¼PAR@ ` ▄TEXT ` ╬Fairchild, Mary Salome Cutler1855╨1921librarianBorn in Dalton, Massachusetts, on June 21, 1855, Salome Cutler graduated from Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1875 and in 1876╨1878 was a teacher there. A period of ill health followed. With her recovery came an interest in the relatively new field of librarianship. After cataloguing a small country library in 1884 she sought the assistance of Melvil Dewey of Columbia College in finding a position. Dewey hired her as a cataloguer in the Columbia library, and in January 1887, when he opened his pioneering School of Library Economy, she became an instructor in cataloguing. In 1889 she was named head cataloguer of the Columbia library, but shortly afterward she left the college with Dewey and the school when he transferred his work to Albany. Fairchild became vice-director of what was reorganized as the New York State Library School, and, with Dewey deeply involved in other work, she was its chief administrator and guiding spirit for the 16 years of her association with it. Under her direction a strong curriculum was made stronger, entrance requirements were raised to include a difficult examination and, from 1902, a bachelor╒s degree, and the scope of library training was broadened to meet her ideal of the librarian as a professional educator in the public service. From 1889 she also served as librarian of the New York State Library for the Blind in Albany. In 1891 the University of the State of New York awarded her a bachelor╒s degree in library science. From 1892 to 1898 she was a member of the council of the American Library Association, and in 1893 she chaired a committee of the association that established a 5000-volume model library and compiled a catalogue for it at the World╒s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1894╨1895 and again in 1900╨1901 she was vice-president of the association. In July 1897 she married Edwin M. Fairchild, a minister of Troy, New York. In 1905, following closely upon Dewey╒s rancorous resignation, Fairchild fell ill and was forced to retire from her position with the library school and the library for the blind. Her professional activities were limited thereafter to a few months as director of the Drexel Institute Library School in Philadelphia in 1909╨1910 and membership on the council of the American Library Association again in 1909╨1914. She was a frequent contributor of articles to professional journals. Fairchild died in Takoma Park, Maryland, on December 20, 1921. «styl ` ! ¬ 5¬ ( 5¬ 3 !I " 5¬ # !I ¿ 5¬ ⌐ !I link `
