Mary Niles Maack (December 1945 – January 23, 2023) was an 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 ...

and scholar known for her work on comparative librarianship and the

history of the book The history of books begins with the History of writing, invention of writing, as well as other inventions such as paper and printing; this history continues all the way to the modern-day business of book printing. The earliest knowledge society h ...

Early life and education

Maack was born in

Paris, Illinois Paris is a city in Edgar County, Illinois, south of Chicago and west of Indianapolis. The population was 8,291 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat and largest city in Edgar County, Illinois, Edgar County. History Paris was established i ...

in 1945 to Augustus and Lillie Niles. She graduated with a degree in history from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

and earned her master's degree and Doctorate of Library Science from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Career

Maack did her doctoral research in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

which resulted in her first book, ''Libraries in Senegal''. She worked at

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

. She was a tenured professor at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

for ten years and later at UCLA in the Department of Information Studies beginning in 1986. She served as a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Professor at the French National Library School (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Bibliothèques) in

Villeurbanne Villeurbanne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France ...

from 1982 to 1983 and received grants to do research at the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

. She lectured and consulted internationally in North America, Europe, and Africa. She was the head of the head of the California Center for the Book and the author of a collection of essays about

John Y. Cole John Y. Cole (born July 30, 1940) is an American librarian, historian, and author. He was the founding director of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress and in 2016 became the first official historian of the Library of Congress. Edu ...

, the founding director of the Center for the Book at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. Maack's work often focused on gender issues.Cloonan, Michèle V. “Researching the Personal Life: Mary Niles Maack’s Early Writing on Feminist Biography.” ''Library Trends''. 72, no. 3 (2024): 415–25 Her research on the decrease of women faculty in LIS programs in the United States raised awareness of the tension between technological change and the historical role of women in librarianship. She wrote in 2002 that she felt that "library feminism is alive and... feminist librarians are still engaged in the struggle for equalization in one profession." Her published papers, ''Women in Library Education: Down the Up Staircase'' and ''Toward a History of Women in Librarianship: A Critical Analysis with Suggestions for Further Research'' examined the relationship between feminization and professionalism within librarianship.

Honors and awards

* Justin Winsor Prize of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

Library History Round Table in 1981 * Jesse Shera Award from the American Library Association Library Research Round Table in 1992. *The UCLA Department of Information Studies Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005. *''Feminist and Global Perspectives on an Evolving Profession: Papers Honoring Mary Niles Maack'', edited by Michèle Cloonan and Suzanne M. Stauffer. ''Library Trends'' 72 (February, 2024).

Publications

* ''Libraries in Senegal: continuity and change in an emerging nation'' (1981) * ''Feminization Of Librarianship In France: A Silent Revolution'' (1987) * Maack, Mary Niles and Joanne Ellen Passet. (1994). ''Aspirations and Mentoring in an Academic Environment : Women Faculty in Library and Information Science.'' Westport Conn: Greenwood Press. *Maack, Mary Niles. 1994. “The Public Library Inquiry: Reminiscences, Reflections, and Research.” ''Libraries & Culture'' 29: 1–132. *Maack, M. N. (2000). International dimensions of library history: Leadership and scholarship, 1978-1998. ''Libraries & Culture'', 35(1), * “The Lady and the Antelope:

Suzanne Briet Renée-Marie-Hélène-Suzanne Briet (; ; 1 February 1894 - 1989), known as "Madame Documentation," was a librarian, author, historian, poet, and visionary best known for her treatise ''Qu'est-ce que la documentation?'' (English translation: '' ...

’s Contribution to the French Documentation Movement.” ''Library Trends'' 52, no. 4 (2004): 719–47. *“American Bookwomen in Paris during the 1920s.” (2005) ''Libraries & Culture'' 40 (3): 399–415. *“‘I Cannot Get Along Without the Books I Find Here’: The American Library in Paris During the War, Occupation, and Liberation, 1939-1945.” ''Library Trends'' 55, no. 3 (2007): 490–512. https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2007.0013. * ''Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences'' (ed. 2009) * ''The Library of Congress and the Center for the Book: Historical Essays in Honor of John Y. Cole'' (ed. 2011) * ''Anne Morgan: Photography, Philanthropy and Advocacy'' (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maack, Mary Niles 1945 births 2023 deaths American librarians People from Paris, Illinois Historians of libraries Library science scholars Women scholars and academics