conceived as a way to understand and link the growing national feminist movement and librarianship. The goals were to call attention to the sexism in the profession by identifying specific problem issues and to develop strategies and potential solutions. Women from across the country were involved in the planning and execution. From the beginning it proved to be a seminal experience for many of us. The strategies we crafted established an activist climate for female librarians and set the stage for subsequent changes to the face of the Association and the profession. Eight resolutions to combat sexism and discrimination against women within ALA and in libraries were written at the preconference and submitted at Council and Membership meetings during the ALA Annual Conference in New York City a few days later.

Equally important were the life-long friendships we forged. The preconference attendance list reads like a //Who’s Who// of librarianship. Many women who met there were young in the profession and, like Diane, were empowered to later become leaders--directors, library school deans, ALA Councilors, and network administrators, women like Dorothy Broderick, Kay Cassell, Leigh Estabrook, Elizabeth Futas, Bonnie Juergens, Joan Marshall, Margaret Myers, Anita Schiller, Patricia Glass Schuman, Betty-Carol Sellen, Betty Turock, Kathleen Weibel, Fay Zipkowitz … the list goes on. As Betty-Carol Sellen observed:

“Perhaps the most important aspect of the preconference ... was the growing strength and unification of the group as time together was shared. The films and the music, the picnic, the cheese and the wine, the long conversations all contributed to drawing together a diverse group into a common solidarity of purpose. This informal unplanned time was of greater significance to many people than the formal workshops and other presentations. Women of all ages, different races, varied backgrounds and professional achievements found a common bond in their shared experience of discrimination and their desire to do something about it.” 1

After the preconference, although there was no email and no Facebook, we remained in touch. We even formed a network of sorts, SHARE (Sisters Have Resources Everywhere). We socialized, we worked together, we encouraged each other to apply for positions which carried more authority. We helped each other to run for ALA Council, to join ALA committees, and to form new units within ALA to combat discrimination against women. The strong personal ties made at Douglass College 37 years ago have lasted through today.

Which brings me back to Diane. Diane found her voice and advanced her career, through the support of the friends she met at Douglass, and she went on to mentor and inspire many of those friends, as well as younger librarians. What more wonderful tribute to her legacy and the work of the other pioneering feminists who attended that meeting, than to plan another preconference on women, possibly for 2014 which will mark the 40th anniversary of the original meeting?

A 2014 ALA Preconfe﻿rence on Women?
In 1974, the year of the first preconference, while 86% of librarians were women, 2 females held disproportionately few positions of leadership in libraries. ALA itself paid little attention to women’s issues. Today, thankfully, there is less overt discrimination against women in the profession and many barriers have been surmounted. Nevertheless, important issues remain. Many still need encouragement to acquire new skills to advance in the profession. Kathleen Weibel says: “We had to spend a lot of time and energy proving that what we saw and felt--i.e., rampant sexism in librarianship--was the norm. That work is done. The annual salary survey now breaks data down by gender, for example, but there is no new agenda for feminist research and action in LIS, no agenda or forum for forming the kind of relationship with the younger Diane’s of the world.” Not long ago, Kay Cassell noted,” I think the lack of cohesion among women in the library field is evident and that especially younger women need better support.” And then there are the harsh challenges library workers in all types of libraries are facing in these uncertain economic times. Pat Schuman recently said to me. “Yes, we now have the research—but it shows that salary and status gaps still clearly exist between male and female professions, and within the library profession itself. My fear is that the recent attacks on public sector jobs fall disproportionately on the so-called female professions--(teachers, librarians, nurses)--and on working women in general who occupy a large portion of public sector positions.”

How can we best honor Diane Kadanoff and advance the causes we all believe in? A 2014 preconference on women would offer a unique opportunity for feminists of all ages to network, to form lifelong bonds, and to work together to establish a 21st century action agenda for the profession. The possibilities for this second preconference will be discussed at the FTF meeting in New Orleans. I urge you to attend, share your thoughts, and volunteer to help. This, indeed, would be a living tribute to Diane’s legacy of friendship, sharing, and dedicated advocacy and activism.

 1 Betty-Carol Sellen, "Introduction" in //Women in a Woman's Profession: Strategies//; Preconference on the Status of Women in Librarianship, ed. Betty-Carol Sellen and Joan K. Marshall (Douglass College, Rutgers University, 1974).  2 Anita Schiller, "First General Session," //ibid//, [1].



//Women in Libraries// (2154-4085), June 2011 [1] Sellen, Betty-Carol. Women in a Woman’s Profession: Strategies; Proceedings of the Preconference on the status of Women in Librarianship Sponsored by the American Library Association Social Responsibilities Round Table Task Force on the Status of Women: Douglass College, Rutgers university, July 1974. ” Ed by Betty-Carol Sellen and Joan K Marsha 2 Schiller, Anita, Characteristics of Professional Personnel in College and University Libraries, cited in “Women in a Woman’s Profession: Strategies; Proceedings of the Preconference on the status of Women in Librarianship Sponsored by the American Library Association Social Responsibilities Round Table Task Force on the Status of Women: Douglass College, Rutgers university, July 1974. ” Ed by Betty-Carol Sellen and Joan K Marsha As children, myself and my sisters called my mother Diane's friends from ALA "Hell's Librarians" for their raucous ways. The plan was that all of Hell's Librarian's would buy a guest home in New Orleans, run it, and retire together. Of course that didn't happen. So it seems particularly fitting to have this great honor bestowed upon my mother posthumously from New Orleans. Diane signed her emails "The buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching for infinity". Needless to say, she died with many books unread. This resolution honors her life, her work, her spirit of advocacy, and underlines her impact on the profession. We - her family - cannot thank you enough for the recognition and honor of my mother's life work. Equally important were the life-long friendships we forged. The preconference attendance list reads like a //Who’s Who// of librarianship. Many women who met there were young in the profession and, like Diane, were empowered to later become leaders—directors, library school deans, ALA Councilors, and network administrators, women like Dorothy Broderick, Kay Cassell, Leigh Estabrook, Elizabeth Futas, Bonnie Juergens, Joan Marshall, Margaret Myers, Anita Schiller, Patricia Glass Schuman, Betty-Carol Sellen, Betty Turock, Kathleen Weibel, Fay Zipkowitz… the list goes on. As Betty-Carol Sellen observed: