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ABSTRACT
Frances Henne (1906-85) was the leader in the development of school library standards during her career as a teacher, librarian, and library educator. She was the driving force behind the publication of the 1945, 1960, and 1969 national standards for school libraries. Her imprint is evident in the research and philosophical foundations for the 1975, 1988, and 1998 national standards.
EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATION IN LIBRARIANSHIP
Born in Springfield, Illinois, on October 11, 1906, Henne received her bachelor of arts degree and master of arts degree in English at the University of Illinois in 1929 and 1934 respectively. After completing her undergraduate degree and while she was working on her master's degree, she worked as a library assistant in circulation and reference at the Lincoln Public Library in her hometown of Springfield from 1980 to 1940.
In 1935 Henne went to New York City to pursue a bachelor's degree in librarianship at Columbia University. While engaged in her studies, Henne also briefly worked as a circulation assistant at the New York Public Library in 1935 and then as a reference and circulation assistant at the New York State Teachers College at Albany from 1935 to 1988. She served as an instructor in school librarianship at Albany from 1987 to 1989, when Louis Round Wilson, dean of the Graduate Library School (GLS) at the University of Chicago, invited her to serve as an instructor there and to be responsible for the library in the University High School, a laboratory school for the University of Chicago.
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Beginning her career as the first woman faculty member at University of Chicago's GLS in 1939, she also began her doctoral studies that same year. She served as librarian from 1939 to 1942. She participated in, and contributed to the proceedings of, the 1940 Conference on Reading, one of several annual conferences sponsored by and held at the University of Chicago throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Her paper, "Function and Activities of Libraries in Promoting Growth in and through Reading" (1940) was the first of approximately thirty articles, essays, chapters, and monographs written throughout her career on reading, school libraries, school library research, school library standards, and print and nonprint media for children and young adults...