(A multivolume survey of public libraries in Illinois, exc...)
A multivolume survey of public libraries in Illinois, excluding Chicago, documenting their history, organization, facilities, and services. The series was issued by the University of Illinois from 1906 to 1908.
Katharine Lucinda Sharp was an American librarian, library educator, and administrator who founded and directed the University of Illinois Library School from 1897 to 1907. She helped professionalize library education in the United States, led major library associations, and authored the multivolume survey Illinois Libraries.
Background
Katharine Lucinda Sharp was born in May 1865 in Elgin, Illinois, to John William Sharp, a salesman and commission merchant, and Phebe Thompson Sharp. Her mother died when Katharine was seven, after which she was raised by maternal relatives in Elgin and nearby Dundee. She attended Elgin Academy and completed part of her secondary education at the Oakland High School in California.
Sharp grew up during a period when public libraries and professional library training were expanding in the United States. Her early work as a teacher and later as an assistant librarian connected her with the developing movement to organize libraries according to systematic principles and to extend their educational services.
Education
Sharp prepared for college at Elgin Academy and Oakland High School. Elgin Academy was a long-established preparatory school in her hometown, while Oakland High School provided the later secondary education she recorded in Northwestern alumni materials.
She entered Northwestern University in Evanston in 1881 and received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1885 and a Master of Philosophy degree in 1889. Northwestern, founded in 1851, was among the major American universities serving the expanding professional and educational aspirations of the late nineteenth century. Sharp then attended the New York State Library School in Albany from 1890 to 1892, earning the Bachelor of Library Science; the school, directed by Melvil Dewey, was one of the earliest institutions devoted specifically to professional library training. She later received a Master of Library Science from the school in 1907.
Sharp began her career as an instructor in Latin, French, and German at Elgin Academy from 1886 to 1888. In 1888 she became assistant librarian at the Scoville Institute in Oak Park, Illinois, an institution that later developed into the Oak Park Public Library. She also helped organize public-library work in Wheaton, Illinois, and Xenia, Ohio, during the early 1890s.
After completing her library training in Albany, Sharp organized the comparative library exhibit prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1892 and 1893. In 1893 she became director of the Department of Library Science at Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago. Armour Institute, founded to provide practical technical education, hosted one of the earliest library-school programs in the Midwest. Sharp directed the program until 1897 and also served as university librarian.
In 1897 the library school moved from Armour Institute to the University of Illinois in Urbana, where Sharp became head librarian, professor of library economy, and director of the Illinois State Library School. The University of Illinois was expanding its professional and scientific programs during this period, and its library school became an important center for formal preparation of librarians. Sharp developed the school's curriculum, strengthened its instructional standards, and modernized the university library's reference and cataloging services.
Sharp directed the University of Wisconsin summer school of library science in 1895 and 1896 and lectured on library economy at the University of Chicago in 1896. She left the University of Illinois and professional librarianship in 1907 because of impaired health. She then became second vice-president and an executive of the Lake Placid Club in the Adirondacks, a resort and educational institution associated with Melvil Dewey's program of organized recreation and intellectual activity. She remained active there until her death in Saranac Lake, New York, following an automobile accident in 1914.
Sharp founded and directed the Illinois State Library School after its transfer from Armour Institute to the University of Illinois in 1897. Her administration established the curriculum, library-school organization, and professional standards that shaped the institution during its first decade.
Sharp authored Illinois Libraries, a multivolume survey of public libraries in Illinois published by the University of Illinois from 1906 to 1908. The work documented the state's library institutions, facilities, administration, and development during an important period of public-library expansion.
(A multivolume survey of public libraries in Illinois, exc...)
1906
Views
Sharp's professional writings and teaching emphasized the public library as an educational institution and librarianship as a disciplined form of public service. Her work connected systematic organization, trained professional judgment, access to information, and the extension of library resources beyond the central library building.
Membership
Sharp belonged to the principal professional and learned organizations associated with American librarianship during her career. Her memberships included the American Library Association, the Illinois Library Association, the Chicago Library Club, the New York State Library School Association, the Bibliographical Society of Chicago, and the American Library Institute.
She also belonged to Kappa Kappa Gamma, served as its grand president from 1894 to 1896, and maintained a long association with the Lake Placid Club after leaving the University of Illinois. Through these organizations she participated in the development of library education, professional standards, public-library extension, and the social networks of women entering the professions.
Grand president from 1894 to 1896.
Kappa Kappa Gamma
,
United States
1882
Served on the council from 1895 to 1905, as secretary of the council from 1899 to 1900, and as vice-president in 1897–1898 and 1907.
American Library Association
,
United States
1893 - 1907
Directed the association's Bureau of Information and served as president from 1903 to 1904.
Illinois Library Association
,
United States
1896 - 1904
Chicago Library Club
,
United States
1893
President from 1894 to 1895.
New York State Library School Association
,
United States
1894
Bibliographical Society of Chicago
,
United States
1899
Elected a fellow in 1906.
American Library Institute
,
United States
1906
Lake Placid Club
,
United States
1907 - 1914
Personality
Contemporary descriptions characterized Sharp as a natural leader with an animated personality, strong administrative ability, tact, decisiveness, and forcefulness. Accounts of her college years described her as intellectually influential, companionable, and generous, while professional biographical assessments emphasized her capacity for organization and practical judgment.
Quotes from others about the person
A memorial tablet presented to the University of Illinois in 1922 described Sharp as combining intellectual vigor and scholarly attainments with nobility of character and grace of person, and stated that she inspired students and associates with high standards of librarianship and ideals of service.
Connections
Sharp was the daughter of John William Sharp and Phebe Thompson Sharp. Her mother died during Sharp's childhood, and maternal relatives helped raise her. Melvil Dewey was her teacher at the New York State Library School and later recommended her for leadership of the Armour Institute library program; their professional association continued through her work at the Lake Placid Club.
Father:
John William Sharp
A salesman and commission merchant.
Mother:
Phebe Thompson Sharp
mentor:
Melvil Dewey
Taught Sharp at the New York State Library School, recommended her for the Armour Institute library-school directorship, and later worked with her at the Lake Placid Club.
Katharine L. Sharp Papers, 1881–1919, 1962–1963
University of Illinois archival collection describing Sharp's correspondence, library-school materials, professional papers, diplomas, manuscripts, and photographs.
Library History | University Library, University of Illinois
Institutional history identifying Sharp as librarian and director of the University of Illinois Library School from 1897 to 1907 and describing her modernization of library services and cataloging practice.
Katharine L. Sharp – 150 for 150
University of Illinois historical profile describing Sharp's library-science training, founding directorship at Armour Institute, and role in establishing the Illinois library-school tradition.
Katharine Lucinda Sharp
University of Illinois Distributed Museum profile documenting Sharp's early life, education, positions at Armour Institute and the University of Illinois, and continuing institutional legacy.
