[Sighfis-l] FW: Goedenken EA "The literature of American Library History...."

[Richard Hill]

[Forwarded.  Dick Hill]


Edward A. Goedeken : edgoed at iastate.edu or goedeken at iastate.edu



Title:          The literature of American library history, 1999-2000 
Author(s): Goedeken EA 
Source:     LIBRARIES & CULTURE 37 (2): 138-174 SPR 2002 
Document Type: Review 
Language: English 
Cited References: 138 
Times Cited: 0     

Introduction 

This latest edition of the Libraries & Culture biennial bibliographic review
essay encompasses a pair of years that straddle two millennia. When one
considers this long-standing assignment from that viewpoint, it can seem
awesome indeed. But this being my fourth outing on this particular
adventure, I no longer quake quite as much from the prospect of surveying
the panorama of the most recent library history literature. I do, however,
take to heart the advice recently given by the historian Piers Brendan:
"Historians should be euhemerists. Their task is to expose the reality
within the myth, to reveal the flesh and blood behind the godhead." 1
Assessing the scholarship that surrounds libraries and librarianship may not
rise to the level of evaluating the godhead, but the seriousness of the
enterprise is not lost upon me. As library historians, we have a long way to
go before we can equal Lytton Strachey's confidence that his knowledge of
nineteenth-century Britain was already so extensive that "the History of the
Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it." 2 We don't
have that problem; there is too much unknown about our American library
past. Nevertheless, despite the large lacunae in our historical knowledge,
let us see what we have done this time around to fill in the gaps.

Addresses: Goedeken EA (reprint author), Iowa State Univ, Ames, IA 50011 USA
Iowa State Univ, Ames, IA 50011 USA 
Publisher: UNIV TEXAS PRESS, BOX 7819, AUSTIN, TX 78713-7819 USA 
Subject Category: HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 
IDS Number: 544BP 

ISSN: 0894-8631 





Title:          The literature of American library history, 2001-2002 
Author(s): Goedeken EA 
Source:     LIBRARIES & CULTURE 39 (2): 175-211 SPR 2004 
Document Type: Review 
Language: English 
Cited References: 221 
Times Cited: 0     

The author's introduction to this paper : 

This is the fifth time I have composed this overview of current writings on
American library history, which means that for the past ten years I have
carefully monitored the amount and variety of scholarship that has appeared
every two years from the little band of scholars who continually explore our
corner of the historical canvas.  As usual, our colleagues have been busy
providing the rest of us with a wealth of writings and interpretations of
our library past that will in turn foster yet more research and more thought
about the role libraries, librarianship, and book culture have played in our
nation's journey to the present.  So with this brief introduction, let us
now begin our journey through this most recent outpouring of scholarship on
American library history

Addresses: Goedeken EA (reprint author), Iowa State Univ, Parks Lib, Ames,
IA 50011 USA
Iowa State Univ, Parks Lib, Ames, IA 50011 USA 
Publisher: UNIV TEXAS PRESS, BOX 7819, AUSTIN, TX 78713-7819 USA 
Subject Category: HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 
IDS Number: 825SC 

ISSN: 0894-8631 


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