Susan Grey Akers (April 3, 1889 – January 30, 1984) was an American librarian and the first woman to hold an academic deanship at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

Biography

Akers was born on April 3, 1889, in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, to Clara Elizabeth Harris and James Tazewell Akers, a language professor at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. She received a bachelor's degree with a major of

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and minor in

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from the University of Kentucky in 1909, following which she taught Latin one year in a high school in Kentucky and fifth and sixth grades one year in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1911, she began work at a public library in

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, going on to Library School at the

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in 1913, where she befriended director Mary Imogene Hazeltine. After earning her certificate she became the librarian and assistant curator at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

in the Department of Hygiene and Physical Education where she restructured and updated the collection and catalog system. In the summers, she worked at the New York Public Library cataloging the reference section. In 1927, she wrote ''Simple Library Cataloging'' which went through seven editions, with each edition reflecting updates in teaching methods, in her lifetime. She enrolled at the Graduate Library School at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1927 where she studied under Harriet E. Howe and

Douglas Waples Douglas Waples (March 3, 1893—April 25, 1978) was a pioneer of the University of Chicago Graduate Library School in the areas of print communication and reading behavior. Waples authored one of the first books on library research methodology, a ...

. Her dissertation reflected her interest in cataloging and her concern that many librarians thought it dull, becoming the first to advocate for unnecessary bibliographical detail, except where warranted. She graduated with her Ph.D in 1932. In 1931, Akers was hired by the

as an associate professor for the newly founded department of Library Science. As an associate professor, she secured $100,000 from the Carnegie Foundation in order to continue the program and a raise, becoming a full professor 1932. In 1941, she became dean and the first woman at the university to hold a dean position. At the same time, she founded and lead as dean a library program at

North Carolina College North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from ...

for African Americans in 1941. In 1950 and 1951, she was a library science consultant to the Department of the U.S. Army in

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where she helped worked to increase teacher training. She left UNC in 1954, becoming a guest lecturer at the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

. In 1956, the

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honored her with the

Margaret Mann Margaret Mann (4 April 1868, in Aberdeen, Scotland – 4 February 1941, in Los Angeles, California), was a Scottish-American actress. Biography Margaret Mann starred in a number of major silent films such as ''Black Beauty'' in 1921 and playe ...

Citation in Cataloging and Classification award. Akers died on January 30, 1984, in

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North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

Papers

The Susan Grey Akers Papers, 1899-1984, collection is housed in the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina. Its approximately 1,200 items are part of the Southern Historical Collection.

Publications

* ''Simple Library Cataloging'', 1927

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akers, Susan Grey 1889 births 1984 deaths American librarians People from Richmond, Kentucky University of Kentucky alumni University of Chicago Graduate Library School alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Library and Information Studies alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty American women librarians Writers from Kentucky Kentucky women writers American women academics