OSU icons among 100 Library Legends
Thursday, April 26, 2007
“We are proud of the contributions our librarians, donors and advocates have made not only to OSU but also to Oklahoma and the nation,” said Sheila Johnson, dean of OSU Libraries. “These outstanding and influential leaders have helped shape the face of libraries today. We are honored to have so many of our friends and colleagues honored as Library Legends.”
Cora Miltimore, the first full-time head librarian at Oklahoma A&M College, traveled the country at her own expense to learn from other academic libraries. During her service from 1900-1914, Miltimore cataloged and professionally organized the library’s collection.
Elsie Hand was head librarian from 1921-1933 and oversaw the addition of more than 40,000 volumes to the library.
During Edmon Low’s 1940-1967 tenure as head of the library that now bears his name, he increased the number of volumes by 650,000 and the staff from 16 to approximately 150. Low also was elected president of the Southwest Library Association, the ALA and the Association of College Research Libraries.
Della Thomas, OSU librarian and teacher of children’s literature from 1957-1969, was the driving force behind the creation of the Mary L. Williams Curriculum Materials Library.
Under the leadership of Dean Roscoe Rouse Jr. from 1967-1987, the OSU Library became the first in the state to utilize computers in everyday operations. The one-time president of the OLA has received countless honors for his service, and he and his wife, Charlie Lou, also a librarian, remain active in their support of OSU.
As dean from 1987-2003, Edward Johnson established the Friends of the OSU Library and the University Library Advisory Committee. Johnson also replaced card catalogs with automated information storage systems.
Ken Bierman, former assistant university librarian, put Oklahoma on the national map by implementing an advanced automation method in many of the state’s public and private libraries.
For more than three decades, librarians throughout the nation have learned about government documents in courses taught by Vicki Phillips, OSU Library faculty member, and her husband, John Phillips, head of Government Documents.
In addition to the W.P. Wood Professor of Library Service endowed professorship, Vicki Phillips has held offices with the ALA, the OLA and the U.S. Government Printing Office’s Depository Library Council. John Phillips is a founding member and former chairman of the Patent Depository Library Association, a group OSU helped form following its designation by the U.S. Senate as a Regional Depository, one of the 26 original patent depository libraries in the nation.
Philanthropic works by Peggy Helmerich have benefited countless non-profits throughout the state and especially its libraries. Her support of the OSU Library includes serving in the “Bringing Dreams to Life” campaign and on the Friends of the OSU Library executive committee. Both an endowment used to purchase current materials and the library’s browsing room bear her name.
For a complete list of Oklahoma’s Library Legends as well as in-depth profiles, visit OLA’s website at www.oklibs.org.