North Carolina's Special Libraries Revisited
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Kathelene McCarty Smith, Associate Professor and Department Head, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: When North Carolina Libraries published its fall 1967 issue surveying the status of libraries inthe state, Dr. Doralyn J. Hickey, an Assistant Professor of Library Science at the University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill, contributed “Special Libraries: A ‘Coming Force’ in NorthCarolina.” She had every reason to choose this optimistic title. There had been a steady rise inspecial libraries since the North Carolina Library Commission first began to record them in the1930s, and their membership had seen a substantial increase during subsequent decades. Hickeyattributed this growth to the expansion of the state’s industries, which needed dedicatedrepositories and subject specialists to serve the needs of individual businesses and further thestate's social and economic goals. The recent establishment of the North Carolina chapter of theSpecial Library Association in 1966 added legitimacy to these unique repositories and anchoredthe state to its national parent organization. In this environment, it was easy for Hickey toimagine a world where special librarians across North Carolina would join together, throughshared interests and better communication, to achieve “maturity and self-confidence as aprofession.” However, this positivity belied her deep frustration with ongoing challenges yet tobe sufficiently addressed within the field. These included the absence of a clear definition of a“special library,” problematic methods of statistical documentation, and deficient library staffing.Her concerns were prophetic, as these issues would plague the field for years and continue to doso today.
North Carolina's Special Libraries Revisited
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Created on 11/4/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Smith, K. M. (2024). North Carolina’s Special Libraries Revisited. North Carolina Libraries, 82(2), 9-14. https://doi.org/10.3776/ncl.v82i2.5451
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- special libraries, repositories, North Carolina, libraries