Gloria Stolzoff Werner (December 12, 1940 – March 5, 2021) was an American librarian. She worked for forty years, from 1962 to 2002, as a librarian at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA), including twelve years as University Librarian. She served a term as president of the

Association of Research Libraries The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 125 research library at comprehensive, research institutions in Canada and the United States. ARL member libraries make up a large portion of the academic and research li ...

in 1997.

Early life

Gloria H. Stolzoff was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. She graduated from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

in 1961, with a degree in art history. While at Oberlin, she wrote for the ''Oberlin Review''. She earned a master's degree in

library science Library and information science (LIS)Library and Information Sciences is the name used in the Dewey Decimal Classification for class 20 from the 18th edition (1971) to the 22nd edition (2003). are two interconnected disciplines that deal with info ...

from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1962.

Career

Werner began working at UCLA in 1962, and trained as a medical librarian there. She became a reference librarian, then associate university librarian, and finally succeeding

Russell Shank Russell Shank (September 2, 1925 – June 26, 2012) was an American librarian. Shank studied electrical engineering at the University of Washington and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1946. He went on to receive a bachelor ...

as university librarian, holding that rank from 1990 to 2002. During her tenure, the university's library systems moved from

card catalog A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libraries is also ...

to an online catalog, and the library's buildings underwent a complex seismic retrofitting. She supported the creation of the Southern Regional Library Facility, opened in 1987. She served on UCLA's Women and Philanthropy board, and was a governor of the UCLA Foundation. She retired as University Librarian Emerita in 2002, and received the UCLA Alumni Association’s University Service Award in 2013. Outside of UCLA, Werner edited the journal of the

Medical Library Association The Medical Library Association (MLA) is a nonprofit educational organization with more than 3,400 health-sciences information professional members. History Founded on May 2, 1898, the Association of Medical Librarians, as it was known unti ...

, was president of the Association of Research Libraries in 1997. She also served on the Docent Council of the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

(LACMA).

Personal life

Stolzoff married chemistry professor Newton Davis Werner. They had a son, Adam. She was widowed when Newton Werner died in 2000; she died in 2021 aged 80 in Los Angeles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Werner, Gloria 1940 births 2021 deaths American women librarians American librarians University of California, Los Angeles staff Oberlin College alumni People from Seattle University of Washington alumni UCLA librarians