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A Guide to the Records at the Indiana University Archives

Finding aid prepared by Allison Haack

Summary Information

Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives

Creator
Indiana University, Bloomington. Graduate Library School.

Collection No.
C167

Extent
7.4 cubic feet (8 boxes)

Language
Materials are in English

Abstract
Bernard M. Fry served as the Dean of Indiana University's Graduate Library School from 1967 to 1980 and upon his retirement in 1984 he became Professor Emeritus of Library Science. Under Fry's leadership, the Research Center for Library and Information Science was established, and the Graduate Library School was recognized both nationally and internationally as a top five school in the field. The collection is comprised of materials relating to Fry's activities as Dean of the Graduate Library School. The majority of the collection consists of administrative and proposed research study files related to the Research Center for Library and Information Science.

Access Restrictions

Select files closed to researchers. These are indicated in the folder list.

Advance notice required for access to collection.

Administrative History

During the 1930 summer session, Indiana University offered its first class for the preparation of school librarians. The class was taught through the School of Education and was offered only in the summer until 1938, when the class was expanded and offered throughout the entire school year. That same year, Margaret I. Rufsvold came to I.U. to help develop the Library Science curriculum.

In 1947, the Division of Library Science (DLS) was established within the School of Education, with Rufsvold as its director. DLS offered an undergraduate program consisting of eighteen semester hours of work and ten graduate semester hours that were only offered in the summer. At the time, the Division concentrated on training individuals for work in school and public libraries. Students focusing on school librarianship were granted a school librarian's provisional certificate in the library science area. The certificate was valid for five years and could be converted to a first-grade certificate if a Master's degree was acquired. In 1949, the curriculum was expanded to include a five year program that would lead to a Master of Arts with a major in Library Science.

In 1951, DLS moved to the new Education Building. The program grew further to include two new degrees. The first was a Master of Arts degree with a major in Library Science for persons interested in becoming school librarians. The second was offered jointly through the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine, and was a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Record Librarianship. That same year the American Library Association (ALA) adopted new standards for accreditation of library schools. In April 1953, after two years of preparation, the DLS was granted accreditation by the ALA.

In the early 1960's discussion of a new library building was introduced as the DLS program continued to expand, and by the end of 1964 the Program began to offer courses at the I.U. regional campuses. That same year discussions began to establish a doctoral program in library science, which eventually led to the creation of a Graduate Library School in 1966 and a split between Library Science and the School of Education. The result was The School of Library and Information Science (SLIS).

Rufsvold held the title of Dean for the newly created school for two months before relinquishing her administrative duties in order to teach full time. Charles H. McMullen served as acting dean from August 1966 through June 1967, when Bernard Fry was named to the post, a position he held until his retirement in 1980.

During Fry's tenure, the school was noted nationally and internationally as being in the top five schools in the field. Fry also initiated The Research Center for Library and Information Science, which produced major studies for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Education. He retired from the IU faculty in 1984 and was awarded the title Professor Emeritus of Library Science.

In July of 2013, SLIS merged with the School of Informatics and Computing and became the Department of Information and Library Science.

Arrangement

Collection is organized into five series: Administration, Committees, Conferences and panels, Correspondence, and Research and study proposals. The Administration series is further arranged to include a General and Long Range Planning subseries. The Conferences and Panels series contains subseries of General and ERIC Materials [Education Resource Information Center]. The Research and Study Proposals series is further arranged into three subseries of General, National Science Foundation, and Student Dissertation and Research Proposals.

Scope and Content Note

The Dean's Office Graduate Library School records span the years 1961-1992 and consist largely of the files of Bernard M. Fry, who was Dean from 1967-1980. There are five series in the collection including Administrative records, Committee files, Conferences and Panels, Correspondence, and Research and Study Proposals.

The Administrative records (1961-1986) consists of files related to Fry's responsibilities as Dean of the Library School and is divided into two sub-series. The General sub-series (1961-1986) includes information concerning accreditation, budget planning, and general administrative activities relating to the functions of the Library School. The Long Range Planning subseries (1969-1980) contains material related to the long range planning process for the School.

The Committees series (1965-1985) contains materials related to committees on which Fry served in his capacity as Dean of the Library School, such as the Accreditation Committee, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, and the Continuing Education Committee.

The third series, Conferences and panels (1970-1981), contains materials related to conferences and panels which Fry either attended or served on in his capacity as Dean of the Library School and is divided into two separate sub-series. The General sub-series (1970-1981) contains information relating to assorted conferences, including the American Library Association Council Annual Conference, and the Copyright Conference. The ERIC Materials (1970-1973) subseries, contains information specifically concerning panels run by the Education and Resource Information Center (ERIC).

The fourth series, Correspondence (1972-1992), consists of correspondence relating to Fry's role as Dean of the Library School. Noteworthy correspondents include Herb White and Martin M. Cummings. It should be noted that related correspondence to Fry's tenure as dean can also be found in his personal papers (C166).

The last series, Research and study proposals (1966-1982), contains materials about various research and study proposals and information related to projects involving the Department of Education and Library School and is further divided into three series. The General subseries (1966-1982) includes survey questionnaires for journal publications and research proposals, as well as material relating to research and articles written under the direction of the Graduate Library School. The subseries ERIC Research (1969-1977) consists of research conducted by Library Graduate School faculty, and the National Science Foundation records (1972-1978) consists of research materials related to studies conducted by the Research Center for Library and Information Science for the NSF. The subseries Student Dissertation and Research Proposals (1972-1978) consists of dissertations and proposals submitted to Dean Fry by IU students.

• Indexing Terms

• The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

• • Names
  • Fry, Bernard M. (Bernard Mitchell), 1915-1994 --Archives.
  • Fry, Bernard M. (Bernard Mitchell), 1915-1994 --Correspondence.
  • Indiana University. Graduate Library School --Archives.
  • Indiana University. Graduate Library School --Records and correspondence.
  • Indiana University. Graduate Library School --Administration --History --20th century --Sources.
  • Indiana University, Bloomington. Graduate Library School --Archives.
  • Indiana University, Bloomington. Graduate Library School --Records and correspondence.
  • Indiana University, Bloomington. Graduate Library School --Administration --History --20th century --Sources.
• • Topics
  • Library schools --Indiana --Bloomington --Archives.
  • Library schools --Indiana --Bloomington --History --20th century --Sources.
  • Library schools --Indiana --Bloomington --Records and correspondence.

Related Material

For university records: Additional records such as newsletters, annual reports, bulletins, and publications may be accessed in the Archives of Institutional Memory

Archived web sites for this Department may be included in Archive-It

Related photographs may be available in the University Archives Photographs Database

Administrative Information

Folder List