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 Libraries: Culture, History, and Society.

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

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: separate proceedings, An American Library History Reader, in the Journal of Library History, and in the journal, Libraries & Culture.

Library History Seminars
No. Title Date Location
I In Pursuit of Library History:Seminar 1, Proceedings November 2–4, 1961 Florida State University, Tallahassee
II Approaches to Library History 1965 Florida State University, Tallahassee
III Library History Seminar No. 3 February 8–10, 1968 Florida State University, Tallahassee
IV Library History Seminar, 1971 1971 Florida State University, Tallahassee
V Milestones to the Present. 1976 Philadelphia
VI Libraries & Culture March 19–22, 1980 Austin, Texas
VII Libraries, Books, & Culture March 6–8, 1985 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
VIII Reading & Libraries May 9–11, 1990 Indiana University, Bloomington
IX Libraries & Philanthropy March 30–April 1, 1995 University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
X National Libraries of the World: Interpreting the Past, Shaping the Future. October 23–26, 2000 Library of Congress
XI Libraries in Times of War, Revolution and Social Change. October 27–30, 2005 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
XII Libraries in the History of Print Culture. September 10–12, 2010 Madison, Wisconsin
XIII Libraries: Traditions and Innovations July 31–August 2, 2015 Simmons College, Boston
XIV Libraries Without Borders June 10–12, 2021 Virtual

The Library History Seminar XV will be held December 3-5, 2026.The topic will be “A History of Modern Libraries, Warts and All: Development, Organization, and Transformation.”

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.

Date Lecturer Title of Lecture
2025 George Boudreau "Complicating the Past: Historic Sites Interpretation and the Challenges of a More Accurate History."
2024 Jorge Leal "Rock Archivo de LÁ, the Online Archive of Southern California’s Latinx Youth and Musical Cultures."
2023 Rebecca Romney "Cultural Memory, Community Work: Why Every Librarian Should Care About Rare Books."
2022 Kurt Hackemer "Animated Cartoon Shorts and American Perceptions of World War II."
2021 Venkat Mani “Publics and Their Reading Publics: A Pact with Books.”
2020 Lisa Tetrault “The Fight by Remembering: The Making of a Suffrage Archive.”
2019 Dawn Logsdon and Lucie Faulknor “Through the Looking Glass: The Wonderland of Archival Footage.”
2018 Mary Niall Mitchell. "Girls in a Frame: Enslaved People, Their Stories, and the Archives in a Digital Age."
2017 Kathy Peiss “American Librarians and the Collecting Missions of World War II."
2016 John Cech “History, Childhood, Memory, and Imagination."
2015 Ezra Greenspan "Where do the Lives of Individuals, Books and Serials, Archives, and Libraries Intersect?"
2014 Thomas Augst “The Business of Lectures: An Itinerant History of Public Culture in Nineteenth-Century America.”
2013 Jacob Soll “Library of Power, Library of Enlightenment: Libraries as Foundations of the Modern State 1400–1800.”
2012 Abigail Van Slyck "Thinking Globally about Carnegie Libraries."
2011 Sarah Wadsworth "Ghosts and Shadows: Reading Race in the Woman's Building Library of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.”
2010 Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Zboray "The Bullet in the Book: Reading Cultures During the Civil War."
2009 David Paul Nord "Five Studies of Readers of Journalism."
2008 Martine Poulain "Public Library History in the Late 20th Century: A Comparative Perspective (France, Britain, and the United States)."
2007 Akira Nemoto “Library Policies of American Occupation.”
2006 John Y. Cole and Jane Aikin “History as Collaboration.”

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.

Librarians We Have Lost- Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026

In 2024 the Library History Round Table launched a digital memorial, "Librarians We Have Lost- Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026," as a project for the 150th anniversary of the American Library Association. This was a crowd-sourced project to honor historical library workers coordinated by Brett Spencer, editor of LHRT News and Notes, and affirmed by the Council of the American Library Association. At the time of the sesquicentennial celebration in July, 2026 over 500 tributes had been submitted.

