Remembering Libraries Unlimited Founder Dr. Bohdan Stephan Wynar
Visionary publisher and founder of Libraries Unlimited, Dr. Bohdan Stephan Wynar, passed away on November 9th in Aurora, Colorado.
Born in Lviv, Ukraine on September 7th, 1926, Dr. Wynar was a man of many accomplishments. After military service in WWII, and subsequently earning a doctorate degree in economics in Munich in 1950, Wynar emigrated to the U.S. He worked as a steel worker in Ohio, and then as a statistician, eventually bringing his family to the U.S., and continuing his education.
Wynar earned a second graduate degree in 1958—a Master’s in Library Science, at University of Denver (DU). He served as Head of Technical Services of University of Denver Libraries from 1958-1962; and as Associate Professor, Graduate School of Librarianship at DU from 1963-1966. From 1966-1969 he was Dean, School of Library Science, SUNY, Geneseo, New York. He later served on the American Library Association’s Committee of Accreditation (COA). During his teaching career, he witnessed first-hand the need for quality resources, guides, and textbooks to help further library professional development and support teaching.
The success of the university press’ publication of his book Introduction to Cataloging and Classification was so overwhelming that in 1964, Wynar started his own publishing company under the name of Libraries Unlimited. Two subsidiary imprints, Ukrainian Academic Press (1972) and Teacher Ideas Press (1988) were subsequently established.
Wynar made significant contributions to librarianship throughout his career. He authored and co-authored many books in Library Science, including the best-selling Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, currently in its tenth edition under the authorship of Arlene G. Taylor, and co-edited the Dictionary of American Library Biography (DALB). He created and served as editor-in-chief of the critically acclaimed and trusted guide to reference works, American Reference Books Annual (ARBA), now entering its forty-fourth year of publication.
In 1977, he received the Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award for his distinguished contributions to reference librarianship. He remained president of his publishing company until the age of 72, when it became part of the Greenwood Publishing Group.
“Libraries Unlimited finds its roots in the vision of the distinguished and much-admired educator and scholar,” noted Libraries Unlimited Publisher, Kathryn Suárez. “His contributions to education and the library science community will continue to have a lasting impact.”
About Libraries Unlimited
Well-known and well-regarded throughout the library community, Libraries Unlimited publishes content in all areas and topics that represent core competencies of librarians, offering titles that are used by librarians during their studies and throughout their professional careers. Libraries Unlimited has long been considered a market leader in textbooks and bibliographic reference for library science. As the professional development imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, Libraries Unlimited focuses on the work of renowned and highly visible authors who are respected for their experience, expertise, insight into library practice, educator/librarian connections, and literacy.