Robert H. Blackburn

Robert Harold Blackburn (3 February 1919 – 18 September 2019) was a Canadian academic librarian.[1] He is best known for serving as the Chief Librarian at the University of Toronto from 1954 to 1981.[2][3]

Robert Harold Blackburn
Born(1919-02-03)3 February 1919
Vegreville, Alberta
Died18 September 2019(2019-09-18) (aged 100)
Streetsville, Ontario
EducationUniversity of Alberta (B.A., 1940, M.A., 1941)

University of Toronto (B.L.S., 1942)

Columbia University (M.L.S., 1948)
OccupationLibrarian
Spouse
Frances Patricia Gibson
​
​
(m. 1942; died 1989)​
Military career
Allegiance Canada
Service/branch Royal Canadian Air Force
Years of service1942-1945
RankFlight Lieutenant
Battles/warsWorld War II

Early life and education

Blackburn was born in Vegreville, Alberta. He attended the University of Alberta, graduating in 1941 with an M.A. He earned a Bachelor of Library Science degree in 1942 from the University of Toronto.

Career

Blackburn served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, then worked at the Calgary Public Library before being hired as an associate librarian at the University of Toronto in 1947. Continuing his education, he earned a M.S. degree from Columbia University in 1948.

Blackburn was promoted to chief librarian for the University of Toronto, succeeding Dr. Wallace, in 1954.[4] At the time, the library had a budget of $170,000.[2]

Blackburn served as the first president of CACUL, the former Canadian Association of College & University Libraries, in 1963 and 1964.[5][6] The Robert H. Blackburn Distinguished Paper Award, presented annually by the Canadian Library Association, was named in his honour.[7] Blackburn's papers are preserved in the University of Toronto Archives.[8]

Blackburn also served for a number of years as the Chair of the Streetsville Library Board.[9]

Between 1963 and 1967, Blackburn administered the Ontario New Libraries Project under the Ontario Ministry of Education, creating the initial 35,000 book collections for each of three new Ontario universities (Trent, Brock and Guelph) and for Scarborough and Erindale colleges.[10]

Blackburn served as a consulting editor on Canadian topics for Collier's Encyclopedia, published in 1967,[11][12] and contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica's 1961 Canadian Supplement.[13] In 1949, when Newfoundland became a province of Canada, he edited the Newfoundland supplement to The Encyclopedia of Canada.[14]

Blackburn's 1968 study of the future financial needs of libraries for the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada was used to plan the development of academic libraries throughout Canada.[15]

Blackburn worked on the international advisory board of the Journal of Library History.[11] He was a contributing writer in The Canadian Historical Review.[16]

Blackburn retired from his job as chief librarian in 1981. By that time he was overseeing a budget of about $15 million.[2]

Publications

Blackburn published several books, including:

  • Faculty at Work: Motivation, Expectation, Satisfaction, with Janet H. Lawrence., published in 1995 by Johns Hopkins University Press.[17]
  • Evolution of the Heart: A History of the University of Toronto Library up to 1981. Toronto, University of Toronto Libraries, 1989. In Library Quarterly 60 (April 1990): 164-165.[18][19][20][21]
  • From barley field to Academe, University of Toronto Library, [2014][22][23]
  • Robert H. Blackburn (1969). Financial Implications of the Downs Report on Canadian Academic and Research Libraries. Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.[15]

Other publications include:

  • "Interlibrary Cooperation", Research Librarianship: Essays in Honor of Robert B. Downs in 1971[24][25]
  • Various Biographical articles in The Canadian Encyclopedia[26][27]
  • "The Ancient Alexandrian Library: Part of It May Survive!" Library History Vol. 19 No. 1 (March 2003) pp 23–34.[28]
  • "Libraries in Canada Today", in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Journal, Vol 36 No. 4, April 1959.[29]

References
  1. Muller, R. H. "Master Planning For University Libraries - Ideals"
  2. David H. Stam (January 2001). International Dictionary of Library Histories. Taylor & Francis. pp. 906–. ISBN 978-1-57958-244-9.
  3. When lady librarians always wore skirts and you didn't dare make noise - The Globe and Mail
  4. Jack Belzer; Albert G. Holzman; Allen Kent (1 January 1979). Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology: Volume 11 - Minicomputers to PASCAL. CRC Press. pp. 7–. ISBN 978-0-8247-2261-6.
  5. "Librarian receives prestigious award" Archived 31 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine University of Regina.
  6. "University libraries form association". Winnipeg Free Press 1 July 1963 (subscription required)
  7. "Robert H. Blackburn Distinguished Paper Award" Archived 9 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Canadian Library Association
  8. "Robert Harold Blackburn" Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine | papers held at the University of Toronto Archives UTARMS
  9. Tom Urbaniak (2009). Her Worship: Hazel McCallion and the Development of Mississauga. University of Toronto Press. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-0-8020-9902-0.
  10. Allen Kent; Harold Lancour; Jay E. Daily (1 February 1977). Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science: Volume 20 - Nigeria: Libraries in to Oregon State University Library. CRC Press. pp. 409–. ISBN 978-0-8247-2020-9.
  11. Library of Congress. Copyright Office (1970). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1967: January-June. Copyright Office, Library of Congress. pp. 216–.
  12. "Crises" in Scholarly Communications: Insights from Forty Years of the "Journal of Library History", 1966--2005. 2008. pp. 69–. ISBN 978-0-549-77851-6.
  13. "On the History and Histriology of a Professional Organization". Greg Linnell.
  14. "Brief reviews of books about Newfoundland". RedIslandNF, 2010. Brian Hennessy.
  15. "Biographical Bottleneck". Scientific and Technical Information in Canada, section III, page 15. National Research Council of Canada.
  16. Historicist: "Fighting with a feather pillow" Torontoist, December 2009.
  17. Sonnert, Gerhard. "Book reviews: Faculty at Work: Motivation, Expectation, Satisfaction. by Robert H. Blackburn and Janet H. Lawrence". The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 67, No. 6 (Nov. - Dec., 1996), pp. 716-718.
  18. Orvin Lee Shiflett :: Publications :: Book Reviews. University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  19. Peter F. McNally. "Book Reviews: Evolution of the Heart: A History of the University of Toronto Library up to 1981 by Robert H. Blackburn". Libraries & Culture, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Winter, 1992), pp. 90-92
  20. Kaufman, Amy. "A Different Question of Open Access: Is There a Public Access Right to Academic Libraries in the United States and Canada?"
  21. Johnston, C. M."The Chiefs, Warriors and Cadets of Academe". Acadiensis, 1992
  22. "New To Your Library: From barley field to academe" - Vegreville Centennial Library (text has been removed from the website)
  23. "From barley field to academe" at WorldCat.
  24. "Book Reviews". College and Research Libraries, May 1972. page s238-239.
  25. G. E. Gorman; Ruth H. Miller (1 January 1997). Collection Management for the 21st Century: A Handbook for Librarians. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 261–. ISBN 978-0-313-29953-7.
  26. "Hugh Hornby Langton" - The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  27. "William Stewart Wallace" The Canadian Encyclopedia
  28. Links and Bibliography for History of Libraries in the Western World -syllabus - Kent State University Taught by Miriam Kahn - MBK Consulting
  29. Loren R. Lerner; Mary F. Williamson (1 January 1991). Art and Architecture in Canada: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature. University of Toronto Press. pp. 938–. ISBN 978-0-8020-5856-0.
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