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, 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

EBSI - FAS / Université de Montréal