Past Presidents of ASIS&T

Roger K Summit
Summit was called "father of online systems" by Saul Herner. Lilley-Trice consider him a valuable contributor to the creation, management and expansion of DIALOG. According to Bellardo and Bourne, Summit was a major figure in the online retrieval industry. Summit foresaw the need/desire to give the public access to online systems. He realized that this could become a business (Bellardo & Bourne). He was the designer and product manager for the DIALOG online information retrieval system at its inception in the early 1960's and continued successively as Manager, President and CEO until his retirement in 1991. 

More Information Science Pioneers

History of Information Science


This Web page draws together a variety of different types of activities and projects related to the History of Information Science and technology as they have been documented on the World Wide Web. These projects and activities represent the work of organizations, associations, and, particularly, individual historians with an interest in the history of Information Science and technology. If you know of additional projects or activities that should be linked from this site please inform me, using the e-mail link provided below.

Bibliography of the History of Information Science and Technology, 1900-2004 8th edition
This is a revised and updated "edition" of previous versions of this bibliography.  This edition combines the North American and international citations that were previously listed separately.

Chronology of Chemical Information Science
Web version of a two-part poster on the topic. Funded by the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia, and the Univ. of South Carolina College of Library and Info. Science. Originally published in 1999 and updated on this site.

Chronology of Information Science and Technology
Draft version created by Robert V. Williams, Jan., 2001. Includes links to images to some of the equipment and people mentioned.

Conference on the History and Heritage of Science Information Systems (1998) Conference sponsored by the Garfield Foundation, Chemical Heritage Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, Nov., 1998. Follow this link to the pdf version of the proceedings and information on how to order the print edition from Information Today, Inc.

The History and Heritage of Scientific and Technological Systems: 2002 Conference Proceedings
Conference sponsored by the Garfield Foundation and the Chemical Heritage Foundation, held in 2002 in Philadelphia. 

Pioneers of Information Science in North America Web site
Project funded by the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) and the Univ. of South Carolina College of Library and Info. Science to locate and document the archives and personal papers of individuals and organizations (predominantly in the USA and Canada) considered significant to the history of Information Science and Technology in the 20th century. Site originally created in 1996 and updated on a regular basis.

Termatrex Information Retrieval System Demonstration Video (15 minutes)
(Netscape users need to open Windows Media Player first and then type in URL).  Id and Password: mcis@deis.sc.edu  ; DAVIS (use uppercase only)

What has Information Science contributed to the World? A Continuing Discussion
This page documents and continues the discussion initiated by Trudi Bellardo Hahn, ASIS&T President, 2002-2003, on the question of the types of contributions IS has made to the world.)

Links to other valuable history of Information Science and technology Web sites: