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.