LHRT (Library History Round Table)

Mary Niles Maack (December 1945 – January 23, 2023) was an American librarian and scholar known for her work on comparative librarianship and the history of the book.

Feminist and Global Perspectives on an Evolving Profession: Papers Honoring Mary Niles Maack. Michèle V. Cloonan and Suzanne M. Stauffer, Issue Editors Library Trends, Cloonan, Michèle V., and Suzanne M. Stauffer. "Introduction." Library Trends 72, no. 3 (2024): 369-374. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lib.2024.a944668.

This issue celebrates the academic career of Mary Niles Maack (1945–2023), a talented scholar whose work influenced numerous other scholars in many parts of the world. She was an inspiring teacher whose students have become successful practitioners, scholars, and teachers in libraries and archives. After her unexpected death last year, a number of scholars and former students decided to honor her many academic accomplishments and her personal legacy by putting together a Festschrift in the form of an issue of Library Trends. The editors, Suzanne M. Stauffer and Michèle V. Cloonan, created a wish list of contributors who represented the various aspects of Maack's career. Almost everyone on the list accepted the invitation, which is a testament to the high esteem in which she was held. (selected abstracts below).

Chancellor, Renate. "La Visionnaire: An Intellectual Biography of Mary Niles Maack." Library Trends 72, no. 3 (2024): 389-399. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lib.2024.a944670.

For more than four decades, Mary Niles Maack was a leading educator and scholar in the library and information science profession. Widely recognized for her research on gender issues and library history, often from an international perspective, Maack authored more than forty publications that focused on the professionalization of women in librarianship and international and comparative studies. In appreciation of her life's work, this intellectual biography traces the strands of Maack's thoughts and their place within her multifaceted body of work.

*Includes Selected Works of Mary Niles Maack.

Cloonan, Michèle V. "Researching the Personal Life: Mary Niles Maack's Early Writing on Feminist Biography." Library trends 72.3 (2024): 415–425. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lib.2024.a944672.

Mary Niles Maack began her research in library history at a critical time in American feminist studies. Earlier scholars laid the groundwork for feminist research by identifying the contributions of women, gathering sources about them, and writing histories that corrected predominantly male perspectives on the role of women in American history. Maack addressed the problem of premature generalization in library history research in her 1982 article "Toward a History of Women in Librarianship: A Critical Analysis with Suggestions for Further Research." One focus of her scrutiny was Dee Garrison's work. When Maack's article was published, the first women's studies programs were just being established in American universities; her research was an important contribution to a nascent field. This essay considers that evolution. As women's studies grew to embrace gender studies, Maack's work evolved as well. This article considers "Toward a History of Women" and her unpublished 1998 paper "Book Women: Writing Feminist Biography" to understand the evolution of Maack's work in an evolving field.

Lor, Peter Johan. "Continuity and Change in West African Librarianship: Revisiting Mary Niles Maack's Research in Senegal and the Region." Library Trends 72, no. 3 (2024): 525-546. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lib.2024.a944678.

Mary Niles Maack's 1978 dissertation on the history of libraries in Senegal constitutes a landmark contribution to the historiography of librarianship in Africa and to international librarianship. In this article Maack's dissertation, her 1981 book-length adaptation of it, and her subsequent writings about West African library development are first situated in the political-economic, professional, and scholarly context of the late 1970s, before the dissertation is evaluated in terms of her sources and methodology. Her key theme of continuity and change, her analysis of the French colonial heritage and postcolonial French efforts to preserve influence in West Africa, and the wider relevance of the study are discussed. Maack's book was well received. Her work provided raw material for various other authors as well as for five subsequent journal articles by Maack herself. An attempt is made to answer the question, What might a dissertation on library and information science development in a francophone African country such as Senegal cover today? It is suggested that the precolonial heritage, political-economic factors, information technology, development aid, and renewal of the library profession in Africa would require more attention. However, it would not be easy for a PhD student today to match Maack's scholarship.

Mediavilla, Cindy. "Mary Niles Maack: Scholar, Teacher, Mentor, and Friend." Library trends 72.3 (2024): 375–388. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lib.2024.a944669.

The life and career of University of California, Los Angeles professor and scholar Mary Niles Maack are examined through her writings and the firsthand memories of family, friends, colleagues, and former students. Maack was a renowned expert on international librarianship and women's studies but also an influential role model and mentor. Her legacy lives on in her publications as well as in the accomplishments of her students.

McCook, Kathleen de la Peña. "The Burning Spirit: The Encyclopedic Vision, Wikipedia, and Librarianship." Library Trends 72, no. 3 (2024): 566-577. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lib.2024.a944680.

Mary Niles Maack was a librarian, professor, scholar of comparative library history, feminist, and encyclopedist. In this essay I consider aspects of the evolution of the encyclopedia vision to its current online manifestation as Wikipedia. I also look at how essential it is that librarians contribute to the reliability of Wikipedia and contribute citations and suggest that librarians work to overcome paywalls that create a barrier to more robust documentation.

Selected Publications:

• Libraries in Senegal: continuity and change in an emerging nation (1981) ISBN 0838903215
• Feminization Of Librarianship In France: A Silent Revolution (1987) ISBN 0669063681
• Maack, Mary Niles and Joanne Ellen Passet. (1994). Aspirations and Mentoring in an Academic Environment : Women Faculty in Library and Information Science. Westport Conn: Greenwood Press.ISBN 0313278369
• Maack, Mary Niles. 1994. "The Public Library Inquiry: Reminiscences, Reflections, and Research." Libraries & Culture 29: 1–132.
• Maack, M. N. (2000). International dimensions of library history: Leadership and scholarship, 1978-1998. Libraries & Culture, 35(1),
• "The Lady and the Antelope: Suzanne Briet's Contribution to the French Documentation Movement." Library Trends 52, no. 4 (2004): 719–47.
• "American Bookwomen in Paris during the 1920s." (2005) Libraries & Culture 40 (3): 399–415.
• "'I Cannot Get Along Without the Books I Find Here': The American Library in Paris During the War, Occupation, and Liberation, 1939-1945." Library Trends 55, no. 3 (2007): 490–512. https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2007.0013.
• Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences (ed. 2009) ISBN 084939712X
• The Library of Congress and the Center for the Book: Historical Essays in Honor of John Y. Cole (ed. 2011) ISBN 9780844495255

More:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Niles_Maack

https://seis.ucla.edu/faculty/mary-niles-maack/