Edward Dudley (1919–2010) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

librarian who also lectured in librarianship and edited the professional journals ''New Library World'' and ''The Library Association Record''. Dudley was born in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

, London, the son of an

engine driver A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...

. He worked as a librarian at

Fulham Library Fulham Library is a Grade II listed building at 598 Fulham Road, Fulham, London. It was built in 1908, and the architect was Henry Hare. A library has existed on the site since at least 1894. Among the staff was Edward Dudley, winner of the C ...

from 1936 to 1939.

Army career

With the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he joined the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. Initially he was with the infantry, transferring to the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

in 1941. He returned to the Infantry in 1944, first the Devons and then as a seconded Platoon commander with the Queen's and served in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He was then appointed as a librarian while still in the Army, for which he received extra pay.

Librarianship scholar

After the war, Dudley started work at the Belsize Park Library in North London. He went on to become a lecturer at the

Polytechnic of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

. In 1983 he became editor of the ''New Library World'' and subsequently was involved in the founding of the ''Journal of Librarianship and Information Science''. In 2010 the

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the U ...

(CILIP) awarded him the first Cilip medal for his lifetime of professional achievement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudley, Edward 1919 births 2010 deaths English librarians People from Wandsworth British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Service Corps soldiers