Pioneers in Librarianship: Sixty Notable Leaders Who Shaped the Field

by Christian A. Nappo

Overview

Pioneers in Librarianship profiles sixty notable librarians who made significant contributions to the field. Librarians chosen for inclusion in this volume met one or more of these three criteria:

• The librarian conceived a new method for improving library services, invented their own method of book cataloging, or devised an administrative system for libraries to operate under.
• The librarian is historically famous because he/she was notable historically.
• The librarian was the first woman or minority to make significant achievements within the field of LIS.

The achievements of the librarians profiled here are important because they shaped the field. Many of their theories, ideas, and contributions are still being utilized in libraries today.

Librarians profiled here include Melvil Dewey, Carla Hayden, S. R. Ranganathan, Justin Winsor, Charles Coffin Jewett, Katharine Sharp, Pura Belpré, Allie Beth Martin, and John Cotton Dana.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538148761
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/28/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	404
File size:	810 KB

About the Author

Christian A. Nappo teaches for the Lee County, Florida School District and holds an MA in library and information science from the University of South Florida. He also holds an MS in criminal justice from the University of Alabama and an MA in history from the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Previous books include Librarians of Congress (2016) and Presidential Libraries and Museums (2018), both published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

1. Pura Belpré: Librarian, Author and Puppeteer

2. Henry Evelyn Bliss: The Bliss Bibliographic Classification

3. Thomas Fountain Blue: The Louisville Free Public Library

4. Alfred Kaiming Chiu: Harvard-Yenching Classification System Librarian

5. John Young Cole: First Official Historian of the Library of Congress

6. Andrea Crestadoro: The Manchester Free Library

7. Charles Ammi Cutter: The Cutter Expansive Classification

8. John Cotton Dana: Progressive Librarian and Museum Director

9. Sadie Peterson Delaney: Librarian and Bibliotherapist

10. Melvil Dewey: The Dewey Decimal Classification

11. William Isaac Fletcher: The Amherst Librarian

12. Herman Howe Fussler: Librarian & Microphotographer

13. Amelia Gayle Gorgas: Librarian and Nurse

14. Richard James Horatio Gottheil: Middle Eastern Collections Librarian at the New York Public Library

15. Samuel Swett Green: The Father of the Library Reference Service

16. Abdel Kader Haidara: The Heroic Librarian of Timbuktu

17. Mary Evelyn Hall: Pioneering High School Librarian

18. James Christian Meinich Hanson: Pioneering Cataloger

19. Adelaide Rosalie Hasse: The Superintendent of Documents Classification

20. Carla Diane Hayden: Pioneering Librarian of Congress

21. Frederick Charles Hicks: Titan of Law Librarians

22. William Herbert Ifould: The Librarian Down Under

23. Hannah Packard James: The Osterhout Free Library of Wilkes-Barre

24. Thomas James: First Librarian of the Bodleian Library

25. Charles Coffin Jewett: Trailblazing American Librarian

26. Waldo Gifford Leland: The Archivist Behind the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

27. George Herbert Locke: Transforming the Toronto Public Library

28. Flora Belle Ludington: Head Librarian at Mount Holyoke College

29. Carleton Bruns Joeckel: Library Advocate

30. Nita Bernice Kibble: Trailblazing Australian Librarian

31. Frederick G. Kilgour: The Online Computer Library Center

32. Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya: The Revolutionary Librarian

33. Margaret Mann: Librarian, Cataloger and Professor

34. Allie Beth Martin: Advocate for Library Change

35. Frederic Melcher: Trailblazer in Children’s Librarianship

36. Aubertus Miraeus: Librarian by Royal Appointment

37. Foster Edward Mohrhardt: National Agricultural Library

38. Anne Carroll Moore: Innovative Children’s Librarian

39. Ralph Munn: Global Librarianship

40. Gabriel Naudé: The Cardinal’s Librarian

41. Margaret Cross Norton: Librarian and Archivist

42. Marcia Crocker Noyes: The Medical Library Association

43. Sir William Osler: Physician, Medical Historian, and Bibliophile

44. Antonio Panizzi: The British Museum in London

45. Carlos Victor Penna: Developing Latin American Libraries

46. Annette Lewis Phinazee: Trailblazing Cataloger

47. Pope Pius XI: Pope and Librarian

48. Bartolomeo Platina: Gastronomist and the First Vatican Librarian

49. William Frederick Poole: Administrative Librarianship

50. Herbert Putnam: America’s Librarian

51. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan: The Five Laws of Library Science

