Isadore Gilbert Mudge

Isadore Gilbert Mudge (born March 14, 1975 – died May 16, 1957) deserves the thanks of all reference librarians for not only defining what a contemporary reference librarian is, but also helping organize and promote reference books for all libraries. She is known both as the foremost reference librarian of her time and an author of various reference books. American Libraries ranked Mudge as one of the top 100 important leaders we had in the 20th Century.

Biography

Isadore Gilbert Mudge was raised in Brooklyn, New York as the oldest child in her family. Her father was an attorney and her mother was the daughter of a University of Michigan librarian. She attended Brooklyn’s Adelphi Academy and then went to Cornell University for philosophy. She was elected to be a member of Phi Beta Kappa for being an outstanding student in her junior year. She was also a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, the first Greek fraternity for women. During her undergraduate studies she was motivated by Professor and Librarian George Lincoln Burr to pursue her own library degree. Mudge then went to Albany, New York to attend the New York State Library School, where she received her “Bachelor of Library Science degree with distinction in 1900”. She never married nor had children.

Librarian

From her very first job as a librarian Mudge wanted library patrons to be able to access reference books and learn on an independent basis. Mudge’s first job was twofold; she “was the head reference librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an associate professor at the University of Illinois Library School.5 For three years she maintained both positions. For her time that must have been an incredible achievement for a woman to have been posted to both duties and succeed. Mudge left the University of Illinois to become the head librarian at Bryn Mawr College. She considered herself an easterner and that may have been why she changed positions She worked there for five years and spent the following three years working on writing, traveling to Europe, and from 1910-1911 Mudge also worked part-time as an instructor at Simmons College (Massachusetts).

In 1911 Mudge was hired at Columbia University and this is where her real legacy began. The President of Columbia, Nicholas Murray Butler, became one of her earliest supporters. Butler found her “incredibly resourceful in meeting his varied reference and bibliographic needs.” She began to push for all libraries to have a reference section that would include at least “the possession of certain basic works, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, an atlas, a biographical dictionary” but hopefully would also include “a book of quotations, handbook of statistics, a state or government manual”.

Around 1927 she began working as an associate professor at Columbia’s new School of Library Services, teaching Bibliography and Bibliographic Methods. It was teaching this class she coined her phrase “material, mind and method”. She believed reference librarians should know the materials they dealt with, be intelligent with a high quality memory and be able to answer questions in a clear way including the source of material they were using. All three items still apply to what reference librarians do today but on a much grander scale. It is hard to imagine what resources a librarian had in 1927 versus what are at most librarian’s fingertips today. Of all of her writings she never wrote about these thoughts, but one of her students published an article in a 1937 Library Journal sharing these ideas with the rest of the world. “Reviewing Mudge’s career at Columbia, Constance A. Winchell, Mudge’s protégé, said: ‘Probably no other one person has contributed so much to the raising the standards of reference collections and reference services in the libraries of this and other countries.’"

Author

Around the time Mudge came to Columbia the American Library Association asked her to update Guide to Reference Works, which was desperately needing a supplement to go along with the original edition. She edited the guide through four editions over 20 years. This was an important book at that time to show new librarians what resources were available. This is what she is best known for and was undoubtedly the reason behind some of her ideals and thoughts she taught while teaching both students and other librarians. She also wrote articles for the Library Journal, worked on editing and creating bibliographies, dictionaries and other reference materials. Quite often her writings were assisted by Minnie Earl Sears, a colleague and companion. Some of Mudge's writings are still found at Columbia University.

Summary

The only biography that exists of Isadore Gilbert Mudge is actually a dissertation written by Columbia student, John N. Waddell, in 1973. In one portion he sums up what were her ideals, “Mudge’s professional concerns were not confined to the Columbia reference department….She was constantly concerned with the problems and tools bibliographical control in the widest possible area….but herself preached the gospel of cooperative bibliographic at home and abroad, by pen and by tongue.”

Legacy

Every year since 1958, the Gale Cengage Learning, a division of the American Library Association, sponsors the Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award. The recipient is someone who has made a difference in reference librarianship that year. The chosen winner receives $5,000 and a citation.