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Gabriel Naude publishes "Advice on Establishing a Library"
A 15th century French librarian, Gabriel Naude, publishes "Advis pour dresser une bibliothèque", one of the "first first modern treatise on library management" which created the modern rules and guidelines for the profession (Hjørland, 2018, p. 234). -
The First Public Library of the United States
In 1790, Benjamin Franklin donated a large collection of books to a town named after himself and declared the collection free for public use, creating the nation's first public library in Franklin, MA (Brady). -
ALA formed
In 1876, the American Library Association was formed in order "to enable librarians to do their present work more easily and at less expense", later becoming one of the largest library organizations in the United States (Brady). -
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Carnegie funds the creation of 2,509 libraries across the world
Between the years 1883 and 1929, Andrew Carnegie, a steel magnate, uses his personal wealth to fund the creation of 2,509 libraries across the globe, including 1,795 in the United States. Due to growing up in poverty, Carnegie decided to use his accumulated wealth to create libraries as he spent his formative years granted access to a private library. This led to a massive increase of libraries, especially within the United States (Brady). -
First US Library School founded
In 1887, Melvil Dewey, the created of the Dewey Decimal System, founded the first School of Library at Columbia University. It would later transfer in 1889 to the New York State Library in Albany (Hjørland, 2018, p. 234). The founding of this school would lead to the creation of hundreds more library schools in the United States. -
Adelaide Hasse creates the system for classifying government documents
In 1891, Adelaide Hasse (1868-1935), started creating the system for classifying government documents. She is also known for her work in women's suffrage, where her fight for equality in employment would lead to her termination as a librarian at the New York Public Library (Brady). Her work created a classification system different from the Dewey Decimal System that is still used today. -
Williams becomes the first professionally-trained black librarian
In 1899, Edward Christopher Williams (1871-1929) completed his master's degree in library science from the New York State Library School, becoming the first professionally-trained African American librarian. Previously, he worked as a librarian at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. This marks a milestone for equality in Library Science. (Fordham Library, 2021). -
First African American library in the United States is founded
In 1905, the first free public library for African Americans (also run by African Americans) was founded in Louisville, Kentucky. During the Jim Crow era, lawful segregation of public spaces included libraries, which created an outcry for black libraries and education by civil rights leader and sociologist, W. E. B. DuBois. This gives access of information that was previously withheld from a marginalized community through library science (Brady). -
The Library Quarterly is first published
In 1931, the first publication of the journal, The Library Quarterly, is released by the Graduate Library School faculty in Chicago. This publication would "strengthen the scientific underpinnings
of the profession by stressing the social significance of the
library rather than its internal operations" and would become preeminent in the field. While its prominence is not the same as its first publication, this publication published impactful works in the field (Richardson, 2010, p. 2). -
Eliza Atkins Gleason becomes the first African American with a PhD in Library Science
In 1940, Eliza Atkins Gleason became the first African American to obtain a PhD in Library Science at the University of Chicago (Bainbridge, 2019). She would later go on to become the Dean of the School of Library Science at Atlanta University and serve on the boards of the ALA and Chicago Public Library. Gleason became an influential figure in Library Science and promoted diversity within her lifelong work (Eliza Atkins Gleason).