Repository: UIHistories Project: Booklet - Katharine Sharp Appreciation (1914) [PAGE 5]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

Two years at Oak Park were enough to convince her that in librarianship lay her best field for work, and to prove that she could no longer be satisfied to blunder along at random, for she had learned that accurate, intelligent, and systematic library administration comes neither by the gift of God nor through blind chance. Fortunately, about this time, the existence of the New York State Library School was brought to her notice with the result that in October of 1890, she cast in her lot permanently with library workers. About the time when plans were under way for preparing and installing the Comparative Library Exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, as a feature of the Federal exhibit, Miss Sharp finished her work at the New York State Library School and was placed in charge of the collection. This brought her prominently to the attention of Chicago educators, the result being her appointment as Director of the Department of Library Science opened that fall at Armour Institute of Technology. It was in this relation that many of our prominent Illinois library workers first knew Miss Sharp. Her ambition from the first day she took charge at Armour was to make her department equal to any Library School in the country, and to that end she spared neither herself, her colleagues, nor her students. The School at Armour Institute which had been started as a one-year course, with entrance examinations based on high school work, was soon advanced to a two-years' course. In 1897, the connection with Armour wa^ terminate 1, the University of Illinois taking over the School of Library Science, with its equipment. The Director > the School added to her special duties those of University f Librarian the requirement! were advanced to two years of college work, and the degree of Bachelor of Library Science li L. SJ was . mferred by the University upon the completion of th< out .t Later she was successful in adding a third y< If Of college work to the entrance requirements. In this connection ii is of interest to note that when Miss Miarp left Aimour li .lituh she had to boose between calls

•