Robert Mayo Hayes Papers, 1955-1976

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Summary

Creators:
Hayes, Robert Mayo, 1926-
Abstract:
Robert Mayo Hayes pioneered in the development of digital data storage and retrieval, information transfer, systems analysis and design research. His work has had a major impact on information policy and the economics of library operations. Spanning two decades (1955-1976), the collection documents Hayes' activities as an international consultant to corporations, academic and public libraries, as well as government organizations. The material reflects the scope of Hayes' intellectual pursuits: the economics of information transfer; copyright; measurement of productivity in libraries; coding applications; the relationship between information services and products; remote storage; and preservation.
Extent:
40 boxes (20 linear ft.)
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of personal papers and books related to Dr. Hayes' tenure as professor and Dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS). The bulk of the material includes correspondence, notes, clippings, reports, and papers related to various projects.

Expanded Scope and Content

The Robert Hayes papers are comprised chiefly of personal papers, and books relating to his work in the field of library automation and information science management. The collection includes correspondence, clippings, notes, reports, original publications, surveys, copyright and patent information, and proposals generated in large part by his consulting work and interest in merging automation and library management.

The collection emphasizes the vastness of Hayes' vision as an early pioneer in the field of computers. As one of the first to conceptualize the fundamental impact that electronic applications were to have on library institutions, he engineered the bridge between libraries and library science. Spanning two decades (1955-1976), the collection documents Hayes' activities as an international consultant to corporations, academic and public libraries, as well as government organizations. The material reflects the scope of Hayes' intellectual pursuits: the economics of information transfer; copyright; measurement of productivity in libraries; coding applications; the relationship between information services and products; remote storage; and preservation.

Although the collection contains some lecture notes and miscellaneous papers relating to Hayes' tenure at UCLA, his administrative records are located in the University Archives (Administrative files of Dean, Robert Hayes, 1973-1991).

Collection consists of personal papers and books related to Dr. Hayes' tenure as professor and Dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Library and Information Science. The bulk of the material includes correspondence, notes, clippings, reports, and papers related to his various projects.

Biographical / historical:

Hayes was born in New York City on December 3, 1926; married Alice Peters, 1952; received BA (1947), MA (1949), and PhD (1952) in mathematics at UCLA; mathematician, National Bureau of Standards, Washington and Los Angeles, 1949-52; member, technical staff, Hughes Aircraft Company, 1952-54; head of applications group, National Cash Register Company, 1954-55; head, business systems group, Magnavox Company, 1955-60; Vice President and Science Director, Electrada Corporation, Los Angeles, 1960-64; President, Advanced Information Systems Incorporated, Los Angeles, 1960-64; lecturer, Math Department, UCLA, 1952-64; Director, Institute of Library Research, 1965-70; professor (1964-91) and Dean (1974-89), then Dean emeritus (1989) and professor emeritus (1991), UCLA Graduate School of Library and Information Science; visiting lecturer at a number of national and international institutions; co-author of various publications dealing with information storage and retrieval; author, Strategic Management for Academic Libraries (1993).

Additional Biographical Narrative

Robert Mayo Hayes, formally trained in mathematics, contributed significantly to a number of advances in library and information sciences. Hayes pioneered the development of digital data storage and retrieval, information transfer, systems analysis and design research, and international consultation vis-à-vis library networks. His work has had a major impact on information policy and the economics of research library operations.

Born in New York City on December 3, 1926, to Dudley and Myra Hayes, Robert spent much of his childhood traveling. In 1937, following his parents' divorce, Hayes settled with his mother and stepfather, actor William Forrest, in Los Angeles, California. While attending San Fernando High School, he developed a love of mathematics and a desire to teach.

At the age of sixteen, Hayes was admitted to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). After two semesters he was drafted into the Army and entered the officers' training program. With the end of World War II, Hayes resumed his studies. He received three degrees in Mathematics from UCLA: a B.A. in 1947, an M.A. in 1949, and a Ph.D. in 1952, his doctoral dissertation titled Iterative Methods of Solving Linear Problems on Hilbert Space.

