The influence of F. W. Lancaster on information science and on libraries: notes on the scope of this Festschrift.(Essay)

ABSTRACT

Over a period of four decades F. W. Lancaster has continuously emerged as a visionary leader in the field of library and information science. His research, writings, and teachings have earned him the highest honors in the profession. Lancaster excelled at many fronts: as scholar, educator, mentor, and writer. This essay summarizes the personalized contributions of Lancaster's friends, family, students, colleagues, and scholars in the field to celebrate and pay homage to him for his life's work.

INTRODUCTION

F. W. Lancaster's accomplishments span four decades and they are numerous. Long after Lancaster's active career and formal retirement in 1992, his work and his writings remain foundations in the field of library and information science in the United States and around the world. The idea of a personalized Festschrift to honor Lancaster's work and his impact was widely embraced by many in the profession. It was quickly followed by commitments from authors and contributors to participate in this project that we fondly labeled as a "labor of love." The contributors we selected for this work include Lancaster's friends, students, colleagues, and other specialists who are known for their expertise and their own contributions to the professional literature. While all authors had some flexibility to develop their own approach for their particular topic, we encouraged them to make this a personal Festschrift, connecting each article to Lancaster in some way.

Unlike most Festschrifts, this, the second Festschrift to honor Lancaster, is a personalized tribute to his magnificence and his contributions in a number of areas that advanced the field of information science. (1) The idea to publish this Festschrift as a special issue of Library Trends seems most apt to honor one who has served as its editor for more than two decades.

We are former students of Lancaster's and felt deeply honored when we were approached to serve as guest editors for the Festschrift. Keith Russell was a master's student in the early 1970s at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), and had two classes with Lancaster--information retrieval and vocabulary control. Lorraine Haricombe completed her MLIS ('88) and PhD ('92) at GSLIS, where she took several of Lancaster's classes including one of the four (then) required doctoral seminars. Lancaster also served as her dissertation advisor. Like so many of Lancaster's students, we credit him with having significant impact on our lives at the personal level and at the professional level.

Neither one of us has ever edited a Festschrift. In fact, Keith had never heard of a Festschrift until he took Kathyrn Luther Henderson's cataloging course at GSLIS, and in one class assignment had to create a 3x5 catalog card entry for a Festschrift. Consequently, as we …