In honor of the academic career and contributions of GSLIS Professor Emeritus W. Boyd Rayward to the field of library and information science, a festschrift containing essays by his colleagues has been published, composing the two most recent issues of Library Trends, 62(2) and 62(3). Rayward was presented with the festschrift on May 6 at a reception at GSLIS.
Essays in Honor of W. Boyd Rayward was edited by GSLIS Professor Alistair Black and Professor Charles van den Heuvel of the University of Amsterdam and the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands. Contributions were gathered from Rayward’s colleagues around the world, including those in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, and Australia. The essays were divided into four sections, with two published in each issue: (1) The Work of W. Boyd Rayward and Its Influence; (2) Documentation, Classification, and Information Management; (3) Libraries, Museums, and Archives; and (4) Information History.
“In presenting this collection of essays in honor of W. Boyd Rayward . . . we are not simply drawing attention to the work of a consummate historian but also celebrating someone who is deeply respected for his approachability, humility, and genuine interest in the lives of the many friends he has gathered around him over the years,” Black and van den Heuvel wrote in their introduction to the festschrift.
Rayward is a historian of information science and the scholar who brought attention to the life and work of Paul Otlet (1868-1944), a Belgian lawyer, bibliographer, internationalist, and pacifist whose ideas foreshadowed current digital and other technologies such as the Internet, hypertext, and Wikipedia. Rayward is an emeritus professor in GSLIS and the School of Information Systems, Technology and Management of the University of New South Wales. During his career, he has held professorial and deanship positions; has served as editor for Library Quarterly, Library Trends, and special issues of several journals; and was awarded the 2004 American Society for Information Science and Technology Research Award.