91´«Ã½

Message from the Chair || From the Editors || Award Winners || Library History Seminar XI ||
Library Research Seminar III || Haynes Mullen Data || 2004 Annual Conference Minutes

Message from the Chair

In assuming the LHRT chair, let me thank my predecessor, Joy Kingsolver, for organizing such an excellent program in Orlando and for presenting the inaugural Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award in such a splendid fashion. It was an honor to have Dr. Gleason there with us. Thanks also to Al Jones for serving admirably as LHRT secretary/treasurer and to Christine Pawley for spearheading the Research Forum. They have established a great record on which to build. Finally, on behalf of the Board, let me reiterate our deep appreciation to Ed Goedeken for his outstanding service as editor of the LHRT Newsletter.

We are striving this year to make LHRT more visible within the 91´«Ã½ and the scholarly community. With new staff in place in 91´«Ã½'s Office for Research and Statistics, this is a good time to check the systems that allow us to communicate with each other and to make the Round Table known to a larger audience of library history enthusiasts.

We have taken a number of steps already, thanks to Denise Davis, the new director of ORS and Letitia Earvin, her assistant. Executive Board members have been conducting business using the LHRTEX listserv. A listserv including the entire Round Table membership should soon be operational. We expect to use the listserv to share information and to recruit members to serve on prize committees and run for office.

As part of our continued interest in growing LHRT membership, we will be revising the LHRT brochure. John Chrastka, 91´«Ã½'s director of Membership Marketing, will attend our meeting at Midwinter to give us guidance in this area. Also, we are working on a welcome letter to send to new members to encourage their active participation in the Round Table and on an LHRT badge ribbon to give us more visibility at Midwinter and annual conferences.
Christine Pawley, chair of the Research Committee, has worked on staffing the prize committees and on circulating announcements of the prizes to be awarded this year, the Winsor Essay Prize and the Dain Dissertation Prize. Revised guidelines will appear on the LHRT web page. Christine has posted a call for proposals for the LHRT Research Forum at the 2005 annual conference around the topic, "Untapped Treasures: Library Documents as Primary Sources."

The topic for the annual conference will be "Living Legacy: Carnegie Libraries Past and Future." The year 2005 will be the 170th anniversary of Andrew Carnegie's birth and also the occasion of many Carnegie library centennials. Since many public libraries are working on their own histories, we envision a program of interest to practitioners as well as to scholars.

Many exciting initiatives are underway. We hope you can join us for the Executive Board meeting on Sunday morning, January 16 from 8:30 to 11:30 am, Hynes Convention Center Room 308.

Jean Preer

From the Editors

With this, our first issue, we are well aware that we are building on all the excellent work from both the immediate past editors, and the long line stretching back to...

Vast changes will not take place in any great hurry. We are going to do some experimenting with typefaces as neither Times New Roman nor Arial are exactly our favorites. The print version of the newsletter is set in Bookman Old Style, a font first designed in 1858 in Scotland, although evolving some since then. It is noted for being a plain and easy to read typeface. Suggestions for future experiments in typesetting are welcome.

We have added a section on library history related web pages, and suggestions are welcome there, as well.

Charley and Tom

Award Winners Announced at Annual

LHRT award winners were announced at the annual conference in Orlando, FL. The Justin Winsor Essay Prize went to Joyce M. Latham for her essay "Clergy of the Mind: William S. Learned, the Carnegie Corporation and the 91´«Ã½."

The Donald G. Davis Article Award went to Virgil Blake for his "Forging the Anglo-American Cataloging Alliance: Descriptive Cataloging, 1830-1908," published in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly v. 35, nos. 3/4 (2003): 3-22.

And the first ever Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award was awarded to Louise Robbins for The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000) The award bears the name of Eliza Atkins Gleason, the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago. Dr. Gleason was present at the conference, and award ceremony, as guest of honor with her daughter, Dr. Joy Gleason Carew.

