Dean Emeritus Charles H. Davis passes away

Charles Davis

Charles Hargis Davis ("Charlie," "Chuck," "Dave"), former dean and professor emeritus in the iSchool at Illinois, died peacefully at his home in Bloomington, Indiana, on September 24. He was 82 years old.

Davis earned a BS in chemistry from Indiana University with a combined minor in math and physics. He won a fellowship to study a year of postgraduate chemistry at the University of Munich. For three years, he was employed by the American Chemical Society as an index editor for Chemical Abstracts.

Davis earned an MA in library science and PhD in information science from Indiana University, specializing in computer programs dealing with chemical information retrieval. He joined the Drexel University Graduate School of Library Science as an assistant professor in 1969. Three years later, he joined the University of Michigan School of Library Science as an associate professor with tenure. He then moved to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, as professor and dean of the Faculty of Library Science. In 1979, he was recruited as dean of the iSchool at the University of Illinois. Under his leadership, the name of the school changed from Graduate School of Library Science to Graduate School of Library and Information Science.  He served as dean until 1986, continuing as a professor until his retirement from Illinois in 1993 as professor emeritus. He then became a senior fellow and adjunct professor at Indiana University’s School of Library and Information Science (subsequently the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering) and a full member of the IU graduate faculty.

Davis was an active member of the American Society for Information Science, serving as president of the organization from 1982-1983. His two books with James E. Rush, Information Retrieval and Documentation in Chemistry, and Guide to Information Science, were foundational for the study of information science. He and Debora Shaw co-edited the collaboratively written Introduction to Information Science and Technology, published for the American Society for Information Science and Technology.

He is survived by his wife, Debora (Ralf) Shaw, who was a member of the Illinois iSchool faculty from 1984-1988 before joining the faculty of the iSchool at Indiana University. 

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