IN MEMORIAM
CLAUD GLENN SPARKS
Claud Glenn Sparks was born on October 21, 1922,
to Claud C. and Mamie Shoemake Sparks at Commerce, Texas, where
he grew up. He received a bachelor of science degree from East
Texas State College in 1941 and immediately entered military
service. He served in the European theater of operations with
the Headquarters, Advance Section Communications Zone, and, at
the end of the war, with the Army-Navy Liquidation Commission
until his discharge in November 1945. From January 1946 to June
1948, he was employed as an administrative officer in the Veterans
Administration Branch Office in Da1las.
Sparks then entered the graduate program in English at Texas Christian
University and received a master of arts degree in 1949. He completed
a year of post-master's study at the University of Oklahoma, 1950-1951,
fo1lowed by a master of library science degree from The University
of Texas at Austin in 1952. During his time at Texas he became passionate
about the value of libraries in the cultural life of society and
dedicated his career to furthering, by example, the critical role
of libraries and the educational preparation of librarians and, later,
information scientists. Among his positions as a library practitioner,
1952-1965, were reference assistant at the University of Illinois
in Urbana and director of libraries at Texas Christian University
for thirteen years.
In 1965 he went to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor to complete
studies toward a doctor of philosophy degree in library science.
Upon graduation in 1967, he turned to education for librarianship
as professor and dean of the newly accredited master's program in
the School of Library and Information Sciences at North Texas State
University (now the University of North Texas).
He became a professor in the Graduate School of Library Science at
The University of Texas at Austin in 1971 and was promoted to dean
of that school in 1973 after a year as acting dean. A member of Phi
Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan, he insisted on the highest
academic performance by faculty and students alike at UT. At the
time he returned to full-time teaching and research in 1982, the
information science segment of the program had grown to an academic
specialization supported by several of the school's faculty who were
information scientists. Also, the library science faculty had integrated
information science principles and technology into all its courses.
From 1982 until his retirement in 1995, he taught courses in management
of all types of information agencies and a course for students who
planned to become academic librarians.
Glenn Sparks will be remembered for his examples of absolute integrity,
thoroughness, and precision, and for his long-range thinking. He
had the gift of being able to analyze quickly a complex situation
and to see the core and essence of an issue. His quiet, composed
manner sometimes disguised his strength in strategic planning and
participatory management, and his dry wit. However, when an issue
of principle was involved, he fought intensely. His generosity in
mentoring is noteworthy.
His contributions received recognition at the University and
in the national library profession. In 1984 he received a Texas
Excellence
Teaching Award from the Alumni Association of The University
of Texas
at Austin. In 1992, the alumni association of the Graduate School
of Library and Information Science honored him for forty years
of service to the school. After his retirement in 1995, the C.
Glenn
Sparks Endowed Presidential Scholarship was established by alumni
and friends of the school to honor him as a “devoted professor
and dean.” The Texas Library Association honored him as its “Librarian
of the Year'' in 1983 “in recognition of superior achievement,
dedication to the profession, and contribution toward the improvement
of library science in Texas.”
In the American Library Association and the American Association
of Library Schools, he worked for betterment of library education
nationally. He was the director of the American Association of Library
Schools from 1973-1975. He collected, analyzed, interpreted, and
published statistics of all library education agencies in the nation
for several years.
In 1977 he brought to UT the library science periodical Libraries
and Culture (formerly Journal of Library History), one of four refereed
scholarly journals in the profession. He served as a member of the
Editorial Board of the journal from 1976 to 1995, and was acting
editor in 1980-1981. His principal research interests were in library
history and biography, library management, and library and information
science education. In addition to publishing several chapter-length
biographies over the years, Sparks was pleased that his revised dissertation
appeared in 1993 as a substantial volume published by Scarecrow Press
of Metuchen, N.J. Entitled Doyen of Librarians: A Biography
of William Warner Bishop, this study of one of the prominent library figures
of the twentieth century was a welcome and acclaimed addition to
biographical literature of the profession. His contribution to management
literature centered on strategic planning and the improvement of
schools library and information science.
C. Glenn Sparks died on Saturday, November 3, 2001. He is survived
by his wife of 41 years, Lou Turner Sparks, and their daughter, Anne
Frances Sparks Lightfield, and her husband Thomas. Memorial contributions
are designated for the C. Glenn Sparks Presidential Endowed Scholarship
in the School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin.
<Signed>
Larry R. Faulkner, President
The University of Texas at Austin
<Signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
This memorial resolution was prepared by a special committee consisting
of Professors Donald G. Davis, Jr., Julie Hallmark, Billie Grace
Herring, and Heartsill Young.
