{{Short description|American librarian (1921–2019)}}
{{Infobox person | name = Lucille Cole Thomas |image=Lucille Cole Thomas.png | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|10|01}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|06|15|1921|10|01}} | birth_place = | death_place = | occupation = Librarian | education = {{unbulleted list|Bennett College|New York University|Columbia University}} }}
'''Lucille Cole Thomas''' (October 1, 1921 – June 15, 2019) was an American librarian. Thomas had a long career supporting library services for children with the New York City Board of Education. She was the first African American president of the New York Library Association. She also served as president of the International Association of School Librarianship and the American Association of School Librarians.
== Personal life and education ==
Lucile Cole Thomas was born October 1, 1921.<ref name="ALAresolution">{{cite web |title=Memorial Resolution Honoring Dr. Lucille Cole Thomas [2018-2019 ALA Memorial #11] |url=http://www.ala.org/aboutala/sites/ala.org.aboutala/files/content/governance/council/council_documents/2019_ac_docs/M%2011%20Dr.%20Lucille%20Cole%20Thomas.pdf |website=American Library Association |access-date=10 September 2020 |date=January 2019}}</ref>
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bennett College in 1941.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alumnae Profiles |url=https://www.bennett.edu/alumnae/alumnae-profiles/ |website=Bennett College |access-date=11 September 2020}}</ref><ref name=ALAresolution /> While she worked as a librarian at Brooklyn Public Library, she earned a Masters of Arts degree in English from New York University and a Masters in Library Science from Columbia University.<ref name=OTS2019 /> Thomas was awarded an honorary doctorate from Bennett College.<ref name=ALAresolution />
== Career == Thomas began her career as a school teacher in Madison, Georgia where she met and married her husband and subsequently moved to Macon, Georgia.<ref name="OTS2019">{{cite magazine |title=Awards Recognize Outstanding Library Service |journal=Off the Shelf |date=Fall 2019 |page=10 |url=https://www.bklynlibrary.org/sites/default/files/documents/about/reports/OTS_Fall_2019.pdf |access-date=11 September 2020 |publisher=Brooklyn Public Library}}</ref> She moved to Brooklyn with her husband in 1955 and started work as a librarian at Brooklyn Public Library.<ref name=OTS2019 />
In 1956 Thomas started a long career with the New York City New York City Board of Education. From 1956 to 1968 she was a librarian for the Board of Education; she worked as supervisor of library services from 1968 to 1977.<ref name="AmLib2019">{{cite journal |title=In Memory |journal=American Libraries |date=September–October 2019 |issue=9–10 |page=63 |url=https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/0919.pdf |access-date=11 September 2020 |issn=0002-9769}}</ref> From 1977 to 1983 she worked in the role of assistant director of the office of library, media, and telecommunications.<ref name=AmLib2019 />
New York City mayor David Dinkins appointed Thomas to the Brooklyn Public Library's Board of Trustees in 1993.<ref name=ALA2003 /> She served as president of the board from 2003 to 2006.<ref name="BPL2016">{{cite web |title=Brooklyn Public Library Presents Inaugural Dr. Lucille C. Thomas Award for Excellence in Librarianship |url=https://www.bklynlibrary.org/media/press/brooklyn-public-library-p |website=Brooklyn Public Library |access-date=11 September 2020 |date=17 June 2016}}</ref>
She was also an adjunct professor for the library school of Queens College, City University of New York.<ref name="ALA1988">{{cite web |title=Lucille Thomas |url=http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/lucille-thomas |website=American Library Association |access-date=11 September 2020}}</ref>
== Leadership and advocacy == Thomas was the president of the New York City School Librarians Association from 1970 to 1972, the first African American to serve in that role.<ref name=AmLib2019 /> She was also the first African American president of the New York Library Association when she was elected to that role in 1978.<ref>{{cite web |title=NYLA Past Presidents |url=https://www.nyla.org/nyla-past-presidents/ |website=New York Library Association |access-date=11 September 2020}}</ref><ref name="NKAA">{{cite web |title=Lucille C. Thomas |url=https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/20000100 |website=Notable Kentucky African Americans Database |publisher=University of Kentucky Libraries |access-date=11 September 2020}}</ref> She founded School Library Media Day in 1974 through the New York Library Association, which is celebrated as School Library Month and School Library Day.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Heth |first1=Susan |title=Rounding Out School Library Month 2015 |url=https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/rounding-out-school-library-month-2015/ |website=Knowledge Quest |publisher=American Association of School Librarians |access-date=11 September 2020 |date=30 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=April is School Library Month – American Association of School Librarians |url=https://www.nyla.org/4DCGI/cms/review.html?Action=CMS_Document&DocID=1102&MenuKey=eBulletin |website=New York Library Association |access-date=11 September 2020 |date=2014}}</ref> She established and directed the New York City public schools' Citywide Storytelling Festival, first held in 1978.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Walton |first1=Susan |title=Telling Tales out of School--and In |url=https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1982/06/02/02280032.h01.html |access-date=11 September 2020 |work=Education Week |date=2 June 1982}}</ref>
