It was my great pleasure to present long-time colleague (and recent LC retiree) John D. Byrum with the 2006 Melvil Dewey Medal at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans on June 27, 2006. John’s citation reads: "For his extraordinary leadership in the fields of cataloging and bibliographic standards, both nationally and internationally, during a distinguished career spanning four decades; for the high order of creative leadership, vision and perseverance he has shown in creating, expanding and sustaining the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, which is widely considered to be one of the most successful and dynamic programs in the history of bibliographic control; and for the exceptional expertise, tireless determination, and unfailing diplomacy he has exemplified in his engagement with IFLA and the international cataloging community, from his pioneering work on the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) in the 1970s to his most recent, successful efforts to promote MARC harmonization."
John Byrum is pictured here 
celebrating with former colleagues who also happen to be previous Melvil Dewey Medal recipients. From left to right are John Byrum, Sally McCallum (chief of the Network Development and MARC Standards Office at the Library of Congress, and 2004 Melvil Dewey Medal recipient), me (2005 Melvil Dewey Medal recipient), and Winston Tabb (chair of the Melvil Dewey Medal Award Committee, dean of university libraries and director of the Sheridan Libraries at the Johns Hopkins University, and 1998 Melvil Dewey Medal recipient).
Incidentally, Lois Mai Chan (professor at the University of Kentucky and former member and chair of EPC), was awarded the 2006 Beta Phi Mu Award at the same ALA 2006 Awards ceremony for distinguished service in education for librarianship.
Here’s a photo of Lois standing between Dr. Anna Perrault (president of Beta Phi Mu, and professor at the University of South Florida), and Michael Gorman (2005-2006 president of ALA and dean of library services, Fresno State University).
Congratulations, John and Lois!
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