by Kayla Barrett and Barbara A Bishop
page 142-161
In the early 1950s the Alabama Library Association attempted to integrate its membership. This failed attempt illuminated the chasm that existed between the members who were willing to change regardless of local and state segregation statutes, those who believed segregation was ethically and morally right, and those who wished the entire subject would just disappear.
by J E Traue
page 163-174
Public library legislation by central government in New Zealand, which began in 1869 with the intention of supporting the provisions of the British legislation of free lending libraries funded by local government, had by 1877 imposed a national system of user-pay lending services and free reference services limited to urban centers. This departure from the Anglo-American tradition, which has parallels in the practice in the Australian colonies, is explained in terms of the social conditions prevailing in such British settler societies in the nineteenth century.
by Wayne A Wiegand
page 175-194
Although a debate about the origins of the Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme has been going on for generations, historical consensus remains elusive. This paper contributes new information to the historiography on the origins of the scheme: (1) by grounding an account of Melvil Dewey's thinking as he was crafting the Decimal Classification on an analysis of a larger body of sources than previous classifications historians have consulted; and (2) by expanding and deepening historical understanding of the contextual forces influencing his decisions on the classification structure.
page 195-199
page 201-228
Transcribed by Angus Nicolson
11 June 1998