Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, some of the pioneers were not
able to respond to our request for comments, though we still hope to hear
from them and will add them to these Web pages. For those who did
respond, the following pages reflect their individuality. They contain
a few historical gems, speculations about the future of the field, and
insight into what motivated their careers. For those who responded
to our specific request for a "memorable moment" in their careers, the
stories they tell of a specific incident are not only fascinating
in the detail but also reveal glimpses of the larger scene that was developing
as Information Science.
We believe
you will enjoy these stories--and the photographs-- and wish for more,
which we hope to provide as other pioneers submit their comments.
Those who would like to submit comments
should contact Bob Williams at the University of South Carolina, College
of Library and Info. Science, Columbia, SC 29208 or via
e-mail
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When the planning committee for the Conference on the History and Heritage
of Science Information (held Oct. 23-25, 1998 in Pittsburgh, PA) began
its work one of the principal objectives was to involve the pioneers of
Information Science in as many aspects of the conference as possible.
This led us to invite about 30 pioneers to be our guests at a special dinner
to be held the opening night of the conference. We asked them to
prepare brief remarks on a "memorable moment" in their career (or simply
bring greetings). Twenty individuals were able to attend the conference
and made brief presentations. The remarks they made were so interesting
and varied that the planning committee felt they should be captured in
some way. A written invitation was issued to both those attending
and those not able to attend to submit their remarks for inclusion in this
special "scrapbook" Web page (and those that were received in time appear
in the printed proceedings of the conference, to be published for the American
Society of Information Science and the Chemical Heritage Foundation by
Info Today, Fall, 1999). We also asked each pioneer to send a couple
of photographs that showed him or her during their working career and currently.