Herman Howe Fussler (May 15, 1914 – March 2, 1997)[2] was an American librarian, library administrator, teacher, writer and editor, who was a pioneer in the use of microphotography.
[2] The summer after Fussler graduated from the University of North Carolina, he accepted a position with the New York Public Library (NYPL).
[2] He worked in the Science and Technology Division in the library and was noticed by Harry Miller Lydenberg, the then Director of NYPL, and Keyes Metcalf, who was currently the head of the Reference Department.
When he arrived from New York, Fussler was asked to start up the Department of Photographic Reproduction.
He also major directed a microphotographic copying project at the World Congress of Universal Documentation Paris in 1937.
[1] He held that title from 1948–1971 and is renowned for his pioneering efforts in library automation including the bibliographic master file.
[7] Fussler served on the U.S. National Advisory Commission on Libraries in 1966 formed to "make a comprehensive study and appraisal of the role of libraries as resources for scholarly pursuits, as centers for the dissemination of knowledge, and as components of the evolving national information systems.
[1] He had the same sense of enthusiasm while teaching graduate students that he did for working in the university libraries.
The importance of teaching, research, study, and investigation of sound, well-supported and well-managed scholarly libraries will be far more widely understood.
It is likely that some officers and faculty members of institutions of higher education will still not have a thorough grasp of the relation of the library to the objectives of the university.
[10] In the 1940s, Fussler and some of his colleagues began considering how they could create a storage facility for important, expensive, and underused texts, mainly those for research purposes.
[2] Following the example set forth by the New England Deposit Library,[11] librarians from the Midwestern schools known as the Big Ten, as well as Fussler came together to make this dream a reality.
[2] The Carnegie Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation provided much needed grants to open the Midwest Inter-Library Center (MILC).
[2] In 1965, the Joseph and Helen Regenstein Foundation granted ten million dollars to be put to use to create the new university library that would incorporate several departments' materials.
[2] Fussler worked closely with the architect Ralph Youngren to plan a library that would utilize the space well for patrons and collections alike.