Bernard (Bernie) Schwab was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame on October 23, 2013 at the annual conference of the Wisconsin Library Association in Green Bay, WI. Schwab served as Director of the Madison Public Library from 1957 to 1981. Under his leadership the library built a new central library and five branch libraries were added. He established the Dane County Historical Records Center, the Municipal Reference Service, and the Madison Area Library Council. He helped to create the first Friends of the Library group in Wisconsin. The Madison Public Library was named Library of the Year in 1966. He served as President of the Wisconsin Library Association in 1966-67 and was named Librarian of the Year in 1970. Schwab was chair of the Wisconsin Council for Library Development in 1973-74. Schwab was WLA’s representative to the American Library Association (ALA) and served on ALA’s joint committee on library service to labor. Schwab was born in Brooklyn, NY. He received a Bachelor’s degree from the College of the City of New York in 1943 and a Library Science degree from the Pratt Institute. Prior to coming to Madison he held several positions at the District of Columbia Public Library in Washington, DC. Before becoming Director he served as Assistant Director of the Madison Public Library from 1954 to 1957. After his death in 1990, the City Council changed the name of the central library to the Bernard Schwab Library.
The Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame is a project of the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center which is a program of the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation.
Leonard B. Archer was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame on October 23, 2013 at the annual conference of the Wisconsin Library Association in Green Bay, WI. Archer served as Director of the Oshkosh Public Library (1958 to 1978) and held as joint appointment as Director of the Winnefox Library System. He initiated bookmobile service for Winnebago County and was instrumental in establishing the Winnefox Library System. He was an advocate for intellectual freedom and served as chair of the Wisconsin Library Association’s (WLA) Intellectual Freedom Committee (1963-65). He was named Librarian of the Year by WLA in 1975. He was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for work with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in developing a “people’s university” in the public library. After retirement he moved to Middleton, WI in 1978 where he became active with the Middleton Public Library as a member of the library board and the Friends of the Library. He also served on the board of the South Central Library System. Archer was born in Petersburg, VA. He received a BA degree from the University of Richmond and a library degree from Emory University. Prior to coming to Wisconsin he worked in libraries in the District of Columbia, Detroit, MI, Plainfield, VT, and Rutland, VT. Archer was married to Marion Fuller Archer, who was a children’s librarian, author, and faculty member at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. Meeting rooms at the Middleton Public Library are named for Leonard Archer and Marion Archer. 
Rachel Katherine Schenk served as Director of the Wisconsin Library School (now the School of Library and Information Studies of the University of Wisconsin – Madison) from 1951 to 1963. Prior to becoming Director she was a faculty member at the school. While Director she was responsible for the implementation of the master’s program at the library school. After her retirement from the Madison library school she helped implement the library science program at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. She received the WLA Citation of Merit in 1960. She was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame on October 25, 2012.
Cornelia Marvin Pierce (then Cornelia Marvin) served as head of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission Summer School of Library Training during the summers of 1897 and 1898. In 1899 she became a full-time employee of the Wisconsin Library Commission as library instructor and director of the Summer School of Library Training. It was due largely to the success of the summer training sessions that the Commission established a permanent library school that is now the School of Library and Information Studies of the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In 1905 she left Wisconsin to become the first secretary of the Oregon Library Commission which became the Oregon State Library in 1913. She served as Oregon State Librarian until 1928. She married Walter M. Pierce in 1928. She is listed in the Dictionary of American Library Biography. She was included on the National Advocacy Honor Roll by the American Library Association in 2000 for her contribution as an advocate for library services in the 20th century. Pierce was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame on October 25, 2012.
Clarence Brown Lester served as Secretary of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission from 1920 to 1949, the longest tenure for any Secretary of the Commission. Prior to becoming Secretary he was chief of the Commission’s special training course for reference librarians (1913-1920). The Wisconsin Library Association’s Clarence B. Lester Library of the Year award (now just the Library of the Year Award) was established in his honor in 1955. He served as President of the National Association of State Libraries and also of the League of Library Commissions. Lester was a native of Providence, RI and a graduate of Brown University. Lester was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame on October 25, 2012.