Library History Seminar XI

Library History Seminar XI, sponsored by the Library History Round Table of the 91´«Ã½, will be held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. October 27-30, 2005.

The theme chosen for the Seminar, Libraries in Times of War, Revolution and Social Change. Those wishing to present should send a 300-500 word abstract and brief c.v. to:

Professor W. Boyd Rayward
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
501 E. Daniel
Champaign, IL 61820
ph: 217-244-9741
fax: 217-244-3302
email:wrayward@uiuc.edu

Deadline for abstracts: January 31, 2005.

For more details about the conference, see its website at:

Library Research Seminar III

Library Research Seminar III convened at the Fairmont Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri, October 16-18, 2004. While the Seminar encompasses all research methods, there were a number of papers in the history vein, including:

Andrew B. Wertheimer "Oral History, Triangulation, and the Search 'Beyond Heroes': Understanding the Wartime Experience of Japanese Americans: Implications for Historical Research on LIS in the 20th Century;"
Erin Meyer-Blasing "The Julius Rosenwald Fund and Tennessee School Libraries, 1928-1948;"

Charles Johanningsmeir "Helping Bind the Nation: Public Librarians and the Circulation of American Regionalist Fiction: 1870-1914;"

Jean L. Preer "Lyman Bryson and 91´«Ã½: Adult Education, Discussion, and Democracy in the Mid-1930s;"
Charley Seavey "Books for Swabbies: Ship's Libraries in the "New" Steel Navy: 1880s-1910;"
Jennifer Burek Pierce "Progressive Era Foundations for Reader's Advisory to Adolescents: Enacting Ideas and Ideals in Librarianship;"

Anne Lundin "Only Connect: Children's Librarianship and Intellectual History;"
Toni Samek "Principled Engagement: Probing the Tradition of Progressive Librarianship."

And, to be sure, Robert Darnton, Shelby Cullom Davis '30 Professor of European History at Princeton and prolific author on the history of books and printing, was Friday's plenary session. Darnton's talk was titled "The Devil in the Holy Water: The Art and Politics of Slander, Paris and London, 1771-1794."

There will be no published proceedings from LRS III, so watch for these as they appear in the literature. Darnton's paper is part of an upcoming book of the same title.

The Haynes McMullen Data now Online

Princeton University has announced the online availability of the vast database collected by University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill Professor of Library Science Haynes McMullen. McMullen has been collecting data about libraries pre-1876 for over forty years, leading to the publication in 2001 of his book American Libraries before 1876 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000). McMullen's collection efforts were aided when he received the data Jesse Shera used to write Foundations of the public library; the origins of the public library movement in New England, 1629-1855 (University of Chicago Press, 1949.) The database, available online at: ~davpro/databases/ contains data on some 9,800 libraries that existed before 1876. Of particular interest is that the database contains scanned images of all of McMullen's "Unisort Analysis Card, std. form Y9," a long ago information retrieval system. McMullen's handwritten notes are clearly visible, along with typed information, and Shera's name if the data originated with him. Anybody interested in the history of public libraries certainly needs to be aware of this rich source of material as the number of libraries far exceeds those noted in the 1876 Report.

Some Other Web Pages of Note
for Images From The 1876 Report
for Nebraska and Carnegie Libraries.
for Carnegie Libraries of California

91´«Ã½ LHRT Executive Committee Minutes
Annual Conference 2004 -- Orlando, FL

Meeting: Sunday, June 27, 2004 8:30 -10:30 a.m., Peabody Orlando Hotel, Bayhill Suite III

Members:

• Joy Kingsolver, chair
• Debra Hansen
• Christine Jenkins
• Plummer "Al" Jones
• Melanie Kimball
• Christine Pawley
• Kenneth Potts
• Jean Preer

Committee:

• David Hovde (Auction)
• Andrew Wertheimer (Nominating)

Staff:

• Kat Bork, Staff Liaison:

Visitors:

