William Roger Holman

William Holman has received recognition in two parallel careers. First he was an innovative director of metropolitan library systems, and second he became an award winning writer, book designer and fine printer.

In 1951 he began a four year tenure as Head Librarian of the Pan American University Library, and in 1955, at the age of 29, he was appointed Director of the Rosenberg Library in Galveston. In his next position as Head of the San Antonio Public Library, he guided that library to an ALA's 1959 John Cotton Dana Award for public service.

In 1960, at the age of 35, Mr. Holman became the City Librarian of San Francisco--the youngest director of one of the largest public libraries in the nation. He was charged with the task of reorganizing what experts called a "national disgrace." After six years of reorganizing the library, he turned his interest to special collections, writing and fine printing. In 1985 he retired from The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

Mr. Holman received a bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma and a Masters degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois. He is a lifetime member of the American Library Association and was elected chairman of the ALA Friends of the Library Committee. He is married and has two sons. His avocations are book collecting and sailing.

William Holman's professional career is recognized in two books; Peter Booth Wiley, A Free Library in this City (San Francisco: Weldon Owen, 1996) and Nicholas Basbanes, A Roving Chronicle of Book People. Harper, 2001.