Verner Warren Clapp

Verner W. Clapp (1901-1972) was a US librarians and foundation president.

Verner Clapp

Life

Verner Warren Clapp was born June 3, 1901 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He received an AB from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut in 1922, then studied graduate-level philosophy at Harvard University. Preferring practical problem-solving he served for 33 years at the Library of Congress, as a consultant, and as the founding President of the Council on Library Resources, 1956-1967. He died June 15, 1972 in Alexandra, Virginia.

Contributions

Clapp was widely influential.

Library of Congress

Clapp argued for LC leadership in developing basic bibliography tools for scholars in all fields of learning to use.

He started the Cooperative Acquisitions program that enabled LC to acquire 2 million European publications.He developed the concept of the machine-readable unit record, which grew into the MARC project. He was responsible for Books-for-the-Blind program and Regional Lending Libraries. He laid the groundwork and established the scope of service of the Congressional Research Service. He argued for LC leadership in developing basic bibliography tools for scholars in all fields of learning to use. His projects covered every aspect of librarianship as well as archives, copyright, documentation, and publishing.

National Diet library, Japan

Clapp had a formative influence as a consultant.

Council on Library Resources

Clapp established the Ford Foundation's Council on Library Resources and served as the founding President, 1956-1967.

Other

Forest Press: Director 1954-60; President 1960-1972. He participated in the first revision of the Copyright Act. Lake Placid Club Education Foundation Trustee 1955-72.

Awards

Melvil Dewey Award (American Library Association (ALA)); Lippincott Award (ALA); Honorary Life Membership (ALA); Librarians' Librarian (Association of Research Libraries (ARL)); Special Citation (Special Libraries Association (SLA)); 1986 Order of the Sacred Treasure (from the Japanese government for his work in designing the National Diet Library).

Publications

A bibliography of Clapp's writings 1933-1972 is in Verner W. Clapp, 1901-1972: A memorial tribute. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1973, pp 19-41. [1]

Further reading

• "Verner W. Clapp" Wikipedia [2]
• Verner W. Clapp, 1901-1972: A memorial tribute. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1973. [3] Bibliography of writings by him (1933-1972) on pp 19-41 and about him (1956-1972) on pp 42-43
• Mohrhardt, Foster E. "Clapp, Verner Warren (1901-1972)." Dictionary of American library biography, ed. by Bohdan S. Wynar. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1978, pp 77-81.

For National Diet Library:

• Buckland, M. K. Ideology and libraries: California, diplomacy, and occupied Japan, 1945-1952. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.

For Council on Library Resources:

• Marcum, Deanna B. Automating the Library: The Council on Library Resources. IEEE Annals of the history of computing 24, No. 3 (July-Sept. 2002): 2-13.
• Burke, C. B. "The Ford Foundation's search for an American library laboratory." IEEE Annals of the history of computing 24, No. 3 (July-Sept. 2002): 56-74.

Papers

Library of Congress, Manuscript Division (Washington, DC). 1901-1973. ca. 16,000 items. Includes: Family and general correspondence, diaries (1914-1972), subject files, speeches and writing memoranda, notes, and printed matter, chiefly 1945-1972, relating to Clapp's service at LC, his duties as chief librarian to the United Nations Conference on International Organization (1945), his work for UNESCO on various international library matters, his role in the establishment of the National Diet Library in Japan, and his work for the Council on Library Resources. Topics include matters relating to librarianship and library science, documentation, information retrieval, copyright law, ALA, ARL, SLA, and Clapp's personal and family life and his travels, especially to Japan. Unpublished finding aid. Access restricted. (Source: NUCMUC, MS 80-2037.)