ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

PEOPLE

Profiles

John William Beecher has been named director of libraries at North Dakota State University, Fargo, effective September 1. Beecher had been acting co-director of the St. Paul Campus Libraries at the University of Minnesota.

Prior to his service at Minnnesota, Beecher was education and psychology librarian at New Mexico State University (1970–73), and agriculture librarian at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1973–82). He received his bachelor’s degree in ornamental horticulture from the University of Illinois in 1964 and his MLS at Illinois in 1966. From 1966-68 Beecher served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, and was library consultant for the U.S. Agency for International Development and Mexico State University in 1970.

Beecher is the author of recent publications including “Implementing and Managing a Fee-based Information service in an Academic Library,” published in a guide for health science librarians, and “Use of Random Alarm Mechanisms for Analyzing Professional and Support Staff Activities in Scence Libraries: Methodology,” published with three other authors in Library Research.

John William Beecher

James A. Damico has been named director of libraries at the University of South Alabama, Mobile.

Damico earned his MLS degree from Rutgers University and his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Long Island University’s C.W. Post College. His most recent position was at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he was Director of Cook Memorial Library. As associate professor in the School of Library Service at USM, Damico taught courses in library automation and library management.

Damico has served at Rice University, Brown University, and the University of Dayton, and has worked in the special libraries at General Precision (HRB Singer), Thiokol Chemical Corporation, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His consultantships in academic libraries include the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil and Abadan Institute of Technology in Iran.

James A. Damico

Donald G. Davis Jr. has been promoted to professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas at Austin.

Since joining the faculty in 1971, Davis has taught courses in reference and bibliography, collection development, and the history of books and libraries. Since 1976 he has edited the Journal of Library History, published quarterly by the University of Texas Press.

Davis has directed two national Library History Seminars—1980 in Austin and 1985 in

Chapel Hill—and edited their proceedings. He also organized and directs the annual Texas Library History Colloquium, held every spring in Austin. Active in many professional associations, Davis has been invited to give nearly twenty papers since coming to Austin and has served as consultant to six library agencies and publishers.

Davis received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, his master’s in history and his MLS from UC-Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in Library Science from the University of Illinois. From 1964 to 1968 he was senior reference librarian at Fresno State College, later becoming head of Special Collections.

Donald G. Davis Jr.

Eileen Dubin has been named director of library services at Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey, effective August 25.

In her former post as director of library services at William Rainey Harper College, Palatine, Illinois, Dubin was an active member of ALA and the Illinois Library Association. She is president-elect of the Illinois Association of College Research Librarians (ACRL’s Illinois Chapter) and is chair of ACRL’s Community and Junior College Libraries Section.

Dubin holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Hunter College. She pursued graduate study in library science at Indiana University and the University of Chicago, earning her MLS at Northern Illinois University where she began work toward a doctorate in education.

Dubin’s publications include many articles in professional journals and a book, co-authored with May Brottman, Independent Research: A Reference Guide (Greenwood, 1986). She was selected to participate in the Institute for Leadership Development sponsored by the League for Innovation in Community Colleges and the American Association of Women in Community and Junior Colleges, held in Mays Landing, New Jersey.

Eileen Dubin

Joanne R. Euster, library director at San Francisco State University, has been named director of the Rutgers University Libraries, New Jersey, effective September 1.

In her new position Euster will administer a library system that includes 17 branches at Rutgers’ New Brunswick, Camden and Newark campuses. She succeeds Hendrik Edelman, who left the post last year to return to the faculty of the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies.

Euster received a bachelor’s degree from Portland State College, Oregon, in 1965 and went on to earn an MLS from the University of Washington in 1968 and an MBA from the same institution in 1977. She received a doctorate from the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of California at Berkeley in 1986.

Euster served as assistant librarian at Edmonds Community College, Washington, from 1968 to 1973, later becoming head librarian (1973–77). She was named university librarian at Loyola University, New Orleans, in 1977 and remained there until 1980, when she assumed the library directorship at San Francisco State University.

