RENEE BECKER SWARTZ, Chair and Coordinator of the New Jersey Center for the Book, has received a Presidential nomination to the Board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). IMLS is an independent Federal grant-making agency that fosters leadership, innovation, and a lifetime of learning by supporting the nation’s 18,500 museums and 125,000 libraries through annual grants of $520 million.
Swartz, a national library advocate for the past 44 years, began her career in public service as a volunteer with the Friends of the Monmouth County Library, was subsequently appointed to the Monmouth County Library Commission in 1966, and has served as Chair since 1976.
Through appointments by the past four NJ Governors, she has chaired the NJ State Library Advisory Council since 1986. For 22 years she served as Chair of the Program Associates of SCILS at Rutgers.
In 2000, she founded and serves as the Chair of the NJ Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress. Swartz chaired the New Jersey delegations to the 1979 and 1991 White House Conferences on Library and Information Services, and has served as the permanent New Jersey member of the White House Conference Task Force since 1979. She served on the American Library Association’s Office of Information Technology Policy Advisory Board from 1995 to 1999. In 1991, she was selected by ALA as the Trustee of the Year.
Renee has been in the forefront of library development on the local, state, and national levels and is recognized as a leading advocate of the library as a community center and for promoting innovative and consumer-friendly library service. She is a graduate of Barnard College and was the recipient of the Columbia Medal for Outstanding Alumnae Achievement in 1985.
