For more than four decades, Paul Wasserman was a major figure in library studies and education. In 1965, the year he established the University of Maryland’s School of Library and Information Services, he published an influential book, “The Librarian and the Machine,” that foretold the growing importance of computers and automation in libraries. He traveled the world, from Bulgaria to Brazil, from Sweden to Sri Lanka, teaching librarians the latest developments in information management and technology.
Yet he never learned how to use a computer.
He wrote or edited hundreds of articles and books about librarianship and compiled dozens of thick reference books, composing them all with pen and paper. Among several books he produced since he retired from the University of Maryland in 1995 were a 458-page memoir and a cranky book about language that distorts or conceals the truth, “Weasel Words: The Dictionary of American Doublespeak.”
Books by Wasserman
Weasel Words: The Dictionary of American Doublespeak (Capital Ideas Book)
The Best of Times: A Personal and Occupational Odyssey
The librarian and the machine;: Observations on the applications of machines in administration of college and university libraries
Washington, D.C. From A to Z: The Look-UP Source to Everything to See & Do in the Nation’s Capital (City Guide Series)
New York from A to Z: Traveler’s Look-Up Source for the Big Apple (Capital Travels)
The new librarianship: A challenge for change