LHRT (Library History Round Table)

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The mission of the Library History Round Table (LHRT) is to encourage research and publication on library history and promote awareness and discussion of historical issues in librarianship.

Learn more about LHRT on the ALA website.

  • 1.  Herman Howe Fussler-Librarians We Have Lost- Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026

    Posted Oct 28, 2024 08:54 PM
    • I am posting about Librarians we have lost since 1976 as we prepare for the 150th anniversary of the American Library Association. Please add more as you think of people in our field who made a difference to you. 

    Dr. Herman Howe Fussler (May 15, 1914 – March 2, 1997) was director of the University of Chicago libraries from 1948 to 1971, and Dean of the University of Chicago Graduate Library School.

    He participated in the World Congress of Universal Documentation Paris in 1937 and took a microphotographic lab as part of an effort to create a world system of information. He was a founder of the Center for Research Libraries.

    He served on the U.S. National Advisory Commission on Libraries in 1966 which provided documentation for legislation that led to the establishment of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. He was instrumental in the founding of the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago. He was an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

    University libraries director Herman Fussler examine an architectural drawing of the planned Regenstein Library.

    Dr. Fussler with architectural plan of the Regenstein Library.

    Dr. Fussler was a pioneer in library automation and wrote much including Development of an Integrated, Computer Based, Bibliographical Data System for a Large University Library. [Chicago]: [Chicago University], 1967 and Patterns in the Use of Books in Large Research Libraries. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1969.

    More:

    University and Research Libraries: Essays Presented to Herman Howe Fussler. 1983. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Shera, Jesse Hauk. "Herman Howe Fussler." The Library Quarterly 53 (1983): 215–253.

    Herman H. Fussler - Wikipedia



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    Kathleen de la Peña McCook
    Distinguished University Professor
    School of Information
    University of South Florida
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  • 2.  RE: Herman Howe Fussler-Librarians We Have Lost- Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026

    Posted Oct 29, 2024 08:22 PM
    A most important librarian to the history of both California and Washington state public libraries is Carma (Zimmerman) Leigh:

    A graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Librarianship (1929-30), Carma Russell (Zimmerman) Leigh was library director in Watsonville (1932-38), Orange County (1938-42) and San Bernardino County (1942-45) before heading north to become Washington State Librarian in 1945. In Washington, she was instrumental in passing legislation to create regional systems-a concept she brought back with her to California in 1951 when she was appointed as California State Librarian. She was also very active in ALA, during this period, traveling to Washington D.C. several times to lobby Congress for federal funding of public libraries.

    While Carma was California State Librarian (1951-72), the first California Library Commission was created, two statewide studies were conducted focusing on public library strengths and weaknesses, and a "Master Plan for Public Libraries in California" was approved. After years of lobbying and working closely with librarians throughout the state, the Public Library Development Act was finally passed in 1963, establishing regional library systems. Carma Leigh retired in 1972. She was inducted into the inaugural group  of California Library Hall of Fame members in 2012.


    Cindy Mediavilla, PhD., MLS




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