From H-New-Jersey:
State Archives Reference Supervisor Bette M. Epstein is this year’s Roger McDonough Librarianship Award recipient. The award is named for Roger H. McDonough, New Jersey State Librarian from 1947 to 1975. Beginning in 2002 the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance, along with the New Jersey Historical Commission, Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference New Jersey Caucus, and the New Jersey Library Association History and Preservation Section, has given an award to a librarian or archivist or manuscript curator for excellence in service to the New Jersey history research community and/or the general public. A formal announcement of the award will be made at Archives and History Day at the Monmouth County Library on October 12th. Ms. Epstein will be presented with the award personally at the next meeting of the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance on Monday, October 21st at 3 pm in the Pane Room on the first floor of the Alexander Library on College Avenue on the Rutgers campus. The public is cordially invited to attend that event. Free parking will be available.
For nearly four decades, Ms. Epstein has served New Jersey’s history and genealogy communities with distinction, becoming something of a legend in her own career.
After receiving her M.L.S. from Western Michigan University, Bette joined the staff of the former Bureau of Archives and History, then part of the State Library, in 1974. She worked as a librarian and then archivist in reference services until the Bureau was split off from the State Library as the Division of Archives and Records Management (DARM) in 1983. During her time in the State Library, she worked with and trained under several well-known reference librarians including Robert Lupp (the first recipient of the Roger McDonough Librarianship Award) who, with Bette, worked for Roger McDonough, namesake of this award. She acquired extensive knowledge of the State Library’s and Bureau of Archives and History’s holdings, including manuscript, microfilm, map and reference book collections. This knowledge has aided generations of researchers over the years, and is still an important aspect of the State Archives’ institutional memory.
In 1983, Bette assumed oversight of the Reference Unit of the State Archives Bureau, within DARM. In this capacity, she has trained dozens of young librarians, interns and volunteers, inspiring them to pursue careers in New Jersey libraries and archives. In 1986, she earned an Advanced Certificate in Librarianship from Columbia University. In the late 1990s, Following the relocation of the Archives to 225 West State Street in 2000, Bette was promoted to the Supervising Archivist title. She is personally responsible, in good part, for the excellent reputation New Jersey State Archives has nationally as a service-oriented institution. She has aided thousands of historians and genealogists, always going the extra mile to help researchers find elusive information and/or plan their research strategy. Bette has also volunteered her librarian skills over the years to various organizations, including the Congregation Brothers of Israel and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference.
For a parking pass, please e-mail Ron Becker at rbecker@rulmail.rutgers.edu