San Diego State University
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The 2003 Monty Award winners include brary honorees alumnus Andreas Brown and librarian Michael Perkins. Both have made important contributions to the library and to San Diego State University.

San Diego State University is honored by having one of America's leading antiquarian book authorities take a personal interest in its Special Collections; now, it's the university's turn to do the honoring. Andreas Brown, an SDSU graduate and current owner of New York's Gotham Book Mart, has been selected by the Alumni Association as one of this year's Monty Award winners.

Although Brown now lives in New York City, his San Diego roots are deep. His family settled in San Diego in 1869, and his great-grandfather was a pioneer doctor and one of the founding members of the San Diego Medical Society, a signer of the city charter, and a member of the board of education. Brown was born in Coronado, California, and graduated from San Diego's Hoover High School in 1951.

At SDSU, Brown majored in economics and was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and Pi Kappa Delta, the national honorary speech fraternity. Brown warmly remembers his association with Dr. John Ackley of SDSU's forensics program. "He was generally considered to be among the finest college teachers in the field at the time. He had an absolutely brilliant analytical mind," Brown said. "The four years of training I received from him was probably the most important memory I have of SDSU."

Brown graduated in 1955 with honors and received the Stanford University Law School's Stanley Pedder Scholarship. He withdrew from law school to serve in the Staff Judge Advocate of the U.S. Army. After military service, Brown taught speech at SDSU for three years.

Brown's perseverance in the Big Apple has enabled New Yorkers to maintain their love affair with the Gotham Book Mart. Director Woody Allen claimed that it's "everyone's fantasy of what the ideal bookshop is," and playwright Arthur Miller believes that "the Gotham Book Mark & Gallery is invaluable as a source of books for research of all kinds, and perhaps, above all for literature that is more than a few months old. It is impossible to imagine New York City without it."

Brown has served on the National Board of Governors of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and is also a member of the American Booksellers Association, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, and the Grolier Club of New York. He is the author of a number of books and articles, including co-author of Prairie Fires and Paper Moons: The American Photographic Postcard, 1900-1920, published in 1981 by D.R. Godine of Boston. He also appears in Who's Who in America.

Over the years, Brown has been a good friend to SDSU and especially to the library. He has served for more than 25 years on the Board of Advisors to the Friends of the Library, and he has donated a remarkable collection of photographs, magazines, pamphlets and other ephemera from, of, by or concerning the Kennedy family, including handwritten notes by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; rare books, first editions, and signed and inscribed books, including some by Jack Kerouac and Larry McMurtry. His collection of San Diego memorabilia has been on deposit in the library for more than a decade. On January 30, 1997, he gave the keynote address during the dedication ceremony of the SDSU Library Addition.

"Books and reading have had the most profound impact on my life. That led me to living in New York City for the last 35 years, which brought me into contact with some of the greatest minds in the creative arts," Brown said. "It's also kept me closely tied to San Diego State University. I'm working actively to help develop the Special Collections there."

Following his retirement, Brown hopes to return to San Diego, where he can play a more active role at the library and with the forensics program.

Ownership of the Gotham Book Mart has resulted in Brown's association with some of the world's leading writers, from Nobel Prize winners Saul Bellow and Samuel Beckett to major contemporary writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Philip Roth, Allen Ginsberg, and J.D. Salinger and playwrights such as Arthur Miller, Lillian Hellman, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and Lanford Wilson. The Gotham Book Mart has played a leading role in the appraisal and placement of many important literary archives and libraries, including E.E. Cummings, S.J. Perelman, Truman Capote, and Henry Miller. But ownership of America's favorite bookstore isn't always easy. When asked what personal and professional achievement he is most proud of, Brown answered: "Surviving for 35 years in the most demanding environment I can imagine-New York City."

In 1965, Brown established a national book appraisal business in San Diego, specializing in 20th century literary manuscript archives and books. His projects ranged from John Updike's manuscripts for Harvard University to the extensive archives of California Governor Pat Brown for the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. In 1967, he purchased New York City's famous Gotham Book Mark from legendary bookstore owner Frances Steloff.

Since joining the SDSU Library's faculty in 1986, Michael Perkins has been an avid participant in governing bodies for both the library profession and the university. This willingness to serve, as well as his professional accomplishments, earned Perkins the Monty Award for 2003.

Perkins is a long-time, active member of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) on both the local and national levels. During 1999/2000, he was president of the San Diego Chapter, which hosted the SLA Southwest Regional Conference during that time. Perkins also served as the Government Relations chair of the San Diego Chapter, which required him to keep the members informed of pending or passed legislation that affected libraries.

At the national level of SLA, Perkins was active in the business and finance division, which is SLA's largest. According to Martha McPhail, catalog librarian, Perkins was instrumental in establishing a listserv for its members and was its first monitor. "This has become an indispensable method for member networking," McPhail said.

At SDSU, Perkins holds one of two library positions on the University Senate. He served for many years on the Committee on Academic Resources & Planning, which makes recommendations to the senate and administrative officers concerning the allocation of university resources. "It was very interesting to be on this committee, because it was our task to explain the numbers. But my biggest involvement was in keeping the library's interests visible within the wider campus community," Perkins said. In May 2002, Perkins was elected secretary of the University Senate.

As acting head of collection development for the SDSU Library, Perkins has watched the evolution of his area over time. Periodicals, for instance, were once acquired individually, but not as much anymore. "Now you subscribe to 900 periodicals at one time through a licensing agreement from huge international publishers such as Elsevier," Perkins explained.

Although collection development is Perkins' primary professional interest, he has a scholarly interest in the history of accounting and continues to compile a bibliography on this topic.

Perkins will receive his Monty Award during the March 29 awards banquet at the Convention Center. The Monty Award honors distinguished alumni and faculty of San Diego State and is hosted by the SDSU Alumni Association.