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and theses that have been published in the major databases
important in 11brary science. A review of Library Literature 12/84-1/96, ERIC 1966-1995, and 1996 online, ISA 1966-1995 al1
provided citations and/or abstracts about the history of public
11braries generally and individual community libraries in
particular. America: History and Life on Disc 1982-1996 (Spring
1996) was useful because this database offered an
interdisciplinary approach and indexed some works of professional
historians writing 11brary history rather than 11brarians writing
from within their own professional perspective. America: History and Life also indexes smali journals unique to a particular area
that the other more 11brary specific databases exclude.**
Bibliographic Index: A Cumulative Bibliography of Bibliographies
by the H. W. Wilson Company was also consulted. A significant
bibliography on the history of public libraries in the United
States was found on pages 185-190 in Deanna B. Marcum's Good
Books In A Country Home: The Public Library As Cultural Force in
Hagerstown, Maryland, 1878-1920.
Two examples of scholarly works on the history of public
11braries that grew out of Ph.D. dissertations were cited by
other authors in ISA and ERIC. These works were Jesse H. Shera's