Awards

See also

References

  1. ↑ LHRT Library History Round Table.
  2. ↑ Marshall, John David. 2000. “The Library History Round Table’s First Twenty-Five Years: Reminiscences and Remarks.” Libraries & Culture 35 (1): 41.
  3. ↑ "John David Marshall (1928–2005)". ALAIR (American Library Association Institutional Repository). American Library Association Archives, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. August 18, 2026.
  4. ↑ Wertheimer, A. B. and J. D. Marshall., 2000. "50 Years of Promoting Library History: A Chronology of the ALA (American) Library History Round Table, 1947-1997." Libraries and Culture 35 (1): 215-239.
  5. ↑ Lear, Bernadette A. "LHRT Leadership, Programs, and Awards, 1998–2023." Libraries: Culture, History, and Society. 7, No. 2, 2023: 181–215.
  6. ↑ Brichford, Maynard. “Current Status of the American Library Association Archives: A Preliminary Report.” The Journal of Library History (1974) 12.1 (1977): 64–69.
  7. ↑ LHRT Journal Libraries: Culture, History, and Society American Library Association. Library History Round Table.
  8. ↑ LHRT News and Notes American Library Association. Library History Round Table.
  9. ↑ Shiflett, Lee. Louis Shores: Defining Educational Librarianship (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1996: 231-234.
  10. ↑ Marshall, John David, ed. (1961). An American Library History Reader. Contributions to Library Literature. Foreword by Wayne Shirley and Louis Shores. Hamden, Connecticut: The Shoe String Press, Inc. p. 464. LCCN 61-15684.
  11. ↑ Goedeken, E. A. (2000). The library historian’s field of dreams: a profile of the first nine Seminars. Libraries & Culture, 35(1), 161–172.
  12. ↑ Lear, Bernadette A. (15 September 2023). "LHRT Leadership, Programs, and Awards, 1998–2023". Libraries: Culture, History, and Society. 7 (2). Penn State University Press: 181–215. doi:10.5325/libraries.7.2.0181. eISSN 2473-036X. ISSN 2473-0343.
  13. ↑ Marshall, John D., ed. (1961). In Pursuit of Library History: Seminar 1, Proceedings, 1961. Tallahassee: Florida State University Library School.
  14. ↑ Marshall, John D., ed. (1966). Approaches to Library History: Library History Seminar 2, Proceedings, 1965. Tallahassee: Journal of Library History. LCCN 68001748.
  15. ↑ Goldstein, Harold, ed. (1978). Milestones to the Present: Papers from Library History Seminar V. Syracuse, NY: Gaylord Professional Publications. p. 306. ISBN 0-915794-21-7. LCCN 77018992.
  16. ↑ Davis, Donald G., ed. (1981). Libraries & Culture: Proceedings of Library History Seminar VI, 19–22 March 1980, Austin, Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 478.
  17. ↑ Davis, Donald G., ed. (1986). Libraries, Books & Culture: Proceedings of Library History Seminar VII, 6–8 March 1985, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Austin: Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Texas at Austin. p. 491. ISBN 0-938729-00-4.
  18. ↑ Davis, Donald G., ed. (Winter–Spring 1991). "Reading & Libraries". Libraries & Culture. 26 (1–2). University of Texas Press. ISSN 0894-8631.
  19. ↑ Davis, Donald G., Jr., ed. (1996). Libraries & Philanthropy: Proceedings of Library History Seminar IX, 30 March–1 April, 1995, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. Austin: Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Texas at Austin. p. 548.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  20. ↑ Wertheimer, Andrew B.; Davis, Donald G., eds. (2000). Library History Research in America: Essays Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Library History Round Table, American Library Association. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Center for the Book. pp. vi, 279.
  21. ↑ Fineberg, Gail; Arcaro, Tracy (December 2000). "Interpreting the Past, Shaping the Future". Library of Congress Information Bulletin. Vol. 59, no. 12. Library of Congress. Retrieved September 24, 2026.
  22. ↑ Rayward, W. Boyd; Jenkins, Christine, eds. (Winter 2007). "Libraries in Times of War, Revolution, and Social Change". Library Trends. 55 (3). Johns Hopkins University Press: 361–755. eISSN 1559-0682. ISSN 0024-2594.
  23. ↑ Pawley, Christine; Robbins, Louise S., eds. (2013). Libraries and the Reading Public in Twentieth-Century America (1st ed.). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-29324-6.
  24. ↑ Kimball, Melanie A.; Wisser, Katherine M., eds. (2017). Libraries – Traditions and Innovations: Papers from the Library History Seminar XIII. Berlin: De Gruyter Saur. doi:10.1515/9783110450842. ISBN 978-3-11-044833-7.
  25. ↑ Knowlton, Steven A.; Pozzi, Ellen M.; Sly, Jordan S.; Spunaugle, Emily D., eds. (2024). Libraries Without Borders: New Directions in Library History. Chicago: ALA Editions. ISBN 978-0-8389-3663-4.
  26. ↑ Pozzi, Ellen (August 4, 2026). "Library History Seminar XV Call For Paper". ALA Connect. Library History Round Table, American Library Association. Retrieved September 22, 2026.
  27. ↑ The original intent of the Holley Lecture LHRT Newsletter 11. Spring, 2009.
  28. ↑ Wiegand, Wayne A. 1996. Irrepressible Reformer : A Biography of Melvil Dewey. Chicago: American Library Association.
  29. ↑ Library History Round Table Newsletter Series 7, no. 4 (Spring 2006).
  30. ↑ Boudreau, George W. Independence: A Guide to Historic Philadelphia. First Westholme paperback 2016, Westholme Publishing, 2012.
