Charles Harvey Brown
Charles Harvey Brown directed the Iowa State University Library from 1922 to
1946 and was instrumental in establishing it as one of the major land-grant
university libraries in the United States. He worked tirelessly to expand the
number of scientific serials held by the Library, and inaugurated an extensive
scientific journal exchange program with dozens of countries throughout the
world. His 1956 publication Scientific Serial remains a landmark in the library
professional literature. Brown played a significant role in the growth of
professional organizations for academic libraries during the first half of the
20th century. He was instrumental in organizing the Association of Research
Libraries in 1932, and in 1938 was a guiding force behind the creation of the
Association of College and Research Libraries as a division of the American
Library Association. From 1941 to 1942, he served as president of the American
Library Association. He was truly one of the foremost leaders in academic
librarianship during his career at Iowa State.
