Finding Aid for St. Louis Public Library Vertical File on Librarianship, 1874-1973 | University of Illinois Archives

Title: St. Louis Public Library Vertical File on Librarianship, 1874-1973

ID: 35/3/63

Primary Creator: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Departmental Library Services

Extent: 4.5 cubic feet

Arrangement: By type of material and then alphabetical.

Subjects: Academic Libraries, Adult Education, American Library Association, History of Librarianship, Hospitals - Libraries, Librarianship, Education for, Library Education, Prison Libraries, Public Libraries, School Libraries, University Libraries

Languages: English

St. Louis Public Library vertical file collection on subjects related to libraries and librarianship including articles, bibliographies, books, brochures, conference materials, manuscripts, pamphlets, and speeches received from individuals and institutions in the United States and some international locations concerning library associations, clubs, consortia, libraries, and library schools; advocating library services; vendor samples and promotion notices; statistics; writings on the history of libraries; autobiographical and biographical writings; planning issues for building and using libraries; and commemorative programs for dedication ceremonies. Major subjects in this collection include writings by William Warner Bishop; annual pamphlets issued by the Lake Placid Club; commemorative booklets on the establishment of branch libraries in Louisville, Kentucky for the Black population (1909-27); articles on promoting and establishing county library service and special libraries; recommendations for training librarians in workshops, formal schools, and in-house; and profiles of libraries and their librarians from the mid 1950s through 1960. This vertical file collection contains material dated from the late 1800s through the mid 1970s, some of which is marked as being saved for the local library school's use.

Public services of the Campus Library are units that deal directly with the library user. Their chief functions are service and selection of material. Those responsibilities include circulation, reference, bibliographic aids, and inter-library loans. A major part of public services are the operations of the various departmental or branch libraries, which in 1975 totaled thirty-seven. Most of them are organized according to the departmental structure of the University, though many are combined with related fields of interest. Included with the libraries are those with specialized tasks, such as the undergraduate library, rare book room, archives, newspaper library, and the Illinois historical survey.¹ The branch and departmental libraries have grown and contracted over the years, sometimes combining with or dividing from collections devoted to similar disciplines.² Health sciences, the archives, music, map, and geology libraries are among the branches that perform processing activities, although technical services handles material for most libraries.³ The term public service departments has existed since 1944, and the office of assistant university librarian for public service originated in 1945.⁴ Public service units developed from the reference and loan departments, which were two of the five main divisions of the Campus Library in 1916.⁵

1. Graduate Course Catalog, 1974/76, pp. 9-11; Library Annual Report, 1974-75, pp. 5-6.

2. Board of Trustees Transactions, 28th Report, June 30, 1916, p. 25; Board of Trustees Transactions, 37th Report, June 15, 1934, pp. 355-56.

3. Library Annual Report, 1974-75, p. 8-9.

4. Board of Trustees Transactions, 43rd Report, June 27, 1946, and appendix, June 19, 1944, p. 794.

5. Board of Trustees Transactions, 28th Report, June 30, 1916, p. 25.

Academic Libraries
Adult Education
American Library Association
History of Librarianship
Hospitals - Libraries
Librarianship, Education for
Library Education
Prison Libraries
Public Libraries
School Libraries
University Libraries

Repository: University of Illinois Archives

Accruals: 1/2/2002

URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/3503063.pdf

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