March 28, 2016  /  2:00 p.m.
Free Library of Philadelphia  /  Auditorium
1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia

Remarks of Glenn R. Miller, Deputy Secretary of Education and Commissioner for Libraries, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at the Memorial Service for
Elliot L. Shelkrot, State Librarian, 1980-87

Thank you, Rabbi Shawn and good afternoon.  My name is Glenn Miller and I am the Deputy Secretary of Education and Commissioner for Libraries for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  I am honored and humbled to offer some observations today about our dear friend, Elliot Skelkrot.  Thank you, Evelyn, for inviting me to speak, briefly.

(It’s an inside library joke……)

First, let me offer the most heartfelt condolences from Elliot’s friend and our Governor, the Honorable Tom Wolf, and also from the Honorable Pedro Rivera, our Secretary of Education.  I would also like to acknowledge the presence of several of Elliot’s successors as State Librarian, Gary Wolfe and Mary Clare Zales, and former Acting State Librarian, Alice Lubrecht, and David Hoffman who had hoped to attend but I have not seen him.

 We all mourn Elliot’s passing and I extend to you — Evelyn, Daniel, Max, and Ben — the gratitude of the entire Commonwealth for your generosity over many years in sharing with us Elliot’s energy and talent in the service of his fellow citizens.

The other day after Evelyn shared the news of Elliot’s passing, I sat in the office where Elliot worked as State Librarian from 1980 through 1987 and thought about how much he accomplished in eight short years.  His tenure became the standard for each one of us who followed.

 Elliot was—and I am—honored to serve in this capacity and to work in an historic library begun in 1745 by the Clerk of the Assembly in the Province of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin.  I wondered the other day if Elliot, during his time at the State Library, was struck—as I was recently—by the words inscribed over the entrance to our Law Library —    these words —

Law is the Science of Human Conduct Derived from the Past.
Regard for the Public Welfare is the Highest Law

 Those words really hit me and I venture to say that they were not lost on him either:  Regard for the Public Welfare is the Highest Law

Every day of his professional life—and almost certainly even before that—Elliot Louis Shelkrot followed the Highest Law.  Yes, Elliot was a brilliant man with an inquisitive mind and it stood to reason that just such a man as this would pursue a career as a librarian.  But his intellect is not the full picture.  I know by his actions and his words—in my presence—that Elliot became a librarian, and loved being a librarian, because of his unselfishness and his deep regard for the public welfare.

 Elliot’s reputation also was that of visionary who, in the 1980s, established our statewide union catalog—Access PA—which today combines the holdings of more than 2500 Pennsylvania libraries in the largest such catalog in North America.  He championed broader services for children, and for the downtrodden.  He succeeded in promoting a new law to protect the confidentiality of library records, and embraced technology in libraries, even when some others resisted.

My direct work with him, from 1995 forward, revealed him to be a generous and gentle soul who, at every turn, did what was right in the pursuit of the public welfare.

 In 1998, I worked closely with Elliot on a Pennsylvania Library Association task force to develop a statewide funding plan for libraries following a four-part expose in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  That series—Libraries in Distress–revealed the deplorable conditions that existed in public libraries in every corner of this state.  Elliot was appalled.  We all were.  In the deliberations of the task force that followed, not once did Elliot stray from his regard for the broader public interest.  Not once did he insist that any new funding plan include a disproportionate share to his own library, despite its size and influence and great history—the very institution where we find ourselves today.

 No.  That would have violated Elliot’s sense of fairness …… and his deep regard for the Highest Law.

 Instead, Elliot and the task force of 17 of his library colleagues developed a comprehensive and fair-to-all plan that lifted funding for all libraries and encouraged greater sharing and local support.  In my view, the plan succeeded—even despite recent budget cuts—because Elliot and his colleagues set aside personal goals in the pursuit of a vital and common goal—the public welfare.

Just out of curiosity, I pulled out a spreadsheet of past budgets and did a quick tally.  Compared with level funding, the state’s investment in libraries grew $521 million—more than half a billion dollars—since the work of that task force.  As difficult as things are for libraries today—and they are, for many—I shudder to think where we would be without the work of Elliot and his colleagues on that task force in 1997 and 1998, and the powerful advocacy that followed.

Elliot and Evelyn have been dear friends for more than two decades.  We share a passion for libraries, and for our hometown of Pittsburgh.  Not to worry, my Philadelphia friends.  Elliot developed a love for this city that soon exceeded that of his hometown, and he promoted his adopted hometown with missionary zeal.

All who knew Elliot knew that he did not do things half-way.  In his retirement, I loved to hear—as a fellow amateur kayaker—the enthusiasm in his voice as he described building a new kayak— made from wood and crafted by his own hands.  I marveled at his energy and passion for this project.

Elliot Shelkrot was one of a kind.  He loved Evelyn and his family intensely, and delighted in his new granddaughter.  He served his fellow citizens with great distinction and unparalleled fervor.  I feel enormously blessed that our paths crossed and that we became friends.

May he rest in peace free from the illnesses that wracked his body.  And may the light of his service and the memories of his many kindnesses, his humor, and—most of all—his unrelenting dedication to the Highest Law —  Regard  for  the   Public   Welfare — comfort his family and his many, many friends, and serve as a beacon for all of us along the journey ahead.

And as Rabbi Shawn has sung, may we treasure each day.