University of Pittsburgh professor emeritus E.J. Josey, who was instrumental in integrating the library work force, died Saturday in Washington, N.C. He was 85.

At the 1964 annual conference of the American Library Association, Mr. Josey wrote a resolution prohibiting association officers and staff from participating in state associations that refused to admit black librarians.

It resulted in the integration of library associations of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. He was the first black librarian to be accepted into the Georgia Library Association.

"Few have brought about more significant change in librarianship than the late Dr. E.J. Josey," said ALA President Jim Rettig. "Through his leadership, he opened doors to segregated library associations and acted as librarianship's conscience, encouraging the field to live up to and operate by fundamental American principles of justice and equity."

In 1984, 20 years after the resolution, Mr. Josey was elected president of the ALA and emphasized in his inaugural address that only the library, with its community service goal and trained experts "can provide the full scope of information for the total population in a fair and objective manner."

Growing up the oldest of five children in Portsmouth, Va., Mr. Josey was angered by inequality during the time of separate facilities for blacks and whites. He became determined to work for equality.

"My father, having witnessed all the wrongs, being a student of history and what our founding documents stood for, always believed in working in the system even if it meant fighting against the system," said his daughter, Amina Jacqueline Josey Turner, of Washington, N.C.

"My father has always been an advocate for equity and justice for all," she said.

At a dinner party in the 1950s, his daughter said, he met Martin Luther King Jr., who asked him about segregation of libraries.

"My dad said in response that he was going to be working on that," Ms. Turner said.

After graduating from high school, Mr. Josey served in the U.S. Army from 1943 through 1946, serving with a chaplain and playing an organ.

He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in history and English from Howard University and a master's degree in history from Columbia University and a master's degree in library science from the State University of New York at Albany.

He held five honorary doctorates, including one from Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 2001.

His career included leadership positions in New York, Delaware and Georgia, including chief of the bureau of specialist library services for the New York State Library.

His civic activities included serving as president of the Albany, N.Y., branch of the NAACP from 1982 to 1986. In '86, he joined the library faculty at the University of Pittsburgh where he worked in the School of Library and Information Science until his retirement in 1995.

His civil rights work extended beyond libraries.

While he was on faculty at Savannah State University in Georgia in the early 1960s, he encouraged students to participate in nonviolent protests and boycott of stores that refused to serve or hire blacks.

"The protests were very effective," Ms. Turner said.

She said her father would go out of the way to help people, including urging people to get more education.

Her husband, Lawrence, said his father-in-law loved teaching students.

"He always said the students kept him young and he learned as much from them as they could from him," said Mr. Turner.

In retirement, Mr. Josey continued to help students and remained active in the library association and other groups.

Although recovering from illness and in a wheelchair, he managed to attend the mid-winter convention of the American Library Association in Philadelphia last year.

When Mr. Turner went with Mr. Josey to a floor microphone to ask the speaker, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a question, the crowd erupted into a standing ovation when they learned it was Mr. Josey in the wheelchair.

"People came out to touch him, pat him on the back, give well wishes and business cards," said Mr. Turner.

In Pittsburgh, Mr. Josey lived in Shadyside, but, in declining health, he moved to Washington, N.C., about a year ago where he lived with his daughter and son-in-law.

The Turners are in the midst of making a documentary about Mr. Josey, and they and Mr. Josey started a foundation called the E.J. Josey Foundation for Justice and Peace.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Josey is survived by a brother, Robert C. of Sacramento, Calif.; six grandchildren; three step-grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, N.C.