At both Loyola and San Francisco, Euster supervised the automation of the libraries and was noted for her leadership in the areas of collection development, improvement of programs and services, management systems and personnel policy, and public relations.

Euster was recently elected vice-president/ president-elect of ACRL for 1986–87. She served as chair of the ACRL Publications Committee (1982-86), and has been a member of the ACRL Appointments and Nominations Committee and the Constitution and Bylaws Committee. Euster has numerous publications to her credit and currently serves as a contributing editor to Library Issues: Briefings for Academic Officers.

Joanne R. Euster

Barbara J. Hutchinson has been named director of library services at Georgian Court College, Lakewood, New Jersey.

Hutchinson formerly served at Monmouth College, Florida Atlantic University, the University of Virginia Law Library, Nova University, Princeton University, New Mexico State University, and the University of Nevada. Most recently she was adult services librarian at the Lakewood Public Library.

A graduate of Drew University, Hutchinson earned a master’s degree from New Mexico State University and her MLS from Rutgers University.

MichaelA. Kellerhas been appointed associate university librarian for collection development at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, effective August 1.

Keller served most recently as head of the Music Library at the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as chair of the Berkeley Collection Management and Development Committee.

He was also music librarian and senior lecturer in musicology, and later acting undergraduate librarian at Cornell University, and has taught at Stanford and Berkeley.

Keller has served as a consultant to libraries in North America and Italy. He was a member of the Music Library Association Board of Directors from 1976 to 1978.

Michael A. Keller

GeraldR. Lowellhas been appointed associate university librarian for technical services at Yale University, effective August 1.

As former chief of the Cataloging Distribution Service at the Library of Congress, Lowell was responsible for all bibliographic products and services produced and sold by LC to libraries throughout the world. He was vice president and managing director for North America for the Faxon Company, and was instrumental in the design of Faxon’s serials control system and online serials management workshop.

Lowell began his career at the University of Washington, where he served in the Slavic and East European Division and later in the Serials Division. He has been a member of the National Information Standards Subcommittee on the Compact Disc Data Format Standard, and was chair of the American Standards Committee from 1979 to 1980.

Gerald R. Lowell

EmilyR. Mobleyhas been appointed associate director of libraries and associate professor of library science at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, effective August 14.

Mobley received her bachelor’s degree in education and her MLS from the University of Michigan. She has also completed all coursework through the Ph.D. candidacy stage at Michigan.

Mobley has served as engineering librarian at the Chrysler Corporation, science librarian at Wayne State University, supervisor of reader services at General Motors Research Laboratories, and library director of GMI Engineering and Management Institute. She has also held appointment as adjunct lecturer at the University of Michigan’s School of Library Science.

Her professional activities include: vicepresident of the Board of Trustees of the Library of Michigan; president of the Michigan Chapter of the Special Libraries Association, and various offices in the SLA Engineering and Library Management Divisions. She is currently president-elect of SLA.

Mobley has written several extensive bibliographies and other papers, as well as a book, Special Libraries at Work.

Emily R. Mobley

Jacquelyn M. Morris has been named college librarian at Occidental College, Eagle Rock, California, effective October

Morris had most recently served as associate dean of university libraries at the University of the Pacific. She has held positions at Cornell University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Morris received her MLS from Syracuse University, later serving as adjunct professor there.

Morris’ activities in ACRL have most recently included chairing the ad hoc College Library Standards Committee which developed the 1986 College Library Standards. She is currently serving as chair of the Professional Association Liaison Committee and is a member of the ACRL Appointments and Nominations Committee and the Committee on Performance Measures. Within California she is chairing a task force on cooperative retrospective conversion in Private Academic Libraries under the auspices of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities.

Jacquelyn M. Morris

Morris recently co-authored a book with Mignon Adams entitled Teaching Library Skills for Academic Credit.

