Donald E. Strout

Donald Everett Strout (born August 24, 1909 in Livermore Falls , Maine , † July 3, 1986 in Santa Fe , New Mexico ) was an American classical philologist and librarian .

life and work

Donald Everett Strout was the youngest son of Everett H. Strout and Sarah Muriel Rowell. He grew up in Livermore Falls, where his father ran a paper mill for the International Paper Company . Donald Strout studied Latin and Greek from 1926 at the private Bates College in Lewiston (Maine) , where he obtained his bachelor's degree in 1930 . He completed his master's degree from 1930 to 1931 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . There he completed a doctoral degree under the aegis of William Abbott Oldfather and received his Ph. D. in 1933.

From 1934 to 1935 Strout worked as a lecturer in Latin and German at Ashland College in Ashland, Ohio . On January 1, 1935, he married the philologist Ruth Calista French , who was also a doctoral student at Oldfather. With her he wrote several articles for Paulys Realenzyklopädie der Classical Antiquities (RE) on sophists and lexicographers of the Roman Empire .

Shortly after the marriage, Strout and his wife went to the private Hastings College in Hastings (Nebraska) as Professor of Greek and Latin. In 1938 he moved to the University of Michigan , where he started a career as a librarian, while his wife went to Iberia (Missouri) as a lecturer . Strout worked as an assistant librarian in the specialist library for physics and achieved his bachelor's degree (A. B.) in library science in 1940 . He then worked until 1942 at the University of Missouri Library, then until 1943 at Indiana University Bloomington . From 1943 to 1948 he was Associate Professor of Library Science at Indiana University Bloomington, where he was accompanied by his wife as a research assistant. From 1944 to 1945 she also trained as a librarian.

Donald E. Strout became head of the libraries at the University of Denver in 1948 . There he was also deputy director (from 1950 director) of the Graduate School of Librarianship, where his wife Ruth received a position as associate professor. Their marriage ended in divorce in July 1953. Donald E. Strout went to the University of Illinois as Associate Professor of Library Science that same year, where he was appointed Professor in 1959. On September 1, 1963, he resigned his professorship and moved to Forsyth (Missouri) . In the 1964/65 academic year he was visiting professor of library science at Texas Woman's University .

Donald E. Strout was a second married to the librarian Ruth Beamer. He died in Santa Fe, New Mexico .

In Classical Philology, Strout is known not only for his RE articles but only for his dissertation on the language of Donatus , which was printed as an extract in 1933. In the library he emerged with special studies on accession and the situation of academic librarians. The "Strout Report", which began in 1951 and reported annually on starting salaries, the number of graduates and the need for academic librarians, was based on his suggestion and represented an important statistical basis for the development of the profession in the USA. Strout was involved in various professional bodies, including the American Library Association and the Association of American Library Schools.

Fonts (selection)

• The Latent Greek Element in the Technical Vocabulary of Donatus . Urbana, Illinois 1933 (dissertation).
• The Role of Classification in the Modern American Library . Champaign, Illinois 1960.
• The Impact of the Library Services Act. Progress and Potential. Papers Presented at an Institute Conducted Jointly by the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library Science and the Library Services Branch, US Office of Education . Champaign, Illinois 1962.

literature

• Facts and Faces: The ALA Council in 1963 . New York City 1963, p. 1960.
• Ideals and Standards. The History of the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 1893-1993 . Without place 1992, especially p. 27; with photos according to p. 156, nos. 20 and 24 (digitized: archive.org ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Date of death: Find a Grave. Retrieved September 10, 2017 .  ; Place of death: Genealogy.com: Strout Family Tree. Retrieved September 10, 2017 .