Adam L. Schiff has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 Margaret Mann Citation, sponsored by OCLC and Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures. Schiff is currently the Principal Cataloger at the University of Washington Libraries in Seattle, Washington.
The Margaret Mann Citation recognizes outstanding professional achievement in cataloging or classification for notable publications; outstanding contributions to professional cataloging associations; outstanding contribution to the technical improvement of cataloging and classification; and outstanding contributions in the area of teaching cataloging and classification. It includes a $2,000 scholarship donated in the recipient’s honor by OCLC, Inc. to the library school of the winner’s choice. Schiff has chosen the iSchool at the University of Washington to be the recipient of this year’s scholarship award.
After carefully considering this year’s accomplished pool of nominees, the selection committee unanimously chose Schiff as the 2025 Citation recipient due to his tremendous impact on the field of cataloging and classification, particularly his leadership and mentorship in standards development and revision, training activities, and the many discussion papers and policy proposals he has written that have been invaluable to the cataloging community.
When notified of his selection, Schiff said, “I am absolutely thrilled to receive this preeminent citation from my colleagues and peers and want to thank all those who mentored and supported me along the way, including my cataloging colleagues at the University of Washington Libraries, the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, Library of Congress, ALA ALCTS and Core, NARDAC, and the RDA Steering Committee and its predecessor the Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA. I am so lucky to be a part of this great community of catalogers and library metadata and linked data specialists who have so enriched my life with their friendships and professional collaborations. I want to express my gratitude to the UW Libraries which has always generously supported me spending a large amount of time on professional activities, service, and outside training. It's an incredible honor to be included among the other distinguished honorees awarded the Margaret Mann Citation, so many of whom I have had the opportunity and pleasure to work with and learn from.”
Schiff’s nomination letter noted that “Adam has spent his entire career contributing to the profession in significant ways. Additionally, he is a warm and non-judgmental person; one of the reasons he has had so much influence is that—in my impression—less-experienced catalogers are willing to ask Adam for help because he does not look down on others or make them feel small or foolish for asking. The profession is much better for Adam’s presence over the last several decades, and I recommend his contributions be recognized by awarding him the Margaret Mann Citation.”
His colleagues note that his record of professional achievement (as evidenced from his curriculum vitae) is immense. For more than twenty-five years he has been a highly sought-after trainer in the cataloging community. One support letter mentioned that “Schiff has long been a leader in developing standards and vocabularies through his work with ALA, the North American RDA Committee (NARDAC), and the PCC. He has chaired two of the three major ALA cataloging committees (CC:DA and MARBI) and has played a crucial leadership role in the third, the Subject Analysis Committee (SAC) as a voting member, liaison, and chair of an important subcommittee. With solid and detailed knowledge of our descriptive and subject standards, he has worked tirelessly to improve the standards to provide better access to library resources. Schiff is sought-after as a committee member for any important work because having his contributions will guarantee a good result.”
His colleagues state that in addition to being a high-producing Name Authority Cooperative (NACO) program member, Schiff also is a respected NACO trainer, reviewer, and advisor who works diligently with other NACO members to maintain the currency of the NACO Training Materials. These extensive and detailed training materials are used in mandatory NACO training. Schiff’s active involvement in standards development, particularly for Resource Description and Access (RDA), Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC), and linked data, was emphasized in support letters as an area where he excels and is highly respected. For example, one colleague wrote that, “When the cataloging community transitioned away from AACR2 to RDA, Adam developed a great deal of training material to assist catalogers in mastering the new descriptive standard and presented workshops all over the country. He was also instrumental in developing examples to illustrate RDA practice as part of the RDA Examples Group for several years. Adam’s work in this area had a profound impact on the ability of the cataloging community to make this challenging transition.”
Margaret Mann Citation Committee members felt that Schiff’s “work on PCC standards and linked data really is ground-breaking” and “his impact extends beyond national borders, reaching the international community and contributing significantly to the development of cataloging practices on a global scale.”
Source: https://www.ala.org/news/2025/04/adam-l-schiff-awarded-2025-margaret-mann-citation
