William I. Fletcher

William I. Fletcher
President of the American Library Association
In office
1892
Preceded byKlas August Linderfelt
Succeeded byMelvil Dewey
Personal details
BornWilliam Isaac Fletcher
(1844-04-23)April 23, 1844
Burlington, Vermont, United States
DiedJune 15, 1917(1917-06-15) (aged 73)
OccupationLibrarian

William Isaac Fletcher (April 23, 1844 – June 15, 1917) was an American librarian, bibliographer, and indexer who served as the head librarian of Amherst College from 1883 to 1911 and the President of the American Library Association in 1891–92. In 1951, he was named by Library Journal to the Library Hall of Fame.

Background

Born in Burlington, Vermont, Fletcher grew up in Winchester, Massachusetts. After working as the Winchester town librarian in his teens, he got a job at the Boston Athenaeum when he was 18, working there under William Frederick Poole for five years. After a decade and a half of working at several other libraries in Massachusetts and Connecticut, Fletcher was hired by Amherst in November 1883.

His contribution as the Amherst Librarian and ALA President is recorded in Pioneers in librarianship (2022).

Poole's Index to Periodical Literature

Fletcher served as the editor of four supplements (1893, 1897, 1903, and 1908) of the Poole's Index to Periodical Literature as well as of the 1893 and 1901 editions of the ALA Index to General Literature.

References

  1. ↑ "Fletcher, William Isaac, 1844-1917". Social Networks and Archival Context. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
  2. 1 2 Bobinski, George S. (1970). "William Isaac Fletcher, an Early American Library Leader". The Journal of Library History (1966-1972). 5 (2): 101–118. ISSN 0022-2259.
  3. ↑ Christian A. Nappo (July 2022), Pioneers in Librarianship: Sixty Notable Leaders Who Shaped the Field, Rowman & Littlefield, OL 28344642W, Wikidata Q124094705 {{Cite Q}}: Missing first/last names in Wikidata for Christian A. Nappo (help) , pp. 71-75.