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Hugh Craig Atkinson (November 27, 1933 - October 24, 1986) was an American librarian known for his innovations in library automation and cooperation. He served as director of libraries at Ohio State University from 1971 to 1976 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1976 to 1986. In 1999, ''American Libraries'' named him one of the 20th century’s 100 most important leaders in librarianship.〔100 of the most important leaders we had in the 20th century (1999). ''American Libraries, 30''(11), 39.〕 ==Biography== Hugh Atkinson was born in Chicago. He worked from 1951-56 as a junior accountant for Lawrence Scudder and Co. while studying accounting at St. Benedict's College. Upon receiving his accounting degree, Atkinson studied English at the University of Chicago, and then received his Masters in Library Science from the university's Graduate Library School while working in the University Library as a rare books assistant.〔Remembering Hugh C. Atkinson (1934-1986) (1997). ''College & Research Libraries News, 58''(1), 38.〕 Atkinson’s professional library career began at Pennsylvania Military College, where he worked from 1958-61 as a reader services librarian. From 1961-67 he held several positions at the State University of New York at Buffalo library, as head of reference, assistant director for technical services, and as acting assistant director of the Health Sciences Libraries. Here, he oversaw the huge growth of the university library as the State University of New York system rapidly expanded.〔Alley, B. (1985). A conversation with Hugh Atkinson. ''Technicalities, 5'' (April 1985), 3.〕 In 1967, Atkinson moved to Ohio State University where he served as head of public services (1967–71), and then as director of libraries (1971–76). Here he played a seminal role in the creation of one of the first online library circulation systems, the Library Circulation System. The system was later known as the Library Computer System,〔Bregman, A., & Burger, R. H. (2002). Library automation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1965-2000. ''Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE, 24''(2), 71-85.〕 but is most commonly referred to by the acronym LCS. The system was notable for its decentralized organization, allowing library users in any given branch of the library to view what was available in any other branch. In an interview with ''Technicalities'' in 1985, Atkinson stated, “The only way I can see in a decentralized world to maximize library use is to provide, at the varying sites, the ability to borrow freely throughout the campus.”〔Alley, B. (1985). A conversation with Hugh Atkinson. ''Technicalities, 5'' (April 1985), 4.〕 This vision of automated cooperation between decentralized libraries was a key manifestation of Atkinson’s overall approach to librarianship, which he termed holistic librarianship. At the heart of this approach was a strong belief in “the ideal of cooperation.”〔Gorman, M. (1987). A librarian's librarian: Hugh Craig Atkinson, 1933-1986. ''Technical Services Quarterly, 4'', 2.〕 Having successfully implemented LCS at Ohio State University, Atkinson spent the last 10 years of his life as university librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Here he envisioned and oversaw the creation of the Illinois LCS network, a multi-type library network which connected the circulation information not only of the University of Illinois libraries, but also included many state library systems as well. At the time of his death it was the most developed statewide library system in existence.〔Gorman, M. (1986). Hugh Craig Atkinson, 1933-1986; "He has out-soared the shadow of our night," (obituary). ''American Libraries, 17'', 816.〕 This multi-type library network was founded on Atkinson’s realization that larger libraries do not simply own all the books smaller libraries have and more, but that smaller libraries often have their own unique collections that larger libraries would also benefit from having access to. His goal was to have the diverse composition of the network supplement each library in ways that were beneficial to its own users’ needs.〔Atkinson, H. (1987). Atkinson on networks. ''American Libraries, 18'', 434.〕 He wrote, “My point is that one should not try to reach some kind of theoretical balance or fairness, but to build a network that will provide, by its services and arrangement, the library activities that will satisfy each of the participants, although not necessarily in the same way.”〔Atkinson, H. (1987). Atkinson on networks. ''American Libraries, 18'', 433.〕 The development of this multi-type, online library network was one of Atkinson’s crowning achievements as a librarian. In 1981, he told ''American Libraries'' that his most important accomplishment was the “clarification in my own mind that the future of the library is in decentralized, electronic access.”〔Brandehoff, S. E. (1981). Hugh C. Atkinson: in pursuit of bibliographical happiness for all. ''American Libraries, 12'', 246.〕 In addition to the creation of the Illinois LCS network, Atkinson contributed to the advancement of modern librarianship in a number of other ways during his years as university librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He oversaw the reorganization of the library’s administrative structure “in accordance with his ideas on professionalism and public service”,〔Gorman, M. (1987). A librarian's librarian: Hugh Craig Atkinson, 1933-1986. ''Technical Services Quarterly, 4'', 4.〕 which has since become the standard for major academic libraries.〔 Another of his advancements during this time was the creation and implementation of one of the first large-scale searchable online catalogs composed of full bibliographic records in which other libraries in the network were able to synch their short-record catalogs to. This catalog was a major innovation not only in its ability to allow users to see more details about a particular book and whether or not it was available in any of the hundreds of interconnected libraries, but to search the records by keyword in a variety of fields including title and subject headings at the same time, which greatly enhanced the usefulness of subject headings.〔Alley, B. (1985). A conversation with Hugh Atkinson. ''Technicalities, 5'' (April 1985), 4-5.〕 Hugh Atkinson died on October 24, 1986, aged 52. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hugh Atkinson (librarian)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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