From 1989 to 1995 Thomas was the president of the International Association of School Librarianship.<ref name=ALA2003 /> She also served as the president of the New York Library Club.<ref name=NYT2019 /> She held multiple leadership roles in the American Library Association, including twenty-two years of service on ALA Council and six years as a member of the Executive Board from 1985 to 1991.<ref name=ALA2003 />
In 2002 Thomas testified before the Committee on Education and the Workforce in favor of reauthorizing the Museum and Library Service Act, providing funding to the Institute of Museum and Library Services.<ref>{{cite web |title=Equipping museums and libraries for the 21st century |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CHRG-107hhrg81193/summary |website=GovInfo.gov |access-date=11 September 2020 |pages=22–32 |date=14 February 2002}}</ref>
== Awards and honors == Jesse Owens Elementary School (P.S. 026) in Brooklyn dedicated the Lucile C. Thomas Library in 1980.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lang |first1=Jovian P. |title=Unequal access to information resources : problems and needs of the world's information poor : proceedings of the Congress for Librarians, February 17, 1986, including related invited papers and a classified bibliography |date=1988 |publisher=Pierian Press |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |isbn=0876502397 |page=236 |url=https://archive.org/details/unequalaccesstoi00lang/page/236/mode/2up |access-date=11 September 2020}}</ref>
In 1995 Thomas was the fifth recipient of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association's highest honor, the Trailblazers Award, given to recipients whose "pioneering contributions have been outstanding and unique".<ref>{{cite web |title=Trailblazers Award |url=https://www.bcala.org/bcala-awards/trailblazers-award |website=Black Caucus of the American Library Association |access-date=10 September 2020}}</ref>
In 2003 she received American Library Association Honorary Membership, the Association's highest honor, in recognition of her "notable contributions to the profession as a librarian, educator and library trustee, her leadership role at the local, state, national and international levels, and her unstinting contributions to the education of children and young adults."<ref name="ALA2003">{{cite web |title=ALA names three honorary members |url=http://www.ala.org/news/news/pressreleases2003/alanamesthree |website=American Library Association |access-date=11 September 2020 |date=10 February 2003}}</ref>
The Dr. Lucille C. Thomas Award for Excellence in Librarianship was established in 2017 by the Brooklyn Public Library.<ref name="NYT2019">{{cite news |title=Lucille Thomas |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=lucille-thomas&pid=193215703 |access-date=11 September 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=23 June 2019}}</ref>
===Additional awards and honors=== * Distinguished Alumni Award, Columbia University (1986)<ref name=ALAresolution /> * Grolier Foundation Award (1988)<ref name=ALA1988 /> * Distinguished Service Award, American Association of School Librarians (1994)<ref>{{cite web |title=Distinguished Service Award |url=http://www.ala.org/aasl/awards/service |website=American Association of School Librarians |access-date=11 September 2020}}</ref> * John Ames Humphrey Award, OCLC/Forest Press (1995)<ref name=ALA2003 /> * Silver Award from the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (1996)<ref name=ALA2003 /> * Role of Honor, Freedom to Read Foundation (2007)<ref>{{cite web |title=Roll of Honor |url=https://www.ftrf.org/page/Honor#:~:text=The%20Freedom%20to%20Read%20Foundation,and%2For%20substantial%20monetary%20support. |website=Freedom to Read Foundation |access-date=10 September 2020}}</ref>
== References == <references />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Lucille Cole}} Category:1921 births Category:2019 deaths Category:American librarians Category:American women librarians Category:African-American librarians Category:Bennett College alumni Category:New York University alumni Category:Columbia University School of Library Service alumni Category:20th-century African-American people Category:21st-century African-American people Category:20th-century African-American women Category:21st-century African-American women