• Gerald Hodges (91´«Ã½)
• Jordan Scepanski (Executive Board Representative)
• Fred Stielow

1. Meeting Called to Order

Chair Joy Kingsolver called the meeting to order and gave the floor to Gerald Hodges of 91´«Ã½ for some announcements. Gerald gave the committee an update on the Office for Research and Statistics' staffing situation. The position of ORS Director has been offered to a candidate. The candidate will give the answer to 91´«Ã½ on Monday. Kat Bork will be leaving 91´«Ã½ on July 6th and Gerald thanked her for her extra assistance in the interim since Mary Jo Lynch's retirement.

2. Report from Executive Board Representative

Jordan Scepanski, the representative for LHRT on the Executive Board, said he is working to get around to all the executive committee meetings of the round tables he represents. He sent an email report to Joy and will send a more detailed report to the committee. Jordan spoke of an overview of the Executive Board activity highlights, including: the new electronic voting process that was deemed a success, due to a higher voter turnout this election; privacy issues; 91´«Ã½'s affiliation with Walgreen's and library workers health care benefits; and the U.S. Patriot Act. Gerald explained that a draft of the 91´«Ã½ Development Plan on fundraising was given to the Executive Board. Fundraising ideas must go through the Development Office, so divisions aren't trying to court the same vendor. Jordan mentioned that some mechanisms might be suggested for rotating the Councilors representing the round tables, in order that even small round tables get a fairer chance at representation and aren't dominated by larger round tables.

Andrew Wertheimer brought up the fact that adding a program track on education recruitment would cut down on same track programs being scheduled at the same time and conflicting with each other. One committee member has three meetings taking place concurrently in three different hotels; so scheduling conflicts are an enormous problem. Andrew said that certain tracks get more consideration than others. Joy noted that the LHRT programs are tracked under headings that have little to do with their subject matter. The committee suggested that a track for Research be created. Andrew will submit a letter to Mary Ghikas, who coordinates round table issues. Gerald suggested that LRRT and LHRT combine their voting power to beat out the International Relations Round Table in selecting an Executive Board representative.

3. Chair's Report

The LHRT Research Forum is scheduled for 10:30, so this meeting will end at 10:15 to get over to the Research Forum. Joy reported the election results and awards that will be given today:

Winsor: Joyce M. Latham,
Davis: Virgil Blake, and
Gleason: Louise Robbins.

Dr. Eliza Atkins Gleason is present at this conference as guest of honor with her daughter, Dr. Joy Gleason Carew. The committee thanked the award juries for their work this year. Thanks also went to 91´«Ã½ for sharing the cost of the Gleason travel expenses with LHRT. Jean and Joy picked the Gleasons up from the airport and presented Dr. Gleason with flowers. Ed Goedeken is retiring as newsletter editor. Charley Seavey will now be in charge of the newsletter and has people helping him.

4. Treasurer's report

Kat passed out the report and informed the committee that the conference rental fee from Midwinter is a mistake and has been taken care of; this correction will appear on next financial statement. Kat also handed out membership stats.

Discussion commenced on endowment balances. Kenneth Potts will ask Gerald the committee's questions after Annual Conference and send a report to the executive listserv.

5. Committee Reports

a. Research
Jean reported that three awards would be presented. She thanks Joy, Kat and the chairs. Christine Pawley received thanks for organizing the Research Forum. Christine and Jean would like to have Research Forum be an annual event. The committee talked about regulating deadlines on work about awards. The committee wants to get feedback from the individual chairs of the awards committees on a schedule of deadlines. The visibility of LHRT is an issue. Kat is looking into acquiring a sticker to identify the Gleason winner. Jean went to the New Members Round Table Orientation yesterday, so she has ideas for making contact there and getting publicity for LHRT. She would like to get a bin for LHRT publications at Annual. Andrew suggested talking to the LRRT chair to coordinate. Kat will get Steve Wiberley's contact info to Jean. Jean noted that the Gleason Award Committee needs to be building a pool of candidates in the years when the award is not given. Then committee decided to have a Research Forum every year. Debra asked for an explanation of the Research Forum. Christine Pawley gave details and mentioned she worries she is hogging the forum and is willing to share the responsibilities of chairship. An idea for a forum theme: the use of library records in historical research came from Christine Pawley. She will look into a sample of ways historical research has been used. She will talk to Don Davis about using Library Quarterly for this purpose.

