[17] Educated in the liberal arts and philosophy, fascinated by books, gadgets, technology, and ideas—and untrained in librarianship, Clapp's contribution to what he called the "professional memory,"[18] was enormous, to which his peers would repeatedly attest, such as his entry in the Dictionary of American Library Biography: "His interests were so broad and his knowledge so extensive that one is baffled in trying to highlight his accomplishments.

"[19] While promoting the study of librarianship for others, it was his overarching view of the field as a human and not just professional endeavor that yielded such a diverse and acclaimed career that started, quite literally, at the reference desk of the Library of Congress's Main Reading Room.

Clapp coordinated the move of these documents and artifacts to the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and, most importantly, their proper protection from atmospheric exposure and deteriorating conditions by placing them in waterproof, hermetically sealed containers.

On January 9, 1940, the Captain of the Guards of the Declaration reported a crack in its upper right-hand corner, the result, it was determined, of expansion and contraction of the document from exposure to changing atmospheric conditions over time.

[41] After various consultations, it was decided to encapsulate the Declaration and the Constitution in sealed containers with slightly humidified helium along with an additional paper, created by the Bureau of Standards, to act as absorbent should a dew point arise.

Clapp additionally recommended that the Library make use of interlibrary loans in order to access the extensive existing collections in New York City and to avoid "unnecessary duplication".

Librarian Evans voluntarily included the Library of Congress, not an executive branch agency, over concerns for Congressional appropriations and voluntary compliance with Civil Service regulations.

"[76] The Report also noted publication by the Library of "the most comprehensive list available of motion pictures from the birth of the industry in 1894 to 1949", an important collection of titles for the bibliographic record and copyright purposes.

"[87] Furthermore, as an academic outsider and never trained as a librarian, "Clapp's fascination with applied technology brought into sharp focus the conflict that existed within the board between those who advocated pure research and those who wanted to pursue practice applications.

"[88] By 1958, Wright, serving on the CLR Board of Directors, "grew increasingly concerned about its influence and its results" and appealed to the Ford Foundation to "take action to redirect the council".

It found them by the score," including requests for "how to prepare for a censorship attack", lighting for lower-shelves in bookstacks, and "how to break up dating parties in the reading room", among issues that "didn't make sense".

"Then..." Clapp wrote, "It received a group of proposals which were potentially so important that they could not be ignored, consisting of grants for funding ALA representation at a German conference "on the subject of code revision", a Rutgers University exploratory committee to identify "the points at which research and development might be profitably brought to bear", an investigation "to identify the causes of deterioration in paper in libraries and to attempt to find correctives", and "to establish a closed-circuit TV system between the main and a number of departmental libraries at the University of Virginia".

[101] Clapp, on the other hand, conceived of these efforts as essential application of existing, large-scale industrial technologies to the more narrow purposes of libraries and their users, as well as to address the implications of these uses on copyright.

Ironically, Reingold criticized Clapp for the "assumption that the library of the future will either have a computer at its center or around its perimeter but that the store of information, miniaturized or not, will receive practically the same treatment as today.

"[118] W. L. Williamson of Columbia University (biographer of William Frederick Poole[119]) recognized Clapp's concern for "local self-sufficiency... micro-photography, storage collections, and deterioration of book stock" but dismissed his "brief chapter" in which "he suggests some of the principal uses he expects for electronic computers and other new devices.

"[123] While discussing the technical potential of microcopy (see Microform), Clapp wondered if current applications "failed to discriminate between the value of miniaturizing for the mere sake of space-saving, and its value in facilitating dissemination and in the consequent local availability of books.

"[125] Clapp clarified the benefit of microfacsimile not just for its savings in cost, i.e., inexpensive reproduction and preservation, but for its "important extension of the bibliographic and physical access which is afforded by immediate availability.

But since the still-increasing rate of production of informational records will make it even more difficult than now for libraries to acquire and catalog significant portions of the total, other means must be devised.

"[130] By extension, Clapp explained, "The spark needed to fire the succession of developments leading to this result is very simple – it is the commencement of the conversion of a great catalog to machine-readable form.

"[131] Using the example of the bibliographic database, MEDLARS, a CLR-funded project that saw breakthroughs in font control, Clapp saw its potential not just in terms of automation and dissemination but for reduction in reliance on expensive books that are quickly outdated,[132] assisting, thereby, the burdensome requirement of a library for "comprehensiveness"[133] in its holdings.

Into the 1960s, and response to those developing technologies, the expanding claims of publishing and multi-media companies challenged library purposes and processes regarding duplication, dissemination, preservation and access to copyright materials.

[148] No longer president of the CLR, in 1970 Clapp presented his undiluted views on the issue at the annual Rutgers University Graduate School of Library Service symposium, titled, "Copyright—the Librarian and the Law".

It would kill the vast exchange of interlibrary loans of journal articles which is possible only because libraries can send photo copies in lieu of the bound volumes which they are unwilling to lend on account of costs, risk of damage or loss and deprivation of their use.

[160] While defending the library industry and its public purposes, as Princeton University Librarian William Dix pointed out, Clapp "recognized the critical importance of copyright reform in the encouragement of scholarship.

Fenly points to a report that William J. Walsh of the Library and Clapp jointly prepared that served as a "'new look' at CIS, to be renamed cataloging-in-publication, or CIP" and which convinced Librarian Mumford to go forward with the program.

[176] Additionally, CIP's impact extended beyond the U.S. library and publishing industries, as it set an international example and standard adopted by other countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, the former Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom.

[183]Starting with his experience in delivering books stored locally to patrons at the Main Reading Room, Clapp essentially envisioned not just the concept of a computerized world, an idea that not unique to him, but its practical import to individual access to information.

During the Loyalty program episodes, Clapp was forced to walk a thin line between public policy, library industry politics, and his personal and interpersonal relations and beliefs.

[196] A biographic entry for Clapp notes, "He was the author of over 200 monographs and articles; he enjoyed book-binding, playing the flute, working with wood, sketching, writing poems, inventing devices to assist the library user, building a cupola – he was a true Renaissance man!

He is that singular man whose mind never grows stale or fails to find fresh stimulation in the work of the day; always accessible, always willing to devote himself to the problems of colleagues, he has an extraordinary gift for infusing others with his enthusiasm and imagination... We are not only better librarians – we are better human beings because of this journey.