HAINES, HELEN E. (1872-1961)

While many people may not be familiar with who Helen Haines was, she made numerous contributions during her lifetime to the American Library Association, the library press, library education, and the American intellectual freedom movement.

The eldest of five daughters born in Brooklyn, New York, to Benjamin Reeve, a wool broker, and Mary Hodges Haines, a woman who was both strong willed and well read, Helen Haines did not receive a formal education. Instead, she was home-schooled by her mother. Haines read voraciously and by the age of nineteen had written her first work, History of New Mexico from the Spanish Conquest to the Present Time, 1530-1890, with Portraits and Bibliographical Sketches of Its Prominent People. This book marked the beginning of a lengthy writing career that included more than one hundred articles for publications such as Library Journal, Publishers' Weekly, Dial, and the Pasadena Star-News and three books for Columbia University Press— Living with Books (1935, 1950) and What's in a Novel (1942). The former works were and still remain the best-selling books within the library science series of Columbia University Press.

The career of Helen Haines started by necessity and chance. In 1892, Haines had to take a job to help support her family. It so happened that her neighbor, Mary Wright Plummer, was the director of the Library School of Pratt Institute, an active member in the American Library Association (ALA), and a good friend of Richard Rogers Bowker, publisher of Publishers' Weekly and Library Journal. Plummer arranged an introduction for Haines, and shortly thereafter Haines began working as Bowker's assistant. By 1896, Haines had assumed a new role as managing editor of Library Journal, a position that required her to attend all ALA conferences. Not only did Haines attend, she functioned as the recorder of the ALA, and made many notable contributions. She argued on behalf of collecting fiction in public libraries and championed the cause of reading widely on all subjects regardless of their controversial nature. By taking such stances, she gained a powerful position within the ALA; by 1907, she was elected vice-president. Her work for both the ALA and for Bowker also impressed the Carnegie Corporation and directors of library schools. Although tuberculosis forced Haines to relocate from Brooklyn to Pasadena, California, in 1908, thus ending her full-time association with the ALA and Library Journal, Haines remained active in the library world.

In 1921, Charles C. Williamson, a consultant for the Carnegie Corporation (and later the director of the Library School of Columbia University), had written a report about the state of library training programs in the United States. Before its general release, he asked Haines to critique it. Her comments, along with her work for library training programs at the Los Angeles Public Library, University of California at Berkeley, and University of Southern California, helped shape the future of library education. Like Williamson, Haines stressed the need for librarians to possess a liberal arts education before embarking on a library training program. She called for the scholarization of library schools and their placement in universities that had, at their center, research libraries. She also spoke on the importance of librarians as professionals. No longer should librarianship be regarded as busy work for women; instead, librarians should function as both teachers and scholars. When the first edition of Living with Books appeared in 1935, it was one of the first true textbooks aimed at training librarians in the art of book selection. But Living with Books functioned more than just as a textbook; it helped to shape the burgeoning intellectual freedom movement.

Haines covered a variety of topics in Living with Books. Some would even be considered controversial for the time, including birth control, race relations, and censorship. On the latter subject, she wrote (1935, pp. 174-175), "Thus, the practice of official censorship (the restriction or suppression of literature deemed subversive or harmful) has continued in varying manifestations to our own day.… [C]ensorship and copyright lie at the roots of publishing history." Haines's words would be prophetic. Sixteen years later, the Freeman, a conservative political magazine, denounced her as a communist sympathizer.

In 1938, Forrest Spaulding, director of the Des Moines Public Library, developed a Bill of Rights for his library stating, among other matters, that "book selection should not be influenced by the writer's race, religion, politics, or nationality." With Haines's help, the ALA revised and adopted that Bill of Rights in June 1939 and, one year later, formed a Committee on Intellectual Freedom. Also in 1940, Haines became chair of the newly formed California Library Association Committee on Intellectual Freedom (CLA-CIF), the first state organization of its kind. During her tenure, the CLA-CIF challenged the Los Angeles County loyalty oaths and worked closely with the ALA to challenge similar issues.

Haines also became more outspoken about censorship, discrimination, and the Soviet Union. Her 1950 revision of Living With Books (p. 371) urged its readers to get a balanced view of the Soviet Union by reading widely about it: "Thus in a locked battle between capitalism and communism that now divides the two great world powers, materials of both defense and attack must be freely available for public information and study." However, for the January 1952 issue of Freeman, Oliver Carlson, a freelance journalist who often contributed to the publication, wrote a scathing review of the revision of Living with Books. Entitled "A Slanted Guide to Library Selection," the Carlson review took quotes from the book out of context to make a case that Haines was a communist sympathizer. In "Red Hunting" circles, the accusation carried weight—it allowed right-wing conservatives to say that communists were disguising themselves as little old ladies who loved and recommended books. Because the ALA had an active Office of Intellectual Freedom in place, Haines's reputation remained untarnished. However, the accusation—made when Haines was in very poor health—was hurtful and cruel.

By 1951, Haines had become both America's expert on book selection and a key figure in the intellectual freedom movement. Because she also enjoyed great credibility, using Living with Books as the forum to spread her message that access to literature about the Soviet Union prompted better relations between it and the United States, Haines would not only be heard, but also believed. To honor her writings and her efforts, the ALA awarded Haines its Lippincott award in 1951.

Although Haines died in 1961, her legacy continues to be felt. Through the 1970s, Living with Books remained the standard text on book selection, and it is still referenced on many collection development course syllabi. Training for librarianship takes place on the graduate level, typically on campuses with a large research library. The ALA, through its Intellectual Freedom office, routinely battles challenges to intellectual freedom, the most recent and notable being the Communications Decency Act of 1996. And, for those without a formal education, Haines remains the role model; through unfettered access to books, anyone can influence the world.

See also:Communications Decency Act of 1996; Librarians; Libraries, Functions and Types of.

Bibliography

Crawford, Holly. (1997). "Freedom Through Books: Helen Haines and Her Role in the Library Press, Library Education, and the Intellectual Freedom Movement." Unpublished dissertation, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Haines, Helen E. (1925). "The Teaching of Book Selection." Library Journal 50:693-697.

Haines, Helen E. (1935, 1950). Living With Books. New York: Columbia University Press.

Haines, Helen E. (1939). "Values in Fiction." Booklist 36:99-102.

Haines, Helen E. (1942). What's in a Novel. New York: Columbia University Press.

Haines, Helen E. (1946). "Ethics of Librarianship." Library Journal 71:848-851.

Haines, Helen E. (1948). "Balancing the Books, Reason Enthroned." Library Journal 73:149-154.

Williamson, Charles C. (1921). Training for Library Service: A Report Prepared for the Carnegie Corporation of New York. New York: The Carnegie Corporation.

Holly Crawford