H. Robert Malinowski has joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin School of Library Science, Milwaukee. Malinowski is past president of the Special Libraries Association.

Malinowski was president of the Geoscience Information Society in 1970, president of the Mountain Plains Library Association during 1977–78, and governor’s appointee to the Kansas State Library Advisory Commission from 1974–79.

Prior to joining the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1985 as associate professor and bibliographer for science and engineering, he was editorial consultant for the Oryx Press (1984–85); general manager of Libraries Unlimited, Littleton, Colorado (1983-84); and science librarian at the University of Kansas (1967–83).

Malinowski received his bachelor of science in geological engineering from the University of Kansas and his MLS from the University of Denver. He is the author of Science and Engineering Literature: A Guide to Reference Sources, now in its fourth edition.

Larry R. Oberg has been appointed director of the library at Albion College, Michigan, effective August 18.

Prior to coming to Albion, Oberg served at Lewis Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho, first as head of reference and, from 1983, as director. While there he taught library science courses in a program leading to state certification of librarians at the secondary level. He has also held appointments at the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University. A

Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Berkeley, he received his MLS there in 1979.

Oberg has participated in the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust’s Library and Information Resources for the Pacific Northwest program of regional collection assessment. He has been assistant editor of College & Research Libraries since 1984, and is the author of Human Resources in Postrevolutionary Cuba (Greenwood, 1985).

Larry R. Oberg

People in the News

Robert H. Blackburn, librarian emeritus of the

University of Toronto, received an honorary doctorate in June at McGill University, Montreal.

Ben-Ami Lipetz , professor at the School of Information Science at the State University of New York at Albany, has been elected president of the American Society of Indexers for 1986–87. Lipetz was also recently elected to the Board of Directors of Documentation Abstracts, Inc., the parent organization for the secondary journal and database Information Science Abstracts, for which he was editor from its establishment in 1966 until 1981.

Fay Zipkowitz has been appointed visiting professor for 1986–87 at the Graduate School of the Library and Information Science at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston. She is on leave from her position as director of the Rhode Island Department of State Library Services.

Appointments

(Appointments are taken from library newsletters, leters from personnel offices and appointees, and other sources. To ensure that your appointment appears, write to the Editor, ACRL, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795.)

Stephen Aby has been appointed reference librarian at Northeastern University, Boston.

Victoria Adamitis is the new preservation officer at Stanford University, California.

Terry Allison has been appointed assistant head of the Acquisitions Department at the University of California, San Diego.

Tony Angiletta has been appointed head of the General Reference Department at Stanford University, California.

Richard Arsenty has been appointed science/ reference librarian at the State University of New York at Purchase.

Judith Avery has been named head of the Library Science Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Brent Bernau is now documents/media librarian in the Law Library at Golden Gate University, San Francisco.

Melissa Bernhardt has been appointed assistant librarian in the Technical Services Department at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Amanda Bowen has been appointed assistant art librarian at Stanford University, California.

Barbara A. Burg has been appointed reference librarian at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bridget Canavan has been appointed general monographic cataloger at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

JerIs Cassel has been appointed reference librarian/online services coordinator at the Kilmer Area Library of Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey.

Justine V. Clancy has been appointed head of Special Collections at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles.

Stephen Corrsin has been appointed deputy associate librarian for technical services and principal cataloger at Brooklyn College, New York.

M. Rita Costello is now associate librarian in the Management Library at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Mary Cross has been appointed director of technical services at Columbia College, South Carolina.

James R. Cubit has been named assistant college librarian at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Gene Damon has been appointed associate dean for technical services and systems development at Northeastern University, Boston.

Rebecca Davis has been appointed reference librarian/coordinator of online services at the University of California, Davis.

James Dendy has been appointed reference librarian at Northeastern University, Boston.

Leslie Donnelly is now business and administration librarian at Drexel University, Philadelphia.

