Foster E. Mohrhardt (1907 – 1992) was Director of the United States Department of Agriculture Library from 1954- 1968. He worked to have it designated as a national library. He was instrumental in the revitalization of the American Library in Paris and program director at the Council on Library Resources (CLR).
During World War II, the Library of Congress was interested in protecting some of its more valuable collections and Mohrhardt offered space available at Washington and Lee University for this purpose. During the war Mohrhardt performed military service in the U.S. Army Air Force, U.S. Navy and was involved in civilian duty. In 1943 and 1944 he was involved in radar work for the Navy.
Mohrhardt was President of the American Library Association from 1967-1968.
Other achievements:
- President of the International Association of Agricultural Librarians and Documentalists (IAALD), 1955–69
• President of the National Book Exchange, 1958–60
• Vice-President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1963
• President of the National Federation of Scientific Abstracting and Indexing Services, 1964–65
• Chair of the U.S. National Committee of the International Federation of Documentation (FID), 1965
• Vice-President of the International Federation of Library Associations,1965–71
• President of the Association of Research Libraries, 1966
• President of the Council on Biological Sciences Information, National Academy of Sciences, 1966–67.
Foster Mohrhardt was characterized in a 2004 essay by Mellissa Cragin: "Through his published papers and speeches, Mohrhardt has left a trail that shows how his experience as a library administrator deepened his belief in large-scale cooperative networks and their promise for supporting scientific communication. In these works one hears his passion for libraries, a fundamental regard for meeting the needs of library users, and expectation for librarianship to have a prominent role in scientific and technical communication."
Selected Publications
Mohrhardt, Foster Edward; Council, International Federation of Library Associations General (1976). "Reading in a Changing World" : papers presented at the 38. session of the IFLA General Council, Budapest, 1972. Munchen : Verlag Dokumentation.
Mohrhardt, Foster Edward, and United States National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. International Library and Information Service Developments : As They Relate to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science ; [ 1974.
Mohrhardt, F.E. (1966). "Librarianship and documentation: Relationships in the United States". Libri. 16 (3): 211–215.
Mohrhardt, Foster Edward. The Library of the United States Department of Agriculture. University of Chicago Press, 1957.
Mohrhardt, Foster Edward (1953). "National Systems." Library Trends. 2 (2): 44–62.
Mohrhardt, Foster E. (1957). "The Library of the United States Department of Agriculture". The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy. 27 (2): 61–82.
Sources:
Agricultural Libraries Information Notes. "In Memoriam Foster E. Mohrhardt." 18 (5/6): 16–17. May–June 1992.
Cragin, Melissa H. "Foster Mohrhardt: Connecting the Traditional World of Libraries and the Emerging World of Information Science." Library Trends 52.4 (2004): 833–852. (attached).
Haas, Warren J. "Foster Edward Mohrhardt (1907-1992), in Memoriam." IFLA Journal, vol. 19, no. 1, 1993, pp. 13–14,
Nappo, Christian A. Pioneers in Librarianship : Sixty Notable Leaders Who Shaped the Field. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2022.
Archives:
Foster E. Mohrhardt Papers, 1964-1975: archive collection of correspondence, minutes and reports held in the ALA Archives at the University of Illinois.
Foster Edward Mohrhardt papers, 1934-1968; archive collection of published papers, speeches, studies, book reviews, and biographical articles at the National Agricultural Library.
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Kathleen de la Peña McCook
Distinguished University Professor
School of Information
University of South Florida
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