Harris B. H. Seng (1919-2004)

Harris B. H. Seng was born in 1919 in Wuhan, China, the son of the late Professor Samuel T. Y. Seng, the pioneer of modern library service in China. Following in his father's footsteps, he

Harris B. H. Seng

attended the University of Denver (1948-1953), receiving an MA in Library Science and a Ph.D. in Education. His doctoral thesis entitles "A suggested curriculum for Boone Library School". In 1951, while working on his doctorate, he was employed as a professional librarian, doing reader's advisory work at the Denver Public Library until 1955. Due to his outstanding performance his name appeared in the Who's Who in Library Service (1955). In the same year, Harris Seng returned to Taiwan, where he was on the faculties of various universities until his retirement from the National Taiwan University in 1995. Based upon his belief that the library is like a living organ, he created a chart comparing library functions with elements of a living organ. He advocated the philosophical theory that library science is a discipline of action, change, and automation. His writings are many, including books such as Reference Work and Reference Sources and essays such as "Little Magazines and their impact on American culture." Harris Seng received a Best Professor Award from the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China, as well as Distinguished Services Awards from the Library Association of China (Taiwan), the Chinese American Library Association, and the American Society for Information Science. He died of cancer on September 9, 2004 in Los Angeles, California.