Patricia M. Duck has been named head librarian at the Greensburg Campus Library of the University of Pittsburgh.

Mary Beth Fecko has been appointed cataloger at Lander College, Greenwood, South Carolina.

Taylor Fitchett has been named head law librarian at the University of Cincinnati Law School, Ohio.

Kay Flowers is now assistant university librarian for automated systems at Rice University, Houston, Texas.

Janet Frederick has been appointed head of the Bibliographic Database Management Department at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

Monica J. Fusich-Cheeseman has been appointed information services librarian at St. Mary’s College, Moraga, California.

Mary W. Ghikas is now director of network development at Gaylord Brothers, Inc., Syracuse, New York.

William A. Gosling has been appointed assistant director for technical services at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Patrick Grace has been appointed government documents librarian at Brooklyn College, New York.

Janie Harris has been appointed deputy collection development librarian at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Natalie Hassan is now a serials cataloger in the Baker Library of the Graduate School of Business Administration of Harvard University, Boston.

Dan C. Hazen has been appointed associate librarian for Hispanic Collections at the University of California, Berkeley.

Frances F. Jacobson has been appointed reference librarian and user education coordinator in the Reference Library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Sandra L. Janicki has been appointed instructor in the Reference Division at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Donald F. Jay has been appointed field director of the Library of Congress office in Cairo, Egypt.

Dana E. Johnson is now online reference services coordinator at Western Washington University, Bellingham.

Nancy P. Johnson has been named director of the law library at Georgia State University, Atlanta.

Rebecca Kroll has been appointed public services librarian in the Science & Engineering Library at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

Carol A. Lawrence has joined the staff at Yale University Library.

Linda Leahy has been appointed associate dean for user services and collection development at Northeastern University, Boston.

Robert Lesh has been appointed monographic cataloger in Africana at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

David Lie has been appointed catalog librarian at the State University of New York College at Purchase.

Alice Littlejohn has joined the staff at California State University Library, Long Beach.

Harry Llull has been appointed head of the Science & Engineering Library at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

DeborahK. MCAnallenis now assistant head of online shared cataloging at Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Jerry McBride has been appointed music librarian at Middlebury College, Vermont.

Betty N. McFall has been appointed user services librarian at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro.

John Madden has been appointed assistant law librarian at the University of Idaho Law Library, Moscow.

Thomas W. Mann Jr. is now a manager in the management consulting department of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., San Francisco office.

Anton C. Masin has been appointed reference and library instruction librarian at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, New York.

Joseph R. Mazuranic is now head of circulation at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Linda Meiseles has been appointed principal serials librarian at Brooklyn College, New York.

Joseph J. Mika has been named director of the graduate library science program at Waynè State University, Detroit, Michigan.

Nadene Miller has been appointed reference librarian at the University of Portland, Oregon.

Sigrid Docken Mount has been appointed arts bibliographer at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

James W. Oliver has been appointed chemistry librarian at Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Lawrence W. Onsager has been named library director at the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, Missouri.

Daniel J. Pederson has been appointed reference librarian at the Cabot Science Library of Harvard University.

Lawrence Peick has been appointed reference librarian at Northeastern University, Boston.

Michael J. Petit has been appointed acquisitions librarian at the University of Miami Law Library, Florida.

Lance Query is now assistant university librarian for planning and personnel at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

William Ratliff has been appointed curator of the Latin and North American collections at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, California.

Rita Reusch is the new director of the University of Utah Law Library, Salt Lake City.

Camille Riley has been named director of the Law Library at West Virginia University, Morgantown.

David G. Robinson has been appointed automation librarian at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro.

Linda S. Ronan is now head of reserves and circulation at the Lamont Undergraduate Library of Harvard University.

Mark Sandler has been appointed coordinator of graduate library selectors at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Leinaala Robinson Seeger has been appointed associate librarian for public services in the Law School Library at Harvard University.