52. Rebecca Browning Rankin: The Municipal Reference Librarian

53. Frank Bradway Rogers: The Transformational Medical Librarian

54. Arturo Alfonso Schomburg: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library

55. Katharine Lucinda Sharp: Armour Institute of Technology

56. Alexandre Vattemare: Library Exchange

57. Eva Verona: Trailblazing Croatian Cataloger

58. Edward Christopher Williams: Trailblazer in Library Education

59. Justin Winsor: The Great Academic Librarian

60. Mary Elizabeth Wood: The Boone Lib

Editorial Reviews

This ready reference tool provides a snapshot of the history of librarianship and libraries themselves. Each of the 60 entries provides a brief but succinct overview of a notable library leader's life and contribution. Nappo notes in the foreword that he based his selection of individuals on three criteria (and an eye toward diversity): the individual created a new method for library services, was a notable person in the history of library science, or was the first woman or minority to make significant achievements in the field of library and information science. Some of the individuals chosen may be virtually unknown, and this text sheds light on these individuals and their accomplishments. This is a useful addition to the literature on library science. Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals.

Choice Reviews

In this treasure of a book, Christian A. Nappo offers succinct, fascinating biographical sketches of sixty men and women whose grit, intellectual curiosity, spirit of innovation, and devotion to the profession have shaped the evolution of librarianship. It should be required reading for anyone enrolled in a graduate LIS program. Practicing librarians, also, will treasure the connection this book offers them to the giants of the past. Highly recommended.

Jeff Weddle

Social and environmental forces may be the major drivers of history, but often the influence of individuals as a factor in historical development is also critical. Librarians are no exceptions in this regard. Just as libraries have been both conduits and agents of change, their most prominent librarians, as Pioneers in Librarianship illustrates, have at once mirrored society’s ideas and helped shape them.

Alistair Black

In this treasure of a book, Christian A. Nappo offers succinct, fascinating biographical sketches of sixty men and women whose grit, intellectual curiosity, spirit of innovation, and devotion to the profession have shaped the evolution of librarianship. It should be required reading for anyone enrolled in a graduate LIS program. Practicing librarians, also, will treasure the connection this book offers them to the giants of the past. Highly recommended.

Social and environmental forces may be the major drivers of history, but often the influence of individuals as a factor in historical development is also critical. Librarians are no exceptions in this regard. Just as libraries have been both conduits and agents of change, their most prominent librarians, as Pioneers in Librarianship illustrates, have at once mirrored society's ideas and helped shape them.

The field of librarianship is young and rapidly evolving, but there are people who laid the foundations for the profession. In this volume, Nappo pays tribute to these pioneers. The 60 profiles appear in alphabetical order. Each entry is six to eight pages long with notes and a bibliography. The well-known contributors (Melvil Dewey, Charles Ammi Cutter) appear along with older contributors such as the 16th-century Belgian Aubertus Miraeus, who first made books available to the public, and Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, Lenin's wife and the founder of Soviet librarianship. Pura Belpré, the first Puerto Rican librarian at the New York Public Library, and Carla Hayden, the first Black woman to serve as Librarian of Congress, are included as well. The entries cover the lives, educations, and major contributions of the subjects. They do not shy away from shortcomings, noting, for instance, that Dewey was known to be a racist, an antisemite, and a sexual harasser who did not give due credit to the colleagues who helped him. A useful work that gives long overdue recognition to the library profession. Recommended for all library school professional development collections.

This ready reference tool provides a snapshot of the history of librarianship and libraries themselves. Each of the 60 entries provides a brief but succinct overview of a notable library leader's life and contribution. Nappo notes in the foreword that he based his selection of individuals on three criteria (and an eye toward diversity): the individual created a new method for library services, was a notable person in the history of library science, or was the first woman or minority to make significant achievements in the field of library and information science. Some of the individuals chosen may be virtually unknown, and this text sheds light on these individuals and their accomplishments. This is a useful addition to the literature on library science. Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals.

From the Publisher

12/01/2022

The field of librarianship is young and rapidly evolving, but there are people who laid the foundations for the profession. In this volume, Nappo (Lee County, FL, School Dist.; Presidential Libraries and Museums) pays tribute to these pioneers. The 60 profiles appear in alphabetical order. Each entry is six to eight pages long with notes and a bibliography. The well-known contributors (Melvil Dewey, Charles Ammi Cutter) appear along with older contributors such as the 16th-century Belgian Aubertus Miraeus, who first made books available to the public, and Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, Lenin's wife and the founder of Soviet librarianship. Pura Belpré, the first Puerto Rican librarian at the New York Public Library, and Carla Hayden, the first Black woman to serve as Librarian of Congress, are included as well. The entries cover the lives, educations, and major contributions of the subjects. They do not shy away from shortcomings, noting, for instance, that Dewey was known to be a racist, an antisemite, and a sexual harasser who did not give due credit to the colleagues who helped him. VERDICT A useful work that gives long overdue recognition to the library profession. Recommended for all library school professional development collections.—Barbara M. Bibel

Library Journal