ROSE VORMELKER
Rose Vormelker
1895-1994Rose Vormelker taught many students about newspaper libraries. She was also a renowned mentor to all students of library science. A warm-hearted tribute was paid Rose by news librarian Jim Hunter from the Columbus Dispatch.
After a full career as a news librarian with the Cleveland newspapers, Rose went to Kent State in 1963 and began teaching what was then the only college course in the U.S. on newspaper librarianship. In addition to numerous activities on behalf of the News Division, she served as Special Libraries Association president in 1948-49, helped establish war and defense information centers in 4,000 libraries around the nation during World War II, was elected to the Ohio Library Hall of Fame, the Graphic Arts Hall of Distinction, and SLA's Hall of Fame.
SLA's Rose Vormelker Award
- 1998: Larry Wright
- 1999: Lynn Tinsley Berard
- 2000: Barbara Semonche and Elizabeth Stone
Vormelker award winners pictured (from left) in April 2002:
Lynn Berard, Barbara Semonche, and Larry Wright.
- 2001: Judith J. Field
- 2002: Billie Connor Dominguez and Nettie Seaberry
- 2003: Robert V. Williams
This relatively new award is given to an individual member(s) in recognition of exceptional services to the profession of special librarianship in the area of mentoring students and/or practicing professionals in the field.
Larry is highly deserving of this honor and the NC Chapter is very proud of him and his contributions to the profession. Well known through his work for the Association as recent past chair of the Student Academic Relations Committee (SARC), Larry has set the standard for supporting and mentoring students not only in this Chapter but all over the country.
THE NEWS DIVISION'S VORMELKER-THOMAS AWARD
Rose Vormelker was a most extraordinary woman and an exemplary librarian. Her contributions in are field of news librarianship resulted in a News Division award named in her honor.This award is presented to a graduate student Special Libraries Association member who demonstrates interest in and knowledge of news librarianship. Applicants are judged on the basis of a submitted essay, a resume, recommendations and work experience. The award consists of a certificate and a monetary stipend to be applied toward expenses to attend the Special Libraries Association annual conference. Over time the amount of the stipend grew from $200 to its present $1,500. The stipend is made possible by a joint contribution from the News Division and University Microforms, Inc.
TRIBUTE TO ROSE
[Note: Jim Hunter's heartfelt tribute to Rose Vormelker during the News Division Awards banquet in June 1995 deserves wider distribution than the 155 present that evening in Montreal. So, with Jim's approval, here is his tribute to Rose. -Barbara Semonche.]
Tonight we celebrate the achievements of those News Division members who have worked so hard on our behalf, as well as to applaud our student guest, the winner of the Vormelker-Thomas/University Microfilm Student Stipend Award. ROSE VORMELKER
1895-1994This evening we also mark the passing of Rose Vormelker who died at the age of 99 on November 3, 1994.
Rose would have been 100 years old this month. She was among the last living News Division members with an award in her name.
Her active career spanned nearly seven decades. Rose Vormelker attained national prominence as a public librarian, business librarian, government librarian, consultant, academic librarian and teacher. She was also a preeminent newspaper librarian serving the Cleveland newspapers. Further, Rose was President of the Special Libraries Association in 1948-49 and elected to the SLA Hall of Fame in 1963.
Over the course of her career, Rose inspired and mentored hundreds of librarians in every branch of our profession.
Rose began working in libraries in 1916. She created what became the internationally recognized Business Information Center of the Cleveland Public Library in 1928. During W.W.II Rose worked for the U.S. Information Service establishing over 4,000 defense and war information centers. She retired the first of many times in 1955 from the Cleveland Public Library.
In 1956 she became the Librarian for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Cleveland News, a position she held until 1962. Rose then became an academic librarian at Kent State University, finally joining the Library Science faculty there, creating the first newspaper library course along with workshops for news librarians. Rose continued teaching well into her 80's and remained keenly interested in the News Division. She last attended the SLA Conference in 1980 in Washington, DC.
