Reading & Libraries I || Honoring David Kaser

Honoring David KaserAuthor(s): Haynes McMullenSource: Libraries & Culture, Vol. 26, No. 1, Reading & Libraries I (Winter, 1991), pp. 7-9Published by: University of Texas PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25542317 .

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Honoring David Kaser

Haynes McMullen

It is my very pleasant duty to tell you why this seminar is being dedicated

to David Kaser. It is quite simply because he has made such important contributions to our understanding of the history of both of the elements

in our topic, "Reading & Libraries," and to our understanding of the

relationship between these two elements. Of course, in recent years, he

has also been a very successful library school teacher and, before that, a

respected university librarian. In addition to all this, for many years he has

been an advisor to a large number of librarians, university administrators,

and architects as they have planned better ways to provide library service

to the users of information.

For me, it is easiest to comment on Professor Kaser's scholarship in

the field of library history. In the first place, he is always thorough in his

search for the data on which he builds his narrative. Then he organizes his material carefully and tells his story gracefully but with authority. As

you read one of his books or articles, you accept what he has to say because

he clearly knows his business, but at the same time you enjoy the experi ence because of the way he puts things.

I am attracted to his work, also, because of his choice of topics. He

always studies aspects of library history that have been overlooked or that

need much more attention than they have received. For example, we have

known, in a general way, that wars alter patterns in reading and the use

of libraries, but in his volume Books and Libraries in Camp and Battle, he

makes clear for us exactly how the urge to read and to provide reading matter for others manifested itself during the Civil War. And in his volume A Book for a Sixpence he has given us the first comprehensive account of

the history of an important agency for the dissemination of reading matter

in this country, the commercial circulating library.

I have spoken about Professor Kaser's contributions to our knowledge of

the past. Often, in a single article, he writes of the ways in which libraries

Haynes McMullen is professor emeritus, Information and Library Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Libraries and Culture, Vol. 26, No. 1, Winter 1991 ?1991 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713



8 L&C/Honoring David Kaser

of the past have met challenges, the ways in which they do now, and how

they will need to meet them in the future. A good example of this kind of

writing is the article "Academic Library Buildings, Their Evolution and

Prospects" in Advances in Library Organization (vol. 7, 1988). In all of his work, Professor Kaser is thoroughly modern in his uses

of tools: the personal computer, of course, together with its various elec

tronic connections, such as modems. I understand that he is an enthusiastic

Faxer. I am not surprised at this, because his enthusiasm is one of his

outstanding characteristics. When you go to see him, you notice his

enthusiasm for his various projects, but he is enthusiastic about yours,

as well. It is very rare for a person who has achieved so much to show

a friendly interest in the work of others, but he does?in the work of his

students, junior faculty members, and other library historians. On several

occasions he and I have exchanged notes about sources of data; I have

always received more help than I have been able to give.

One of the best indications of his interest in the work of others and his

ability to understand their viewpoints has been his career as a consultant

in foreign countries. His study of book pirating in Taiwan has been

credited with helping the government of that country to understand the

Western attitude concerning the need to protect intellectual property,

and the book also explains, for the Westerner, the differing Chinese view

point about the dissemination of information.

I cannot speak with authority about most of his work as a consultant.

I just know that he has been asked scores of times to help librarians (who sometimes know ahead of time exactly what they want the consultant to

tell them) and architects (who sometimes consider themselves to be artists,

whose chief duty it is to produce beautiful artifacts). A consultant's work must be very difficult.

When someone gives

a talk like this, he or she is in great danger of



9

overstating the situation, handing out undeserved praise. To guard against

this I have carefully checked my impressions against the opinions of others

who know Professor Kaser. This turned out to be fruitless research;

everyone agrees that he is one of the kindest, most considerate persons

they know, that he does not pass on gossip, and that he is always a helpful and cooperative member of the many committees on which he serves. My informants mention his sense of humor; he knows how to be funny without

hurting feelings. The only adverse information I could obtain was that he

whistles like a schoolboy when he passes through the halls over at the

library school.

Finally I should say that, in dedicating this seminar to David Kaser, we

are only adding to the list of honors already given to him. The University of Michigan honored him as a distinguished alumnus in 1970, and he

received a "Distinguished Teaching Award" here at Indiana University in 1981. The university named him a "Distinguished Professor" in 1986.

Just two years ago, his former students and others contributed to a book

in his honor with the title Academic Librarianship, Past, Present, and Future, edited by John Richardson and Jinnie Davis. As we make this dedication,

we hope that his career of distinguished scholarship and service will con

tinue for a long time.



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Reading & Libraries I || Honoring David Kaser