death_date death_place birth_place citizenship nationality name birth_date language article_title birth_name occupation
may 22 , 1938 atlanta , georgia marion county , indiana u.s. american ahern , mary eileen october 1 , 1860 english mary eileen ahern
 ahern , mary eileen librarian
mary eileen ahern

mary eileen ahern -lrb- october 1 , 1860-may 22 , 1938 -rrb- was a librarian and leader of the modern library movement.she has been selected as one of the `` 100 of the most important leaders we had in the 20th century '' in the `` american libraries '' list published in 1999 .
she was an important influencer and early organizer of libraries in america .
mary ahern was a crusader for the value of public libraries in educating the public .
in the first issue of the journal she edited , `` public libraries '' , as reported in the `` world encyclopedia of library and information services '' mary said , `` there is only one solution of all social problems , an increase in intelligence , a gradual education of the people . ''
the best source of this education , she believed , was potentially the public library .
this was a time in history when andrew carnegie was building libraries across the nation and melvil dewey created the dewey decimal system and help found the american library association .
mary wrote and spoke about this optimistic vision in the same editorial , the public library `` is the broadest of teachers , one may almost say the only free teacher .
it is the most liberal of schools ; it is the only real people 's college . ''
the `` world encyclopedia '' states , `` she saw a librarian as a teacher on all occasions . ''
mary shared this vision with government leaders , teachers and librarians everywhere she went , throughout her long career .
