College and Research Libraries


Charles Harvey Bro-wn: The Man 
. ' 

I N AN ARTICLE in the March 1945 issue of College and Research Libraries_, 
Charles Harvey Brown referred to the li-
brary as "a house by the side of the road, 
in which students and faculty congregate 
to prepare for their life wo~k and ~o serve 
the ever-increasing demands of scholarship." 
The present special issue of College and 
Research Libraries is a tribute to a librarian 
who w~s able to put into practice this 
ideal that "the library is a service institu-
tion" and "is not an ivory tower." 
Whetlier Charles Harvey Brown, or 
Charlie Brown as he is known to his col-
leagu~s in libraries and on faculties, was 
concerned with the immediate administra-
tive problems of the Iowa State College 
Library or with the question of the reor-
ganization of the A.L.A., German periodi-
cals, ·the education of librarians fo; scien-
tific institutions and the problems of science 
libraries generally, the building up of re-
sources of libraries, problems of Chinese 
libraries, or other major facets of American 
and international librarianship, there was a 
conclusion that could generally be drawn: 
he would get the job done. 

The papers assembled for this issue are 
a testimony to the energy and productive-
ness of one. of America's outstanding librar-
ians. In her comments at the Buffalo meet-
ing, Blanche Prichard McCrum referred 
to Dr. Brown as "senior statesman of the 
A.L.A." She further recalled that he was 
also one of the founding fathers of A.C.R.L. 

His bibliography reveals his versatility and 
the wide contribution that he has made to 
American librarianship. There is one side 
of Charles Harvey Brown, however, which 
has not been emphasized in the various ar-
ticles which are included in this issue. This 
is his concern for the development of young 
librarians who could "carry the ball" after 
a period of guided training. For, in addi-
tion to his many other contributions, Charles 
Brown has been genuinely interested in ele-
vating librarianship to the point where 
there could be no question about its claim 
to the status of a "profession." No librar-
ian of an institution is able to perform on 
a high level of efficiency without the support 
and confidence of his staff. Dr. Brown, 
through his in-service program at Iowa 
State, has been influential in encouraging 
many young men· and women to grow _in 
their careers as librarians. Straightfo~ard, 
able, honest, and unpretending, Dr. B.rown 
has "enjoyed the respect and admiration of 
many friends and colleagues, even when 
they disagreed with him, as well as the 
gratitude of countless students and faculty 
members who have benefited by his dogged 
determination to provide library service on 
the highest level. 

It is pleasant to know that Dr. Brown 
is not ·giving up active librarianship at the 
moment. He intends to keep busy at Iowa 
State College Library, and, as we may all 
be sure, will retain interest in other prob-
lems of librarianship.-M. F. T. 

293