Eugene Jackson

Eugene Jackson (1915-2003) was an American librarian.

Life

Eugene Bernard ("Jack") Jackson was born on June 18, 1915 in Frankfort, Indiana. In 1937 he received a BS with distinction in Engineering at Purdue University and he then earned the graduate degree of Bachelor of Science in Library Science with honors in 1938 and an advance MA in library science at the University of Illinois at Urbana.

In 1941 Jackson was documents librarian at the University of Alabama library in Tuscaloosa. After US Army basic training in 1943 he was assigned to study advanced mechanical engineering at Texas Tech College (later Texas Tech University), Abilene, Texas. Jackson served in Europe as a technical librarian with the 12th armored division in the third army and was responsible for collecting ordnance information for storage and retrieval by a truck-mounted, mobile technical manual center. After the cessation of hostilities, he served in Belgium with the Army of Occupation until 1946 when he returned to what would become Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, to oversee technical information operations. He then held leadership appointments in government agencies, including chief of the units dealing with aeronautical intelligence and research information of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the forerunner of NASA), in which he served as liaison with NATO and other international bodies.

In 1956, Jackson became head of the library of General Motors Research Laboratories at the technical center in, Warren, Michigan. In 1965 when he became director of information retrieval and library services at the IBM corporate headquarters in Armonk, New York, and was responsible for supervision of IBM libraries worldwide.

In 1971, after teaching during summers at the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois, Jackson joined the faculty of the Graduate school of Library and Information Science (later School of Information) at the University of Texas at Austin, and became emeritus in 1985. He died on July 16, 2003.

Contributions

In addition to his administrative leadership and publications, Jackson was the authority on documentation in aeronautics and automotive engineering.

Publications

"CADO Used Varied Skills." Library Journal 74, no 10 (May 15, 1949): 778-779.
"Historical note: Out of the cloudy crystal ball." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 42, no 10 (Dec. 1991): 747-753. Text, with introduction, of a paper presented in 1951 entitled "Suitable Applications for Rapid Selection Devices.” [1]
"The General Motors Research Laboratories Library: A Case Study." Library Trends
"The industrial special library universe—A “base line” study of its extent and characteristics." With Ruth L. Jackson. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 28, no. 3 (1977): 135-152.
Industrial Information Systems: A Manual for Higher Managements and Their Information Officer/Librarian Associates. With Ruth L. Jackson. Stroudsburg, PA: Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, 1978.
The Chronicle of the Rise and Fall of Special Libraries and Information Centers for Two Decades: A Review Essay ... Report ED215695, 1979.
"Characterizing the industrial special library universe. With R. L. Jackson. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 31, no 3 (1980): 208-214. Also a report presenting supplementary statistical information, 1980. ED190092.

Jackson also edited publications, including:

"Library Service to Industry." Ed. with Katharine G. Harris. Library Trends 14, no 3 (January 1966): 223-361. [2]
Special Librarianship: A New Reader. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1980.

Offices

Special Libraries Association. Director, 1953-56; Vice-President, 1960-61; President, 1961-62; Cincinnati Chapter President, 1984.

Awards

Special Libraries Association. Hall of Fame, 1985.
Purdue University. Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, May 13, 1994.

PAPERS AT:

Purdue University. Archives and Special Collections. Eugene B. Jackson papers. MSA 146 & 154. Also ID 20111117. [6]
Jackson is said to have deposited photos at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base Historical Office.