Joseph Lewis Wheeler (March 16, 1884 – December 3, 1970)
/ref> was an American librarian. Wheeler was an alumnus of

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. He served as director of the Youngstown Public Library from 1916 to 1926. In 1917, Wheeler took a leave of absence from Youngstown Public Library to work in the

Library War Service The Library War Service was established by the American Library Association in 1917 to provide library services to American soldiers training in camps and serving overseas in World War I. ALA President Walter Lewis Brown initiated a partnership be ...

managing 32 camp libraries. 1917 CampLibrary byCBFalls ALA LC

He was director of the

Enoch Pratt Free Library The Enoch Pratt Free Library is the free public library system of Baltimore, Maryland. Its Central Library is located on 400 Cathedral Street (southbound) and occupies the northeastern three quarters of a city block bounded by West Franklin S ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

from 1926 to 1945. In Baltimore, he transformed many of the library's services including increasing the library's holdings of publications related to business, science and fine arts, and placing reference books on open shelves so the public could help themselves to information. In 1961 he was honored with the Joseph W. Lippincott Award and in 1964 Wheeler was awarded

American Library Association Honorary Membership Honorary Membership conferred by the American Library Association is the Association's highest award. "Honorary membership may be conferred on a living citizen of any country whose contribution to librarianship or a closely related field is so outs ...

. In 1999, Wheeler was named as one of 100 American

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

s who had a lasting effect on library service and the nation. Wheeler's son was physicist

John Archibald Wheeler John Archibald Wheeler (July 9, 1911April 13, 2008) was an American theoretical physicist. He was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr to e ...

. He was married to Mabel Wheeler, with whom he had three other children: Joseph, Robert, and Mary.

Publications

* ''"The Mount Independence - Hubbardton 1776 Military Road"'' (self-published from three articles in consecutive 1959 editions of the

Vermont Historical Society The Vermont Historical Society (VHS) was founded in 1838 to preserve and record the cultural history of the US state of Vermont. Headquartered in the old Spaulding School Building in Barre, the Vermont History Center is home to the Vermont H ...

scholarly periodical publication: Vermont History, 1968) co-author Mabel A. Wheeler * ''"Practical Administration of Public Libraries"'' (Harper & Row, 1962) co-author with Herbert Goldhor * ''"The effective location of public library buildings"'' (University of Illinois Library School, 1958) * '
Progress of Problems in Education for Librarianship
'' (1946) * ''"The American public library building: its planning and design with special reference to its administration and service"'' co-author with Alfred Morton Githens (C. Scribner's Sons, 1941) * ''"The library and the community; increased book service through library publicity based on community studies"'' (American Library Association, 1924) * '
Your job back home; a book for men leaving the service
'' (American Library Association, 1919)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Joseph L. 1884 births 1970 deaths American librarians