The Dalhousie School of Information Management (SIM) Associated Alumni (AA) is delighted to announce that Margaret Murphy (MLIS ’76) has been chosen as the recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Alumni Award. The award will be presented on September 22 at SIM.

Ms. Murphy has served as the Nova Scotia Legislative Librarian for 26 years. During this time she has revolutionized the Legislative Library, ushering in automation, digitization, preservation and greater access to the public. She has been recognized by the Nova Scotia Legislature more than once for her many efforts. Prior to her long tenure at the Nova Scotia Legislative Library, Ms. Murphy worked for six years as Librarian at the Nova Scotia Department of Attorney General (now the Department of Justice) as well as a stint as the Head of Cataloguing at Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Law Library.

“I am surprised and very honoured to be nominated this year for the Outstanding Alumni Award,” says Ms. Murphy. “To have my career assessed so generously by the people who nominated me and by the School of Information Management Associated Alumni is extremely gratifying and something that will always mean a lot to me. To be included in the ranks of those people who have received this Award in other years is also very humbling.”

Ms. Murphy’s commitment to special libraries and special librarianship is immediately evident from her committee work. She has sat on numerous boards and executives, including the Public Archives of Nova Scotia Board of Trustees, the Canadian Association of Law Librarians, the Halifax Association of Law Librarians, and the Association of Parliamentary Librarians in Canada. One nominator writes, “In my view, she has done more than anyone else to raise the profile of legislative libraries in the larger law library community, and indeed the larger Canadian law library world.” Ms. Murphy has also shown a dedication to mentoring and developing new professionals, through her committee and SIM alumni work and through her commitment to the School of Information Management’s internship program.

The school means a lot to her. “The School not only gave me a solid foundation for the positions that I have been privileged to have in the Library field all these years, but it is also the place where I have forged my strongest friendships and professional relationships that endure and sustain me today. As someone who is in a position to hire librarians, I know that the graduates of SIM have the skills, abilities and values that I think are important in today’s libraries and it’s wonderful to be in a place where there is such a strong library community.”

Ms. Murphy is described by her nominators as generous, enthusiastic and dedicated; a librarian who is able to balance the past and the future, her primary clientele with the need for broader access. A nominator states, “One of the most notable aspects of Margaret is her ability to speak truth to power. This is not an easy thing to do when working in an environment where librarians are not always considered as having a voice within the top echelons of bureaucracy.”

The last word goes to the Nova Scotia Legislature, which in 2002, made the following motion:
“Whereas an effective Legislative Library is essential to the members and operation of this House; and Whereas we have been blessed with the services of Margaret Murphy as the Chief Legislative Librarian for over 17 years; and Whereas Margaret has been honoured by the Halifax Association of Law Libraries for 25 years of outstanding service at Dalhousie University, the Department of Justice and latterly the Legislative Library; Therefore be it resolved that the House congratulate Margaret Murphy on 25 years of exemplary service and extend to her the heartfelt thanks of all members of this House for a job well done.”

The motion was carried and a standing ovation followed.