DANVERS — It took Red Sox slugger Jim Rice 15 years to get into the Hall of Fame, but it took a former Marblehead junior high librarian twice as long to be honored for getting students to hit the books during the bicentennial.
Virginia "Ginny" MacKeen, who was the librarian at the former Marblehead Junior High from 1967 to 1978, was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame for the New England School Library Association.
"It was a shock," MacKeen said when she learned she was being honored for her work during the bicentennial in 1976.
A 1936 graduate of Swampscott High and 1942 graduate of Salem Teachers College, she retired in 1978 at the age of 60.
Today, MacKeen and the School Library Association are both 90, and the association recently celebrated its own birthday with its first Hall of Fame induction in Boston.
Because of health reasons, MacKeen could not make the banquet, but she sent a letter instead, which was put on display for others to read. She lives in a senior housing complex on Stone Street not far from the Danvers Senior Center.
On Wednesday, the association's treasurer and historian, Douglas Maitland, and his twin brother, Duncan, dropped by MacKeen's apartment to present her with the certificate.
Douglas Maitland, MacKeen's friend and a former Swampscott High library media specialist, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with MacKeen and 34 others. He retired in 2002.
Thirty-three years ago, MacKeen was chairwoman of the School Library Association's Bay State Bicentennial effort, and she compiled a list of books called "Massachusetts in the Revolution." It helped that she was volunteering at the archives of the Essex Institute in Salem, now part of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Her book list was put together with those from the five other New England states, then published for school librarians throughout the region to use. She recently gave a copy of it to Town Archivist Richard Trask at the Peabody Institute Library on Sylvan Street. He originally contributed to it, MacKeen said.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or eforman@salemnews.com.
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