Timothy Sheehy has been appointed associate librarian in the Law Library at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Christopher Sugnet has been appointed head of the new Monographic Cataloging and Classification Department at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

Stuart A. Sutton is now public services librarian in the Law Library at Golden Gate University, San Francisco.

Barbara Sykes-Austin has been appointed reference librarian/library instruction coordinator at the Kilmer Area Library of Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey.

Melanie R. Thomas has been appointed user services librarian at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro.

Victor Torres has joined the staff of the University of Illinois Library, Urbana-Champaign.

Nancy A. VERSTREATE has been appointed assistant librarian in charge of serials at Siena College, Loudonville, New York.

Ted Waller has been appointed technical services librarian at Meredith College, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Alex Warren has been named head of the Morrison Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

Gwendolyn Weaver is now associate librarian for administration in the Baker Library of the Graduate School of Business Administration of Harvard University.

Judith Welsh has been appointed reference librarian in the Health Sciences Library of the University of California, Davis.

Geoffrey Wexler has been appointed manuscripts librarian/university archivist at the University of California, San Diego.

Sherry Willhite has been appointed information services librarian/chemistry specialist at the University of California, San Diego.

Martha Yee is now associate librarian in the Archives of Film, Television and Radio at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Gary E. Yela has been appointed assistant librarian for rare books at the University of Delaware, Newark.

Pamela F. Yorks has been appointed assistant engineering librarian in the Engineering Library at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Rebecca Young has been appointed reference librarian at Maryville College, Tennessee.

Retirements

Rosanna P. Allen, chief of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at Pennsylvania State University, retired June 30 after 19 years of service. Appointed initially as chief reference librarian, Allen came to Penn State from Cornell University, where she served as associate librarian in the Engineering and Veterinary Libraries. During 1964–65 she worked in Liberia as a consultant in a project sponsored by Cornell and the U.S. Agency for International Development to upgrade the library at the University of Liberia. A graduate of Wilmington College with an MLS from Columbia University, Allen also worked in private industry, nonprofit organizations and the government, and has been active in ALA and ACRL.

Leonard N. Beck, subject collections specialist in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, retired June 30 after 40 years of service. Beck joined the staff of the Division in 1973 in the newly created position of curator of special collections, later known as subject collections specialist, and became identified with the Library’s resources on magic in the Harry Houdini and McManus-Young collections and with the Third Reich collection. Beck received a master’s degree in European history from New York University, doing further graduate work at Columbia and studying library science at the Catholic University of America. During World War II he worked in military intelligence and later for the Office of Strategic Services.

Riley Paul Burton is retiring from the Law Center of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, after 33 years of service. Burton was law librarian and assistant professor (1953–56), associate professor (1956–59), professor (1959–72), and curator and professor (1972–86).

Wilhelmen A B. Curry, senior manuscript librarian in the Preparation Section of the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress since 1978, retired June 3 after more than 31 years of service. After receiving her master’s degree in history from Howard University in 1948, Curry taught at the State Teachers College, Fayetteville, North Carolina, later working for the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration. She joined the Library’s Gifts and Exchange Division in 1954 and the Manuscripts Division in 1961, serving as an editor of presidential papers indexes from 1965 to 1973.

Margaret Horn retired August 1 as a cataloger at Concordia College, St. Paul, Minnnesota. Her 30 years at Concordia included service as head librarian from 1958-67. Earlier, Horn had been librarian at the Ames Library of South Asia (1949-56).

Henry C. Koch retired October 1 as associate director emeritus of Michigan State University after 31 years of service. After two years at the Cleveland Public Library, Koch began his career at Michigan State as head of the Literature and Social Sciences Division. During his tenure as associate director the university added some 2.5 million volumes.

Paul Parham resigned effective September 16 from his position as university librarian at Texas Christian University for reasons of disability.

