Activist Barbara Gittings to speak Oct. 6 at library

5:22 p.m., Oct. 5, 2005--Barbara Gittings, one of the pioneers of gay and lesbian activism and a longtime member of the American Library Association, will speak from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 6, in the Class of 1941 Lecture Room in the Morris Library on the University of Delaware campus in Newark.

Gittings began her long association with the American Library Association in 1970 and became a member of the organization’s Task Force on Gay Liberation. As coordinator of the task force, she led the establishment of the Gay Book Award and developed programs to highlight the availability of gay materials for use in libraries.

Gittings was editor of the lesbian review The Ladder, a publication of the Daughters of Bilitis, and was active in the East Coast Homophile Organization and the Homophile Action League.

Widely respected in the national library community, Gittings was awarded life membership in the American Library Association in 2003. That is the highest honor awarded by the organization.

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