Rose was a consummate information gatherer and consumer. Her office was filled with neat piles of obscure government documents that I know she read. It was said that she was so well informed during her stay in Washington, DC during W.W.II that congressmen would call her to find out what was going on.
Her wit was acerbic and quick. Rose consulted for the Columbus Dispatch in the early 70's and naturally she recommended they hire a librarian. The editor who considered hiring me had some doubts so he called Rose and asked her what I knew about newspapers. Rose said, '' Not a damn thing, but he'll find out.''
I am proud to say that Rose was my mentor and my friend. She had a way of instilling pride and professionalism in everyone she met. I am very pleased that the News Division Award in her honor encourages and mentors library science students. University Microfilm and the News Division could do no finer thing in my opinion than continue the work that Rose could do so well.
Rose Vormelker's Obituary
Copyright 1994 Plain Dealer Publishing Co. The Plain Dealer November 6, 1994 Sunday, FINAL / ALL SECTION: METRO; Pg. 14B LENGTH: 586 words HEADLINE: ROSE VORMELKER, PIONEER IN FIELD OF LIBRARY SCIENCE BYLINE: By DELL M. MOSLEY; PLAIN DEALER REPORTER DATELINE: SHAKER HEIGHTS Rose L. Vormelker was library director at The Plain Dealer and Cleveland News and a pioneer in the field of library science. Miss Vormelker had a national reputation as organizer and longtime director of the Cleveland Public Library's Business Information Bureau. Vormelker convinced her employer that business news was out of date by the time it got into books and that she had to subscribe to reports and collect information in pamphlet files. The collection she assembled earned such accolades as "most comprehensive" and "most respected" information center in the nation. A New York banker who traveled to London to consult an economic collection for information on inflation was told that the Cleveland library was the best place to obtain the data. Miss Vormelker died Thursday at home. She was 99. Her career took her not only to libraries but to colleges and the government. When Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration wanted to set up war and defense information centers in 4,000 libraries, Vormelker was drafted for the job in 1942. The year before, the Special Libraries Association summoned her to New York to edit lists of research materials useful to the defense program. The lists became the first volume of "Special Library Resources." A second volume was published in 1946. She got her first exposure to library work as a 16-year-old page at the old Superior Branch. After attending several summer sessions at Oberlin College, Miss Vormelker enrolled at Western Reserve University and got her library science certificate in 1919. She started as a reference assistant at the Detroit Public Library and in 1923 was hired to work in the science and technology department of the Cleveland Public Library. In 1956, after pleas from The Plain Dealer and Cleveland News, she went to work for Forest City Publishing Co., publisher of both newspapers. The public library was not air-conditioned, and for years editors had been inviting Miss Vormelker to lunch on sweltering days. They would take her to a nice air-conditioned restaurant and tell her how much more interesting she would find work at a newspaper. Her first job was to combine the two libraries. She retired in 1962. Two days after retiring, she was invited by the University of Illinois to teach there that fall, but surgery put her out of action until the next May. Then Kent State University called. She was appointed assistant professor of library science at KSU in June 1963. She had taught what was reportedly the only course in the country on newspaper libraries. During her career at the library, she also was an instructor at Western Reserve University. In 1963, she was inducted into the Special Library Association Hall of Fame and appointed assistant professor of library science at KSU. She was inducted into the Ohio Library Hall of Fame in 1974 and the Graphic Arts Hall of Distinction in 1982. KSU established a scholarship in her name in 1977. She was author of a pamphlet titled "The Company Library." In 1966, she began teaching a course in "Newspaper and Mass Media Libraries." She taught until she was 82 years old, retiring in 1977. However, she was appointed adjunct professor and continued to teach a summer workshop through 1984. She was presented KSU's President's Medal in 1984. She is survived by a brother, Philip of Ashtabula. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Fairmount Presbyterian Church, 2757 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Heights. GRAPHIC: PHOTO: No Credit; Rose Vormelker LANGUAGE: ENGLISH COLUMN: OBITUARIES LOAD-DATE: November 7, 1994
Rose Vormelker pictured here
at her Kent State University
classroom in 1983.
