As the editor reiterates “History provides us with a way to think about the future” and, today in the rapidly evolving professional arena of librarianship in all its manifestations it behoves the LIS practitioner to learn the lessons of the past – even though “the past is slippery”. The Editor leads off with an interesting survey of “What is a LIS Pioneer?” and the criteria for inclusion in this category: innovator, theoretician, visionary for instance.
Within this collection of papers is embedded an interesting article by Clare Beghtol on James Duff Brown and his Subject Classification scheme; flawed but nevertheless innovative and influential in its impact – particularly in the concept of interdisciplinarity. Although heavily American in scope and content, there are worthwhile articles on LIS pioneers outside the USA – for example, Mary Maach's excellent and sympathetic account of the life and work of the influential French documentalist, Suzanne Briet at the Bibliotheque Nationale. Maach's account of Briet's professional life in the Bibliotheque Nationale during the rigours and dangers of World War Two and Nazi/Vichy interference and control is intriguing and worthy of a fuller account. Professor Alistair Black writes a clear and perceptive account of the professional life and impact of the great Lionel McColvin.
Although the strong American bias and coverage means the British reader may never have heard of many of the US librarians covered (are we really that insular?!) this is a well produced, well referenced collection of short biographies of many of the ‘movers and shakers’ of our profession. An interesting book, if rather specialised. I wonder if there will be a comprehensive and similar work covering the ‘Pioneers of British LIS’?
