LHRT (Library History Round Table)

"Crescat scientia; vita excolatur" ( "Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched")

The University of Chicago Graduate Library School (GLS) was the graduate-level librarianship school from 1928 to 1989 at the University of Chicago. It was established in 1928 to develop a program for the graduate education of librarians with a focus on research.  GLS faculty were among the most prominent researchers in librarianship in the twentieth century.

Studies conducted and conferences held at GLS provided a center for intellectual inquiry in the development of 20th century librarianship. The Library Quarterly, a scholarly journal focused on research, was launched in 1931 to provide an outlet for the publication of rigorous research.

Faculty at the GLS included  distinguished scholars and leaders who  profoundly shaped the discipline of library and information science. These include Lester Asheim, Lee Pierce Butler, Leon Carnovsky, Margaret Elizabeth Egan, Herman H. Fussler, J. C. M. Hanson, Frances E. Henne, Carleton B. Joeckel, W. Boyd Rayward, Jesse Shera, Don R. Swanson, Peggy Sullivan, Zena Sutherland, Tsuen-hsuin Tsien, Douglas Waples, Louis Round Wilson, and Victor Yngve. (All have individual Wikipedia pages).

Among the pioneering and influential figures in the field of library science and information studies who graduated from GLS were Hugh Atkinson, Susan Grey Akers, Bernard Berelson, Michèle Cloonan, John M. Cory, El Sayed Mahmoud El Sheniti, Eliza Atkins Gleason, Carla Hayden (PhD, 1987), Librarian of Congress. Frances E. Henne, Virginia Lacy Jones, Bill Katz, Judith Krug, Miriam Matthews, Errett Weir McDiarmid, Elizabeth Homer Morton, Benjamin E. Powell, W. Boyd Rayward, Charlemae Hill Rollins, Katherine Schipper, Ralph R. Shaw, Spencer Shaw, Frances Lander Spain, Peggy Sullivan, Maurice Tauber, and Tsuen-hsuin Tsien. (All have individual Wikipedia pages).

The GLS was closed in 1989.

Sources:

Shera, Jesse H. (Winter 1979). "'The Spirit Giveth Life': Louis Round Wilson and Chicago's Graduate Library School". The Journal of Library History. 14 (1): 77–83.

Steve Norman (1988). "The Library Quarterly in the 1930s: a journal of discussion's early years". The Library Quarterly. 58 (4): 327–351.

Stieg, Margaret F. (1991). "The Closing of Library Schools: Darwinism at the University". The Library Quarterly. 61 (3): 266–272

Richardson, J. V. (1982). The Spirit of Inquiry: The Graduate Library School at Chicago, 1921-51. Chicago: American Library Association.

Wilson, Louis R. (1966). "Impact of the Graduate Library School on American Librarianship". In Tauber, Maurice F.; Orne, Jerald (eds.). Education and Libraries: Selected Papers by Louis R. Wilson. Hamden, CT: Shoe String Press. pp. 268–277.

Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago  (Wikipedia)

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Kathleen de la Peña McCook
Distinguished University Professor
School of Information
University of South Florida
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One correction regarding GLS graduates: Michèle Cloonan earned her MS in library and information science and PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 
Herbert Goldhor (1917-2011)  was another distinguished GLS graduate.  Dr. Goldhor's career as a librarian began in 1943 when he received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago's Graduate Library School. After serving in Europe during World War II, he joined the Library School faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he remained for six years (1946-1951). In 1952, he moved to Indiana to become the chief librarian of the Evansville and Vanderburgh County Public Library, a job that he thoroughly enjoyed for 10 years. Dr. Goldhor then returned to the twin cities to direct the Library School at the UI from 1962-1978, during which time he also taught graduate courses and published numerous articles and two books. In 1975 he became director of the school's Library Research Center, a position he held until his retirement in 1987. Throughout his career, he believed strongly that public libraries, access to information and ideas, and continued learning were essential to a democratic society.

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Linda Smith
Professor Emerita & Assoc Dean
University of Illinois School of Information Sciences
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Original Message:
Sent: Oct 04, 2025 06:52 AM
From: Kathleen McCook
Subject: Graduate Library School  at the University of Chicago- A library school we have lost-Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026.

"Crescat scientia; vita excolatur" ( "Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched")

The University of Chicago Graduate Library School (GLS) was the graduate-level librarianship school from 1928 to 1989 at the University of Chicago. It was established in 1928 to develop a program for the graduate education of librarians with a focus on research.  GLS faculty were among the most prominent researchers in librarianship in the twentieth century.

Studies conducted and conferences held at GLS provided a center for intellectual inquiry in the development of 20th century librarianship. The Library Quarterly, a scholarly journal focused on research, was launched in 1931 to provide an outlet for the publication of rigorous research.

Faculty at the GLS included  distinguished scholars and leaders who  profoundly shaped the discipline of library and information science. These include Lester Asheim, Lee Pierce Butler, Leon Carnovsky, Margaret Elizabeth Egan, Herman H. Fussler, J. C. M. Hanson, Frances E. Henne, Carleton B. Joeckel, W. Boyd Rayward, Jesse Shera, Don R. Swanson, Peggy Sullivan, Zena Sutherland, Tsuen-hsuin Tsien, Douglas Waples, Louis Round Wilson, and Victor Yngve. (All have individual Wikipedia pages).

Among the pioneering and influential figures in the field of library science and information studies who graduated from GLS were Hugh Atkinson, Susan Grey Akers, Bernard Berelson, Michèle Cloonan, John M. Cory, El Sayed Mahmoud El Sheniti, Eliza Atkins Gleason, Carla Hayden (PhD, 1987), Librarian of Congress. Frances E. Henne, Virginia Lacy Jones, Bill Katz, Judith Krug, Miriam Matthews, Errett Weir McDiarmid, Elizabeth Homer Morton, Benjamin E. Powell, W. Boyd Rayward, Charlemae Hill Rollins, Katherine Schipper, Ralph R. Shaw, Spencer Shaw, Frances Lander Spain, Peggy Sullivan, Maurice Tauber, and Tsuen-hsuin Tsien. (All have individual Wikipedia pages).

The GLS was closed in 1989.

Sources:

Shera, Jesse H. (Winter 1979). "'The Spirit Giveth Life': Louis Round Wilson and Chicago's Graduate Library School". The Journal of Library History. 14 (1): 77–83.

Steve Norman (1988). "The Library Quarterly in the 1930s: a journal of discussion's early years". The Library Quarterly. 58 (4): 327–351.

Stieg, Margaret F. (1991). "The Closing of Library Schools: Darwinism at the University". The Library Quarterly. 61 (3): 266–272

Richardson, J. V. (1982). The Spirit of Inquiry: The Graduate Library School at Chicago, 1921-51. Chicago: American Library Association.

Wilson, Louis R. (1966). "Impact of the Graduate Library School on American Librarianship". In Tauber, Maurice F.; Orne, Jerald (eds.). Education and Libraries: Selected Papers by Louis R. Wilson. Hamden, CT: Shoe String Press. pp. 268–277.

Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago  (Wikipedia)

------------------------------
Kathleen de la Peña McCook
Distinguished University Professor
School of Information
University of South Florida
------------------------------