Library Influence on Museum Information Work

LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 62, No. 3, 2014 (“Essays in Honor of W. Boyd Rayward: Part 2,” edited by Alistair Black and Charles van den Heuvel), pp. 596–612. © 2014 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois Abstract Contemporary literature on the divergence of libraries, archives, and museums over the course of the twentieth century credits the rise of distinct professional practices required to handle different physical forms. This paper explores the extent that librarianship influenced museum information practices in a predigital era. Instead of divergence, I find examples where museums adapted library methods to fit their needs instead of developing their own set of professional practices. Because museum professionalization placed an emphasis on discipline-based university training, information work in museums has been incorporated into nonuniversity technical education and on-the-job training programs. That this divergence of information work from academic preparation has fallen along gender lines requires additional attention.