Library Philosophy social epistemology

1. Jesse Hauk
Shera
By Gerald Louw

2. Objectives
Who was Jesse Hauk Shera?
What was his career path?
 Publications
What was his philosophy?
What is social epistemology?
 His contribution to library philosophy.
 Is his philosophy still valid?

3. Who was Jesse Hauk Shera?
 Born 8 December 1903 in Oxford
 Married to Helen Bickham 1928
 Education:
 Honors degree in English
 Masters degree in English Literature
 Doctoral degree in Library Science
 Died 8 March 1982, age 78

4. What was his career path?
 Assistant cataloguer
 Bibliographer
 Chief of the library census project
 Chief of preparation
 Assistant Director, University of Chicago
Library
 Assistant professor, associate professor,
dean
 Editor

5. Publications
 11 books (wrote, edited or assisted editing)
 45 book chapters
 10 reports
 108 periodicals
 74 columns in Wilson Library Bulletin
 29 editorials in American Documentation
 104 book reviews
 45 publications in Library Literature

6. What was his philosophy?
 Theoretical framework for librarianship
 Professional philosophy for librarians
 Main project social epistemology
 Margaret Egan assist
 Social epistemology

7. What is social epistemology?
 Study of knowledge in society (Shera
1970:107)
 Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
 - study of social dimensions of knowledge
or information

8. His contribution to library
philosophy
 Not a thing but a concept
 Mediators between users and graphic
records
 Knowledge must be brought
 Broad scope and field of librarianship
 Culture and knowledge cannot be
separated

9. Is his philosophy still valid?
 Influence society has on libraries and
knowledge creation
 meet intellectual needs of
users(Ranganathan)
 Knowledge has been augmented( Shera)
 Augment existing knowledge(Ntshuntshe-
Matshaye)
 R.David Lankes, 2011. mission of librarians

10. Conclusion
 Social and knowledge aspect
 Libraries become flexible
 Social hubs

11. References
 Grossman.Hal.B.2010.’Without
Reserve’:Jesse Shera in Wilson Library
Bulletin and Elsewhere,1961-1970. Library &
Information History.26(2):pp.152-169
 Shera,J.H.1970.Sociological Foundation of
Librianship. New York: Asia
 Zandonade,Tarcisio.2004.Social
Epistemology from Jesse Shera to Steve
Fuller. Library Trends.52(4):pp.810-832

12. Thank You