Introduction: Donald G. Davis, Jr.: A Gentleman and a Scholar

Abstract

This collection can be read as evidence of the connection so many library and book historians feel toward Donald G. Davis, Jr. As a respected scholar, beloved teacher, and magnanimous colleague, Don has inspired us all to work hard and to take joy in the work. When the invitation went out to a selected group of scholars to contribute to this festschrift in honor of Don on the occasion of his retirement, the enthusiastic acceptances came back quickly. Suggestions for additional contributors came back as well, so many that it was impossible to include them all in a single special issue of the journal Don has so ably edited for more than a quarter century. Don has a worldwide circle of friends and admirers. Every single one of them would have sent in a wonderful paper had we asked. Don joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS, now the School of Information) at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in 1971. There he developed and taught courses covering the history of printing, books, libraries, and civilization, and collection management, among others. He welcomed colleagues and students into his office, overcrowded with shelves and shelves of books, and met them wherever they were in their lives and career trajectories. The modest man in the suit was actually a node in several different but overlapping networks. A dedicated participant in the community known as the Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library Association (ALA), he and fellow members were responsible for so much of the new knowledge produced in the United States about the library past. Overlapping somewhat with this group was the dynamic network of authors, editorial board and staff, referees, and book reviewers that coalesced around Libraries & Culture, the scholarly publication formerly known as the Journal of Library History that Don had