[Asis-l] In memory of Professor Albert Tabah

[Richard Hill]

In memory of Professor Albert Tabah

The École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l'information deeply
regrets the passing of our esteemed colleague Albert Tabah on September
30, 2002, at age 51, following a long illness.

Following a career of fifteen years in the medical, science and
engineering libraries at McGill University and Concordia University,
during which he held positions as director, in 1990 Albert Tabah
undertook doctoral studies in information studies at McGill, studying in
the area of how the scholarly literature develops in physics. He
obtained his Ph.D. in 1996.

In 1993, Albert Tabah took a position as instructor at the École de
bibliothéconomie et sciences de l'information (EBSI) at the Université
de Montréal, then became Assistant Professor in 1996. His illness
prevented him from obtaining tenure and the rank of Associate Professor
before his time ran out. However, he was a great success as a teacher of
collection development, bibliometrics and quantitative research methods.
He published notable research in the areas of bibliometrics in the
sciences and in collection development. He contributed to the work of
the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la
technologie (CIRST) and to its Observatoire des sciences et des
technologies.

Both the World Bank and the International Development Research Centre
sought his expertise many times. He undertook several missions in
Senegal, Guinea, and Burkina Faso for these agencies. In France he gave
many continuing education training sessions in the area of collection
development.

His colleagues, students, and friends will remember his gift as a
polyglot (he was born in Istanbul and came to Canada at the age of 19).
Nor will we forget his talent as a communicator, his knowledge of
technology, his energy, and his enthusiasm.

Albert was very generous with his time and always made himself
available. During his last few years he was remarkably courageous in
fighting cancer, and showed us just how serene a person suffering from
such a terrible disease could be. In spite of rapidly deteriorating
health, he insisted on maintaing a full work load during the 2001-2002
academic year.

In the nine years he spent among us, Albert Tabah became friends with
everyone who knew him. He was a highly valued colleague. We miss him.

Marcel Lajeunesse
Professor, EBSI

Executive Director
American Society for Information Science and Technology
1320 Fenwick Lane, Suite 510
Silver Spring, MD  20910
FAX: (301) 495-0810
PHONE: (301) 495-0900

http://www.asis.org