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Library History Round Table

The United States-based Library History Round Table (LHRT) encourages research and publication on library history and promotes awareness and discussion of historical issues in librarianship. It "exists to facilitate communication among scholars and students of library history, to support research in library history, and to be active in issues, such as preservation, that concern library historians." It is part of the American Library Association.

Louis Shores and Wayne Shirley were instrumental in founding the Library History Round Table in 1947.

In 1998, in celebration of LHRT’s fiftieth anniversary, Andrew B. Wertheimer and John David Marshall compiled a chronology of the round table’s activities covering 1947 to 1997. In 2023, in celebration of LHRT’s seventy-fifth anniversary, Bernadette A. Lear compiled a chronology from 1998-2023.

The American Library Association archives were established with input and support by the Library History Round Table as recounted by archivist Maynard J. Brichford.

Publications

The Library History Round Table's official peer-reviewed journal is .

LHRT News and Notes is the blog of the Library History Round Table.

"Librarians We Have Lost: Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026, Digital Memorial" a project to encourage historical reflection, scholarly contributions, and community engagement for the 150th anniversary of the American library Association was formally recognized as a component of the 150th anniversary of the American Library Association.

Library History Seminars

The Library History Seminars were established in 1961 by the Library History Round Table. The Library History Seminars are held approximately every five years and have been published in various outlets including separate proceedings, the Journal of Library History, and the journal, Libraries & Culture.

There have been fourteen seminars. The Library History Seminar XIV was held virtually June 10–12, 2021. The topic was "Libraries Without Borders," focusing on the history of library outreach.

Edward G. Holley Lecture

The Edward G. Holley Memorial Lecture, established in memory of Holley is held at the American Library Association Conference. The endowment fundraising for the lecture began with contribution of royalties by Wayne Wiegand from his book, Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey.

The inaugural lecture was given in 2006 by John Y. Cole, Director of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress and Jane Aikin, Senior Academic Adviser at the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Database of Library History

The Library History Round Table publishes the "Bibliography of Library History" database. The database contains over 7,000 entries for books, articles, and theses in library history and related fields published since 1990. Eric C. Novotny, founder of the database, was honored with the 2025 Innovation and Advocacy in Library History Award.

Awards

  • The Justin Winsor Prize is awarded for the year's best library history essay. The award was established in 1978 and named for the American Library Association's first president, Justin Winsor, a writer, historian, and the long-time librarian at Harvard University. Honorees have included Steven Knowlton, Jennifer Burek Pierce, Robert S. Martin, Wayne A. Wiegand and John V. Richardson Jr.
  • The Donald G. Davis Article Award is presented biannually to recognize the best article written in English in the field of library history in the last two years. The first award in 2000 was to Louise Robbins for "Fighting McCarthyism Through Film: A Library Censorship Case Becomes a Storm Center."
  • The Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award is presented every third year to recognize the best book written in English in the field of library history, including the history of libraries, librarianship, and book culture. The award is named after Eliza Atkins Gleason, the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in librarianship in 1940 at the University of Chicago Graduate Library School. Honorees have included Louise Robbins, Christine Pawley, and Mary Niles Maack.
  • Phyllis Dain Library History Dissertation Award recognizes outstanding dissertations in English in the general area of library history. It was first awarded in 1991 to Plummer Alston Jones Jr. for his dissertation, "American Public Library Service to the Immigrant Community, 1876-1948." In 2021 it was awarded to Cindy Anh Nguyen for ""Reading and Misreading: The Social Life of Libraries and Colonial Control in Vietnam, 1865-1958."
  • The "Innovation and Advocacy in Library History Award" acknowledges individuals or organizations that have made recent, substantive contributions to LHRT or to the wider library history community. It recognizes those who have promoted library history in exceptional or new ways or who have reached audiences that have not been engaged previously. Amanda Belantara and A.M. Alpin received the inaugural Award in 2023.
  • The Distinguished Service in Library History Award honors the career of a person who has a lifetime of scholarship and service in the field of library history. Andrew Wertheimer received the inaugural Award in 2023.

See also

References

Additional reading

  • . Bbibliographic series that was published in the journal, Information & Culture, and its predecessors, Libraries & the Cultural Record and Libraries & Culture from 1990- 2017.

External links