The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has awarded the late Karl T. Gruben with its highest honor.
Mr. Gruben, a School of Information alumnus, passed away in November 2016. This summer, he was one of four recipients of the 2017 Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding, extended and sustained service to law librarianship, the association or for contributions to professional literature.
By winning the award, Mr. Gruben was automatically inducted into the AALL’s Hall of Fame.
“During Karl’s long career in law libraries, the world of information science changed dramatically,” one of his nominating colleagues noted, “and Karl enthusiastically mastered the nuts and bolts of the new technologies, evolving into a self-taught expert on the new infrastructure of legal research.”
Mr. Gruben earned his Master of Library Science degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 1975. He went to work for the Texas State Law Library as a government law librarian before joining the private sector, where he was director of Vinson & Elkins LLP’s law libraries.
In 2004, Mr. Gruben entered academia as law library director and associate professor of law at St. Thomas University Law School in Miami, Florida. He later joined the faculty of the University of San Diego as associate dean for library and information services, professor of law, and director of the legal research center.
A past president of the Houston Area Law Librarians, Mr. Gruben also served in leadership positions for the AALL, including the executive board as member and secretary.