Remembering Gene Dickerson

Eugene H. Dickerson, known to most as Gene, passed away on Saturday, December December 16, 2017 after a long battle with cancer.

Gene was a long-time ALCTS member who served on numerous Continuing Resources Section (CRS) and ALCTS division committees, including the Worst Serial Title Change Award, the CRS Continuing Resources Cataloging Committee, and the ALCTS Organization & Bylaws Committee. Gene worked for a number of years at the National Library of Medicine and most recently at the Bunche Library for the U.S. Department of State. He was an expert serials cataloger and taught serials cataloging for the Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program (SCCTP).

When I was appointing officer for the Serials Section (now CRS), I asked Gene to serve on the Worst Serial Title Change Award committee. Gene reluctantly agreed after I convinced him that he would be just the right fit for this group. During the ALCTS Awards ceremony, time was allotted to give these awards, which poked a bit of fun at serials title changes that created havoc, hand wringing, and hair pulling in library serials cataloging departments. With his wry wit and deadpan delivery, Gene was a master at writing the citation and announcing the winners. It was one of the highlights of the award program.

Gene wrote me in the fall of 2016 that he was doing well after having a bone marrow transplant at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to treat multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, in February. He had received a good report from the oncologist at Penn, so the news that he passed away is unexpected and all the more sad.

Ken Plonsky will hold a “Celebration of Life” for Gene’s friends and colleagues on January 7, 2018, which would have been Gene’s sixtieth birthday. The gathering will take place from 1:00–5:00 p.m. in the Van Ness Room at the Van Ness North apartments.

Gene was a warm and caring person and a wonderful colleague. He will be missed.

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