Scott Adams

Scott Adams (1909 - 1982) was an US medical librarian.

NLM Director Dr. Martin Cummings (rear left) attends a party honoring his colleague Scott Adams (front center). From NLM Digital Collections. http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101641739

Life

Scott Adams was born November 20, 1909. He graduated from Yale in 1930 and worked in wholesale book distribution, then completed a masters degree at the Columbia University School of Library Service in 1940. He worked at Columbia's Teachers College library, the the Providence, Rhode Island, Public Library. In 1945 the Army Medical Library hired him and he was Acting Librarian from 1946 until 1950, when he became Director of the national Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.

In 1959 Adams became Director of the Foreign Service Information Program at the National Science Foundation, the in 1960, Deputy Director of the National Library of Medicine, where he was the principal architect of the NLM Five Year Plan, 1966. He retired in 1969 to work for the United Nations International Scientific Information System (UNISIST) Central Committee.After retirement, in the 1970s he advised the National Academy of Sciences. He died on October 3, 1982.

== Contributions.

• Began the translation program of Russian medical journals which evolved into the Federation Proceedings Translation Supplement and specialized abstracting tools.
• According to Frank Rogers, Adams "was probably the first to see and measure...the changing alignments of scientific fields...shifting to mission-oriented sectors."
• At the National Library of Medicine (NLM) he planned a program of extramural activities. He helped outline the dissemination and distribution objectives of the MEDLARS project and MEDLARS centers in foreign countries.
• He was instrumental in initiating PL-480 program of translations.

Offices

• District of Columbia.C. Lib. Assoc. Pres. 1947-48; ADI/ASIS Pres. 1954-55; MLA Pres. 1967-68.

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Further reading

• Brodman, Estelle. "Adams, Scott (1909-1982)." Dictionary of American library biography: Second supplement, Ed. by Wayne A. Wiegand, Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1990, pp 1-3.
• Garfield, Eugene. "Scott Adams and Medical bibliography in an age of discontinuity--A tribute to a visionary leader in the field of medical information." Current contents 26 (June 27, 1983): 5-11.
• Rogers, Frank B. "Adams, Scott." Encyclopedia of library and information science. Suppl. 3, vol 38. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1-7. Concise, detailed biography.

Papers

LOCATION #1: Library of the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago.. Includes an interview with Adams discussing topics which involve or affect medical librarianship.

• FINDING AID: Unpublished finding aid in the repository; folder level control.
• SOURCE: Brodman, Estelle, "Possible Uses of MLA's Oral History Taped Interviews," Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. January 1981, 69(1), 34-35.

LOCATION #2: History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20894; search under Miles, Wyndham D., Papers on the history of the National Library of Medicine, 1964-1984

• SIZE: 6 linear feet
• INCLUDES: Unprocessed papers; Collection not restricted; Accession number 581.
• SOURCE: RLIN

LOCATION #3: American Library Association Archives, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• PAPERS DATES: 1920-1981
• SIZE: 15.5 cubic feet
• INCLUDES: Box/folder list available online at https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/alasfa/9701032a.pdf
• SOURCE: https://archon.library.illinois.edu/ala/?p=collections/controlcard&id=7843

LOCATION #4: History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20894; search under Miles, Wyndham D., Papers on the history of the National Library of Medicine, 1964-1984.

• PAPERS DATES: 1938-1982 (bulk 1958-1982)
• SIZE: 3.75 linear feet and 8 volumes
• INCLUDES: Series: I. Copyright subject files; II. Incoming correspondence; III. Outgoing correspondence; IV. Inter-Office memoranda and notes; V. Legal documents; VI. Related copyright activities; VII. Copyright legislation; VIII. Williams & Wilkins Case Publicity; IX. General articles on copyright. Legal suit brought by Williams & Wilkins Co. against the NLM and the NIH on 27 February 1968. The suit charged that the libraries had violated the company's copyright by duplicating for interlibrary loan articles from journals published by Williams & Wilkins. Included are files from Martin Cummings and Scott Adams, the Director and Deputy Director of the Library.
• FINDING AID: Finding guide available in the Library.
• SOURCE: RLIN

LOCATION #5: History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20894; search under Miles, Wyndham D., Papers on the history of the National Library of Medicine, 1964-1984.

• PAPERS DATES: 1964-1984 (bulk 1975-1982)
• SIZE: 2 linear feet (5 boxes)
• INCLUDES: Correspondence, notes, draft chapters, and photocopies used in preparation of Miles's History of the National Library of Medicine; Includes Miles's notes on records at NLM and in the National Archives; drafts of chapters with comments of readers, biographical information on library employees, and examples of the steps in the publication of the volume; Also includes biographical interview with Adams, July 1979 (2 tapes).
• FINDING AID: Unpublished finding aid in the repository; folder level control.
• SOURCE: RLIN

LOCATION #6: Medical Library Association, 919 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3208, Chicago, IL 60611

• PAPERS DATES: March 1980
• INCLUDES: Interview with Adams by Carol Fenichel about medical librarianship.
• SOURCE: Dale, D. C. (com.), A Directory of Oral History Tapes of Librarians in the United States and Canada. American Library Association: Chicago, 1986, p. 74.