The 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."[1] It is part of the American Library Association.
Louis Shores and Wayne Shirley were instrumental in founding the Library History Round Table in 1947.[2]
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.[3] In 2023, in celebration of LHRT’s seventy-fifth anniversary, Bernadette A. Lear compiled a chronology from 1998-2023.[4]
The American Library Association archives were established with input and support by the Library History Round Table as recounted by archivist Maynard J. Brichford. [5]
Publications
The Library History Round Table's official peer-reviewed journal is Libraries: Culture, History, and Society.[6]
LHRT News and Notes is the blog of the Library History Round Table.[7]
"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.[8][9]
Library History Seminars
The Library History Seminars were established in 1961 by the Library History Round Table.[10] 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.[11]
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. [12]
Edward G. Holley Lecture
The Edward G. Holley Memorial Lecture, established in memory of Holley is held at the American Library Association Conference.[13] The endowment fundraising for the lecture began with contribution of royalties by Wayne Wiegand from his book, Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey.[14]
The Library History Round Table publishes the "Bibliography of Library History" database.[36] 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.[37]
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."[38]
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.[39] 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."[40]
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.[41]
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.[42]
Additional reading
Davis Jr., D. G. (2023). "Memories of the ALA Library History Round Table." Libraries: Culture, History & Society, 7(2), 155–160.
Goedeken, Edward A. The "Literature of American Library History" was a bibliographic series that was published in the journal, Information & Culture, and its predecessors, Libraries & the Cultural Record and Libraries & Culture from 1990- 2017.
Goedeken, Edward A. 2000. “The Library Historian’s Field of Dreams: A Profile of the First Nine Seminars.” Libraries & Culture 35 (1): 161–72.
Goedeken, Edward A. "Being Part of the Conversation: The Most Cited Articles in Library History and Library & Information History, 1967–2015," Library & Information History 33, no. 1 (2017): 3–18.
Hérubel, J.-P. V. M., & Goedeken, E. A. (1994). "Journals publishing American library history: a research note." Libraries & Culture, 29, 205–209.
Lear, Bernadette A. "LHRT Leadership, Programs, and Awards, 1998–2023."Libraries: Culture, History, and Society. 7, No. 2, 2023: 181–215.
Lear, Bernadette A. 2023. “Library History as a Community.” Libraries: Culture, History & Society 7 (1): 83–90.
Robbins, Louise S. 2023. “LHRT: The Importance of Our History.” Libraries: Culture, History & Society 7 (1): 80–82.
Shiflett, Orvin Lee. 1984. "Clio's Claim: The Role of Historical Research in Library and Information Science" Library Trends 32 (Spring 1984): 385-406.
Tucker, John Mark. 2000. “Clio’s Workshop: Resources for Historical Studies in American Librarianship.” Libraries & Culture 35 (1): 192.
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.
Wiegand, Wayne A. 2023. “Remembering LHRT.” Libraries: Culture, History & Society 7 (1): 66–71.
↑ Marshall, John David. 2000. “The Library History Round Table’s First Twenty-Five Years: Reminiscences and Remarks.” Libraries & Culture 35 (1): 41.
↑ 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.
↑ Lear, Bernadette A. "LHRT Leadership, Programs, and Awards, 1998–2023." Libraries: Culture, History, and Society. 7, No. 2, 2023: 181–215.
↑ Brichford, Maynard. “Current Status of the American Library Association Archives: A Preliminary Report.” The Journal of Library History (1974) 12.1 (1977): 64–69.
↑ 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.
↑ Mani, B. Venkat. 2017. Recoding World Literature: Libraries, Print Culture, and Germany’s Pact with Books. First edition. New York: Fordham University Press.
↑ 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.
↑ Augst, Thomas, and Wayne A. , Eds. Libraries as Agencies of Culture. Print Culture History in Modern America. The University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.
↑ Soll, Jacob. The Information Master: Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s Secret State Intelligence System. University of Michigan Press, 2009.
↑ Van Slyck, Abigail Ayres. Free to All : Carnegie Libraries & American Culture, 1890-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
↑ 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.
↑ 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.
↑ 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.
↑ Poulain, Martine. History of French libraries. [IV], Les bibliothèques au XXe siècle (1914-1990), Paris, Promodis-Éd. of the Cercle de la librairie, 1992
↑ 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
↑ Cole, John Young, et al. Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress: For Congress, the Nation & the World. Library of Congress; Bernan Press, 2004.
↑ 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.
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