Louis Shores (September 14, 1904 – June 19, 1981)[1] was a librarian who worked for the promotion of the library as the center of all learning, in both public and academic institutions.
[4] It was at this time that Shores began developing his opinion that libraries and their resources could provide an overall education superior to that of more traditional instruction given in classrooms.
[9] His work at Peabody, shaping and developing the library program, was interrupted by World War II.
[10] His duties to the US Army kept him absent from Peabody until 1946, at which point disagreements about salary and work load caused the end of his association with the college.
[11] In 1946 Shores accepted two positions: to be the first Dean of the Library School at Florida State University and an editorial advisor for the encyclopedia company, P.F.
[13] First released in 1939, the only thing that prevented it from becoming a true milestone in his life and the history of library science was his lackluster updating of the text.
He extolled the importance of introducing children to books and reading in infancy and encouraging learning through the use of the libraries.
[20] In it, Shores outlined several different formats: Print (i.e. book or journal), Graphic (globe or photograph), Projection (film or slide), Transmission (radio or tape recording), Resource (person or object), Program (computer or machine) and Extrasensory (telepathy or clairvoyance).
He thought the stocking of films, slides, audio recordings and maps essential for a well-rounded library collection.
However, Shores did not like the presence of audiovisual departments in school; he felt the library should house all the learning materials and that every librarian should be a media specialist.
He called the library the “Materials Center” to be more inclusive of all the kinds of resources therein, including 16mm films, filmstrips, discs, tapes, slides and transparencies among others.