  31. ↑ Jorge Nicolás. 2024. “Rock Archivo de LÁ.” Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies 49 (1): 193–206. https://doi.org/10.1525/azt.2024.49.1.193.
  32. ↑ Romney, Rebecca. 2025. Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend. New York: Marysue Rucci Books.
  33. ↑ Kurt Hackemer University of South Dakota.
  34. ↑ Mani, B. Venkat. 2017. Recording World Literature : Libraries, Print Culture, and Germany’s Pact with Books. First edition. New York: Fordham University Press.
  35. ↑ Tetrault, Lisa. 2014. The Myth of Seneca Falls : Memory and the Women’s Suffrage Movement, 1848-1898. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
  36. ↑ Marcotte, Alison Newsmakers: Dawn Logsdon and Lucie Faulknor:Filmmakers discuss new public library documentary, current threats to libraries. American Libraries
  37. ↑ Mary Niall Mitchell. “The Real Ida May: A Fugitive Tale in the Archives.” The Massachusetts Historical Review 15 (2013): 54–88.
  38. ↑ Peiss, Kathy Lee. Information Hunters : When Librarians, Soldiers, and Spies Banded Together in World War II Europe. Oxford University Press, 2020.
  39. ↑ John Cech Director of the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature & Culture at the University of Florida
  40. ↑ Ezra Greenspan, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Chair in Humanities Brown University.
  41. ↑ Augst, Thomas, and Wayne A., Eds. Libraries as Agencies of Culture. Print Culture History in Modern America. The University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.
  42. ↑ Soll, Jacob. The Information Master : Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s Secret State Intelligence System. University of Michigan Press, 2009.
  43. ↑ Van Slyck, Abigail Ayres. Free to All : Carnegie Libraries & American Culture, 1890-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
  44. ↑ Wadsworth, Sarah, and Wayne A. Wiegand. Right Here I See My Own Books : The Woman’s Building Library at the World’s Columbian Exposition. University of Massachusetts Press, 2012.
  45. ↑ Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray, “‘Saved by a Testament’: Books as Shields among Union and Confederate Soldiers,” in War Matters: Material Culture in the Civil War Era, ed. Joan Cashin (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018), 75-98.
  46. ↑ Nord, David Paul, et al. The Enduring Book : Print Culture in Postwar America. Published in association with the American Antiquarian Society by the University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
  47. ↑ Poulain, Martine. History of French libraries. [IV], Les bibliothèques au XXe siècle (1914-1990), Paris, Promodis-Éd. of the Cercle de la librairie, 1992
  48. ↑ Establishment of the Japan Library School in Japan during the occupation period. Bulletin of the Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo.Vol. 41, p. 475-489
  49. ↑ Cole, John Young, et al. Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress: For Congress, the Nation & the World. Library of Congress; Bernan Press, 2004.
  50. ↑ Bibliography of Library History American Library Association, Library History Round Table, April 24, 2024.
  51. ↑ Eric C. Novotny selected as the recipient of the LHRT Innovation and Advocacy in Library History Award. American Library Association, Library History Round Table, May 22, 2025).
  52. ↑ "Librarians We Have Lost-A 150th Anniversary Memorial for Librarians Who Advanced the Field". Library Journal. 151: 28–29. April 2026. Retrieved 2026-06-25.
  53. ↑ American Library Association (June 25, 2025). "Resolution to Honor the Contributions of Librarians Commemorated in the "Librarians We Have Lost" Initiative (1976–2026), A Sesquicentennial Memorial Project" (PDF). American Library Association. Retrieved 2026-06-25.
  54. ↑ "Librarians We Have Lost – Sesquicentennial Memories, 1976–2026". American Library Association. Retrieved 2026-06-25 – via ALAIR (American Library Association Institutional Repository).
  55. ↑ "Some Catholic Librarians We Have Lost". Catholic Library World. 97 (1). Catholic Library Association: 6–7. August 2026.
  56. ↑ Robbins, Louise. "Fighting McCarthyism Through Film: A Library Censorship Case Becomes a Storm Center" Journal of Library and Information Science Education 39 (Fall 1998): 291-311.
  57. ↑ Julia Skinner (2012-01-13). "Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award". Round Tables. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  58. ↑ Jones, Plummer Alston. "American Public Library Service to the Immigrant Community, 1876-1948." University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1991.
  59. ↑ Nguyen, Cindy Anh (2026). Bibliotactics: Libraries and the Colonial Public in Vietnam. Vol. 22. Oakland, California: University of California Press. doi:10.2307/jj.36106115.
  60. ↑ The Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library Association announces Amanda Belantara and A.M. Alpin as the inaugural winners of the Innovation and Advocacy in Library History Award American Library Association. Library History Round Table, July 18, 2023.
  61. ↑ The Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library Association announces Dr. Andrew Wertheimer as the inaugural winner of the Distinguished Service in Library History Award. American Library Association. Library History Round Table, July 18, 2023.

Additional reading