[1][2][3] Born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Edward Francis and Lillian Piper Kilgour, Kilgour earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Harvard College in 1935 and afterward held the position as assistant to the director of Harvard University Library.

This organization of 150 persons in outposts around the world microfilmed newspapers and other printed information items and sent them back to Washington, DC.

He asked his staff to collect empirical data, such as use of books and journals by categories of borrowers to guide selection and retention of titles.

He was a distinguished research professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science.

Under Kilgour's leadership, the nonprofit corporation introduced a shared cataloging system in 1971 for 54 Ohio academic libraries.

In 1971, after four years of development, OCLC introduced its online shared cataloging system, which would achieve dramatic cost savings for libraries.

[8] For example, in the first year of system use, the Alden Library at Ohio University was able to increase the number of books it cataloged by a third, while reducing its staff by 17 positions.

Word of this new idea spread on campuses across the country, starting an online revolution in libraries that continues to this day.

"[10][11] Kilgour is widely recognized as one of the leading figures in 20th century librarianship for his work in using computer networks to increase access to information in libraries around the world.

More recently, the database provides access to the electronic full text of articles, books as well as images and sound recordings.

He also studied under George Sarton, a pioneer in the new discipline of the history of science, and began publishing scholarly papers.

He continued to conduct experiments in library automation and to promote their potential benefits in the professional literature.

He advocated the use of the computer to eliminate human repetitive tasks from library procedures, such as catalog card production.

[15] In 1990 Kilgour was named Distinguished Research Professor of the School of Information and Library Science, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served on the faculty until his retirement in 2004.

In 1978 he was honored with the Melvil Dewey Medal by the American Library Association and in 1982, the Association presented him with American Library Association Honorary Membership[16] In recognition of his successful pioneering efforts to master technology in the service of librarianship; the acuity of his vision that helped to introduce the most modern and powerful technologies into the practice of librarianship; the establishment and development of a practical vehicle for making the benefits of technology readily available to thousands of libraries; his long and distinguished career as a practicing librarian; his voluminous, scholarly and prophetic writings; and above all his fostering the means for ensuring the economic viability of libraries, the American Library Association hereby cites Frederick Gridley Kilgour as scholar, entrepreneur, innovator, and interpreter of technology steadfastly committed to the preservation of humanistic values.In 1979 the American Society for Information Science and Technology gave him the Award of Merit.