Helen E. Haines

Helen E. Haines
Born 1872
Died 1961
Nationality Canadian

Helen Elizabeth Haines (1872–1961) was instrumental in the development of the library science profession, though she herself never worked as a librarian or earned a professional degree. Born in the late Victorian period as the eldest of five girls and educated privately, she worked in publishing after being turned down for a library job.[1] As a protégée of Charles Cutter, she became the managing editor of Library Journal in 1896. She also served as an officer of the American Library Association.[1] In 1906, however, her health broke down, and she eventually had to leave both positions and relocate to southern California.[1] For her service to librarianship, Andrew Carnegie awarded her an annual pension.[1]

Career

Haines published her first work at 19, a history of New Mexico. At 21, she worked as an editorial assistant for R.R. Bowker, who published Library Jounral and Publishers' Weekly. In 1907, when she was 35 years old, she contracted tuberculosis. She then took a 6 year break from all work except reading. [2]

Haines recovered her health and established herself as a library educator, writer, and activist in two key areas: support for popular fiction and for intellectual freedom. In 1935, she published Living with Books: The Art of Book Selection, which became a definitive library school text.[1] One contemporary review, while praising Haines' "shrewd and discriminating observation, … acute and illuminating criticism," nevertheless complained that "there is a fearful lot of junk in some of her suggested lists of books".[3] Perhaps the review was objecting to Haines' eclectic tastes; in a 1924 article, for instance, she advocated for "a rounded and representative collection, for readers of varied tastes, sophisticated as well as simple".[3] In her annotated bibliography of Haines' work, Mary Robinson Sive notes that likewise, Haines' 1942 work What's in a Novel "did not receive unqualified critical acclaim because of its disregard of purely literary criteria".[4]

She had a larger agenda that included everyone, even Black Americans, an idea that was controversial at the time of her writing. Haines’ “ideas about race relations and sex education were decades ahead of their time.” She believed a public library should indeed be public, and that they should promote education through reading. Haines was a strong believer and advocate for intellectual freedom, and “as a believer in the free exchange of ideas, she wore a bull's-eye on her back." [2]

Haines continued to write widely and to advocate for libraries to feature modern fiction and a broad collection. Her career, however, became mired in controversy when she published a second edition of Living with Books in 1950. Initial reviewers were positive about this edition, which was explicit in its opposition to censorship.[5][6] In the popular press, however, Haines was denounced as pro-Soviet; largely undefended by others in the profession, she withdrew into retirement.[1] She received the Joseph W. Lippincott Award in 1951, but ceased publishing. She died in 1961.[1]

Selected Writings

Books

Journal Articles

Quotes

"From every book invisible threads reach out to other books, and as the mind comes to use and control those threads the whole panorama of the world's life, past and present, becomes constantly more varied and interesting." -Living With Books: the art of book selection (1935, Columbia University Press)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 http://find.galegroup.com.libdata.lib.ua.edu/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=EAIM&docId=A238423518&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=tusc49521&version=1.0
  2. 1 2 "Floridian: Queen of bookworms". www.sptimes.com. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  3. 1 2 http://web.ebscohost.com.libdata.lib.ua.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=11&sid=57d5f292-1cc4-4d9b-ac73-826d06e61ed4%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=13528140
  4. ↑ Robinson Sive, Mary. "Helen E. Haines, 1872-1961: An Annotated Bibliography". The Journal of Library History 5: 146–164. JSTOR 25540227.
  5. ↑ Crawford, Holly. Freedom Through Books: Helen Haines and Her Role in the Library Press, Library Education, and the Intellectual Freedom Movement. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997.
  6. ↑ "Floridian: Queen of bookworms". www.sptimes.com. Retrieved 2016-04-22.

External links

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