Tadeusz Sadowski retired May 30 as senior legal specialist in the European Law Division of the Law Library of the Library of Congress after 30 years of service. A native of Russia, Sadowski served in the Polish government prior to World War II and came to the United States in 1949, becoming a citizen in 1955. He received a master’s degree in Slavic languages and literatures from Harvard University in 1952. Sadowski joined the Library of Congress in 1956 in the Aerospace Technology Division of the former Reference Department, becoming research analyst and later senior lexicographer. In 1969 he transferred to the European Law Division as a specialist in the Polish and Soviet legal systems.

Rodney G. Sarle, chief of the Library of Congress’s Overseas Operations Division since 1976, retired May 30 after nearly 28 years of service. Sarle came to the library in the Special Recruit (now Intern) Program after receiving his MLS from the University of North Carolina. He also holds a bachelor’s from Brown and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Initially assigned to the General Reference and Bibliography Division, Sarle spent the balance of his career in the Processing Services Department, becoming head of the Gift Section in the Exchange and Gift Division in 1961. He became director of the P.L. 480 Project in Cairo, Egypt, in 1964 and in 1967 was named field director of the LC office in Karachi, Pakistan. Between 1969 and 1975 he served as field director on New Delhi and then in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Peter B. Sheridan, an analyst in American national government in the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress, retired May 30 after 30 years of service. Sheridan joined the Library in 1956 as reference assistant in the History and General Research Division of the former Legislative Reference Service (LRS), becoming information librarian in the Office of the Director the following year. In 1967 he was promoted to head of the Special Reference Section of CRS after holding various other positions and was assigned to the post from which he retired in 1974. Sheridan received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Pennsylvania State College in 1945 and 1950 and a Ph.D. in American History from Georgetown University in 1957.

Betty Thomson retired August 31 as head of the Catalog Department at East Texas State University after 22 years of service. Thomson joined the staff in 1964 as a catalog librarian and became department head in 1975. During her tenure she supervised the university’s conversion from the Dewey Decimal system to LC classification and from a manual cataloging system to OCLC.

Deaths

Helen F. Conover, a former bibliographic specialist at the Library of Congress, died May 25 at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A 1919 graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Conover also studied at Columbia and New York Universities and at the Sorbonne and taught in private schools. Prior to joining the Library in 1931 she worked as an editor, researcher and librarian for several publishing firms. She was a pioneer in developing African bibliographic and reference programs while serving in the LC’s Division of Bibliography, and served also in the European and General Reference and Bibliography Divisions. As the Library’s African area specialist, Conover was the first appointee to the LC African Section upon its establishment in 1961. She retired in 1963 after 32 years of service, continuing to work independently.

Alexander Hromockyj, science reference librarian in the Science and Technology Division of the Library of Congress, died of a heart attack at his home April 18. Born in Poland and educated in Germany, Hromockyj came to the United States in 1949 and studied at Millard Fillmore College and the University of Buffalo, earning a B.S. degree in 1967 from American University. He joined the Library in 1959 as a library assistant, becoming technical information specialist in the Aerospace Reference Project in 1969. Hromockyj was promoted to science reference librarian in 1971.

John Edwin Smith, university librarian emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, died July 28. Smith became founding university librarian at Irvine in 1963 as part of a 39-year career. After earning his certificate of librarianship from UC-Berkeley, Smith served as a junior professional librarian for the Library Association of Portland, Oregon, and later at the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a junior professional (1941–42). He later became the first librarian of the newlyformed Institute of Industrial Relations at UCLA, returning to that institution in 1949 as head of the Acquisitions Department after a period with the U.S. Army Medical Department. From 1952-61 Smith was chief librarian for the City and County of Santa Barbara, California, and later spent two years in Pakistan as a library resources adviser for the University of Southern California. Invited to join the library at UC-Irvine two years before it opened in 1965, Smith supervised the growth of the collection to some 800,000 volumes and 12,400 journals by the time of his retirement in 1979.

John Edwin Smith