Jesse Hauk SheraBy Gerald Louw

Objectives Who was Jesse Hauk Shera? What was his career path? Publications What was his philosophy? What is social epistemology? His contribution to library philosophy. Is his philosophy still valid?

Who was Jesse Hauk Shera? Born 8 December 1903 in Oxford Married to Helen Bickham 1928 Education: Honors degree in English Masters degree in English Literature Doctoral degree in Library Science Died 8 March 1982, age 78

What was his career path? Assistant cataloguer Bibliographer Chief of the library census project Chief of preparation Assistant Director, University of Chicago

Library Assistant professor, associate professor,

dean Editor

Publications 11 books (wrote, edited or assisted

editing) 45 book chapters 10 reports 108 periodicals 74 columns in Wilson Library Bulletin 29 editorials in American Documentation 104 book reviews 45 publications in Library Literature

What was his philosophy? Theoretical framework for librarianship Professional philosophy for librarians Main project social epistemology Margaret Egan assist Social epistemology

What is social epistemology? Study of knowledge in society (Shera

1970:107) Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - study of social dimensions of

knowledge or information

His contribution to library philosophy Not a thing but a concept Mediators between users and graphic

records Knowledge must be brought Broad scope and field of librarianship Culture and knowledge cannot be

separated

Is his philosophy still valid? Influence society has on libraries and

knowledge creation meet intellectual needs of

users(Ranganathan) Knowledge has been augmented( Shera) Augment existing

knowledge(Ntshuntshe-Matshaye) R.David Lankes, 2011. mission of

librarians

Conclusion Social and knowledge aspect Libraries become flexible Social hubs

References Grossman.Hal.B.2010.’Without

Reserve’:Jesse Shera in Wilson Library Bulletin and Elsewhere,1961-1970. Library & Information History.26(2):pp.152-169

Shera,J.H.1970.Sociological Foundation of Librianship. New York: Asia

Zandonade,Tarcisio.2004.Social Epistemology from Jesse Shera to Steve Fuller. Library Trends.52(4):pp.810-832

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