[Sighfis-l] Robdert S. Tyalor, 1918-2009

[Richard Hill]

Robert S. Taylor, dean emeritus of the Syracuse University School of
Information Studies (iSchool), passed away Thursday, January 1, 2009, at the
Francis House in Syracuse after a lengthy illness. He was 90.

Robert Taylor was President of ASIS&T in 1968, won the Award of Merit in
1992 and the ASIST Best Book Award in 1972

http://ischool.syr.edu/taylor_temp/taylor_home.html with a link for leaving
remembrances.

He served as dean of the Syracuse University School of Information Studies
from 1972 to 1981. One of his most memorable accomplishments at the school
was changing its name from library science to the more comprehensive
wording, information studies. "The change in name is not a cosmetic cover,
but a recognition that the activities and courses we presently have can no
longer be called library science," he said at the time. "Simply put,
'Information Studies' better represents what we are doing and the direction
we are going."

Reflecting on the decision to change the school's name, Taylor said in July
2007 that he accepted the deanship at Syracuse with the hopes of creating a
new kind of school focused specifically on information. "I came here to
Syracuse because this was the one library science school in the country that
had a potential-a real potential-for change," he said. "I wanted the word
'information' in there, so eventually we arrived at Information
Studies-ambiguous enough to cover almost anything, as it has."
Taylor also credited the late Raymond F. von Dran (dean from 1996-2007) with
carrying out the vision he had for the field back in 1974. "Ray has truly
given body to my dreams and I thank him," he said during a memorial
celebration for von Dran in July 2007.
Taylor founded the nation's first master's degree in information resource
management (which is now called information management) in 1980.

In an October 30, 2008, interview, he said he was thrilled to see the
development of the iSchool movement and the emergence of more "information
schools" or "iSchools." "iSchool-I couldn't have thought of a better word,"
he said. During this conversation, he also shared his recipe for the
school's continued success: "Imagination and work," he said.
Two of his seminal works, "Question-Negotiation and Information-Seeking in
Libraries" (1967) and Value Added Processes in Information Systems (1986),
continue to be quoted and relevant to shaping scholarly discussions today.
His works have been donated to the Syracuse University Library Special
Collections, and his life is being chronicled in a biography by local
writer, Russ Tarby. 

Among his many honors, Taylor was recognized in 1972 with the American
Society for Information Science's Best Book Award for The Making of a
Library, and in 1992, he received the American Society for Information
Science's highest recognition, the Award of Merit. In November, the School
of Information Studies Board of Advisors formally acknowledged his
contributions with a resolution in his honor. 

An Ithaca, N.Y., native, Taylor earned a bachelor's degree in history from
Cornell University and worked for a short stint as a sports reporter before
being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942. He became a member of the Army's
Counter Intelligence Corps until returning to the United States in 1947. 

He enrolled in Columbia University's library science program on the GI Bill,
earning an M.S. in Library Science in 1950. He was named a Fulbright
Lecturer in 1956. He went on to work as a librarian, professor, and director
of information science at Lehigh University, and then a professor and
director of the Library Center at Hampshire College. 

Taylor was predeceased by his first wife, Leni Reichenberger Taylor, to whom
he was married for nearly 50 years. He is survived by his second wife of 10
years, Fay Inman Taylor; his stepsons, Anton Reichenberger of Long Island,
David Golden and wife Karen of Savannah, Ga., Dan Golden of Hacienda
Heights, Calif.; and grandsons William and Max Golden; as well as nieces and
nephews most of whom live in the Dallas, Texas area.

_____
Richard B. Hill
Executive Director
American Society for Information Science and Technology
1320 Fenwick Lane, Suite 510
Silver Spring, MD  20910
Fax: (301) 495-0810
Voice: (301) 495-0900