b. Auction
Andrew Wertheimer gave David Hovde's report. There will an auction at the Library History Seminar 2005. Four people have donated books so far. He needs help to gather books and get people to donate. Sid Burger is willing to run the auction again. David put together a homepage for the auction and Joy has a link to it from the LHRT site.

c. Publications (newsletter)
As stated before, Ed is retiring. Joy asked if the committee should do something to recognize Ed? She opened the floor for committee suggestions. Jean suggested that the next newsletter under new management should mention Ed on the first page. Motion passes to acknowledge Ed. Fred suggested a plague. Jean voiced a preference for a certificate, as did Joy from an archivist point of view. Committee decided it give him a certificate in a nice frame. Jean and Joy will write the text and ORS will order the certificate. Joy then brought up recognizing Mary Jo Lynch for all her work with LHRT. The committee decided on a framed certificate.

d. Other
Christine Jenkins talked about Library History Seminar XI. She passed out copies of the call for papers, which will be handed out at the LHRT programs. It was mistakenly written in the newsletter notice on page 4, so it's unfortunate. They are looking for funding sources. An overlapping event on campus with panel of librarians who have had their libraries destroyed is being planned. The seminar is working with the Morten Center for International Librarians at the University of Illinois. If anyone has funding source ideas, tell Christine Jenkins. She wants to throw as many lines into the ocean as possible. Jean suggested contacting Susan Roman in the 91´«Ã½ Development Office.

Joy had Debra introduce herself as a new member. And then committee members introduced themselves to her.

6. New Business

a. CD of historical images
Christine Pawley reported that Richard Douglas and Sharon McQueen have made a CD of historical images. They wish to donate the profits from this CD to organizations, and are asking for ideas of whom to give the money to. The committee concurred that they should ask for money for the Winsor endowment.

b. Change in responsibilities of Round Table
Kat explained that round table liaisons are not supposed to provide administrative support. She will be sending the new officers a breakdown of responsibilities for the offices and meetings they should attend.

c. Other new business
Joy and Jean gave an update of the round table handbook. The work left is mainly editorial and structural, so Jean thought it could be done over the next year. Jean said they just need to find people who are available to help with revisions and then meet at Midwinter. Ken and Jean volunteered to organize this and then send it to Executive listserv.

LHRT priorities are communication and visibility, stated Jean. Appointments need to be made. Andrew suggested having someone else as Nominating Committee chair. Then he agreed to be chair for one more year. Jean asked for solicitations of any interest for committee chairs, she will put a notice out on the LHRT listserv. Andrew will write something to put in the fall newsletter. Debra asked if someone is in charge of publicity. The committee determined that Debra was making volunteering noises and she agreed to manage publicity. LHRT need to put it out there that library history is fun. Maybe this is the body to encourage library history at a local level. Jean suggested, that after going to the Membership Meeting, does 91´«Ã½ need an 91´«Ã½ Historian, like a Poet Laureate? This post would have a two-year term. Kat will ask Gerald about this. The LHRT Executive Committee would choose the Historian. Andrew discussed Wayne Wiegand's authorship of short pieces about library history and recommended having someone write pieces of a similar vein. Jean will ask Leonard Kniffel, editor of American Libraries, about having this feature each month on library history.

7. Closing remarks

Joy closed the meeting with a thank you to everyone and remarked how it was an honor to be chair. Joy thanked Kat on behalf of the round table and give her a lovely bookmark as a gift. The committee thanked Joy for all her work as chair.