Honoring the profession behind the publication

This year marks Library Journal’s 150th anniversary. How many media companies can say they have been actively publishing for a century and a half? In an increasingly challenging media landscape, it feels almost miraculous to still be here.

For any incredulity I may possess over LJ’s long tenure and the fact that I have the great honor of serving with the team that produces the publication at this very moment in its history, I credit LJ’s existence to the resilience and perseverance of librarians and library workers who continue to advance the profession. They are the reason this journal was created, and they remain the driving force behind our work.

Kelvin Watson, whom we celebrate in this issue as LJ’s 2026 Librarian of the Year, is one example of the many creative and wise individuals who have chosen libraries as their calling. His work, in particular around digital equity and transformation, reflects the kind of ingenuity and determination that has kept librarianship alive and relevant amid changes in information, technology, society, and culture.

Several months ago, my work chat pinged with a message from Rebecca T. Miller, past publisher and longtime editor-in-chief of Library Journal. She was deep in our physical archive when she sent me a snapshot from LJ’s very first issue. It was an editorial from LJ’s first managing editor, Melvil Dewey.

To be sure, Dewey is a complicated figure in the history of libraries. His racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic behavior is now broadly recognized; whatever “hero” status he may have once enjoyed has been rightfully reframed. The American Library Association (ALA), of which he was a founding member, removed his name from its medal of honor in 2020, some 115 years after he was forced out of active ALA membership for his predatory behavior against women.

His inarguable impact on the work of the profession does not negate his deep flaws. In some ways, the fact that librarianship endures, even as we continue to recognize our own history of imperfection, speaks to our ability to keep moving in the direction of the most honorable aspects of the profession.

Dewey’s words from the first LJ strike me as remarkably contemporary—that public libraries are as essential to strong communities as public schools; that collecting books and information is insufficient if we are not also inspiring our communities to read; that the effort librarians put forth is professional work worthy of dignity.

“From the first, libraries have commanded great respect...but the opinion has been largely prevalent that a librarian was a keeper only, and had done his full duty if he preserved the books from loss.... There have been noble exceptions to this rule, but still it is a modern idea that librarians should do more than this. It is not now enough that the books are cared for properly, are well arranged, are never lost. It is not enough if the librarian can readily produce any book asked for. It is not enough that he can, when asked, give advice as to the best books in his collection on any given subject. All these things are indispensable, but all these are not enough for our ideal. He must see that his library contains, as far as possible, the best books on the best subjects, regarding carefully the wants of his special community. Then, having the best books, he must create among his people, his pupils, a desire to read those books...

It is in the interest of the modern library, and of those desiring to make its influence wider and greater, that this journal has been established. Its founders have an intense faith in the future of our libraries, and believe that if the best methods can be applied by the best librarians, the public may soon be brought to recognize our claim that the free library ranks with the free school. We hold that there is no work reaching farther in its influence and deserving more honor than the work which a competent and earnest librarian can do for his community.”

In this anniversary year (and the years to come), LJ maintains an enduring and intense faith in the future of libraries and a deep respect for the impactful work that a “competent and earnest librarian” contributes to their community and that the profession brings to the world.