From 1949 until he joined the faculty of UCLA's School of Library Service in 1964, Hayes worked in the burgeoning computer field for various organizations in government and industry. They included the National Bureau of Standards (1949-1952), Hughes Aircraft (1952-54), National Cash Register (1954-55), Magnavox Research Labs (1955-1959), and Electrada Corporation (1960-1964). While working for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., Hayes met teacher Alice Peters, who became his wife.

In 1959, Hayes and John Postley founded Advanced Information Systems (AIS), a consulting firm, for which Hayes served as President. AIS pioneered research on computer-based information retrieval, developing some of the first generalized computer programs for file management. Ten years later, Hayes along with Joseph Becker formed a consulting firm, Becker and Hayes, Incorporated, where he served as Vice-President until 1974.

Hayes served as lecturer at UCLA in the Mathematics Department (1952-1964), as Director of the Institute of Library Research, UCLA and UC Berkeley (1965-1970) and Dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), UCLA (1974-1989). In 1991, after twenty-seven years of service on the faculty of GSLIS/UCLA, Hayes retired and became Professor Emeritus.

Hayes has continued to serve as an international consultant to universities and various governmental agencies and their libraries. Hayes' experience in business and computer systems analysis as well as in academic administration, teaching, and research has dramatically changed librarianship. Hayes served as visiting faculty at American University, in Washington, D.C. (1959, 1960); the University of Washington in Seattle (1960-1963,1965); the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1970); the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia (1980, 1993); Nankai University, Tianjin, China (1987); the University of Library & Information Science (1988) and Keio University (1994), both in Japan; the University of Loughborough, England (1989). For fifteen years (from 1977 through 1991), he served as co-director of yearly conferences held in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, focusing on universities and world information communication networks. Hayes rejoined Joseph Becker at Becker & Hayes, Incorporated in 1993 as Vice-President until Mr. Becker's death in 1995 (when Becker & Hayes, Incorporated was dissolved).

Hayes has served as President of the American Society for Information Science (ASIS) (1962/63); President of the Information Science & Automation Division (now LITA) of the American Library Association (ALA) (1968/69); Vice-President and Chairman of Section T of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (1969-1971); and Chairman of ALA Committee on Accreditation (1984-1986).

He was a Presidential appointee, 1979/80, on the Advisory Committee to the 1979 White House Conference on Library and Information Service. He served as Chairman of the Public Sector/Private Sector Task Force of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (1979-1982). Hayes was Chairman of the Planning Panel for the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on the future of the NLM collection (1985-1987).

Hayes has served as consultant to several countries: the United States, through agencies including the NLM, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; the Republic of China (Taiwan) and its National Science Council; the Saudi Arabian National Center for Science and Technology; the University of Kuwait; Thailand; Australia and its National Library; the United Kingdom and the British Library. He has also consulted with academic institutions and their libraries including Brooklyn College (New York); the California State University System; the University of Utah; the University of Michigan; the Nevada State University System and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; the University of Alaska at Anchorage; the Kiev-Mohyla Academy (Kiev, Ukraine); Khazar University (Baku, Azerbaijan); the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil); and Tartu University of Estonia. Hayes served for five years as Special Consultant to the President of OCLC, Incorporated on academic and research libraries (1989-1995).

Hayes has received several awards in recognition of his contribution to librarianship and information science, including appointments as National Lecturer by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (in 1967/68), by the American Society for Information Science (ASIS) (in 1968/69), by the National Federation of Abstracting & Indexing Services (Miles Conrad Lecturer in 1970), and by the University of Illinois (Windsor Lecturer in 1970). He was made a Fellow of the AAAS in 1970. In 1986, he received the Beta Phi Mu award from the ALA for his contributions to library education and the UCLA Alumni Association award for Professional Achievement. In 1989, he received an ALISE award for his contributions to library and information science education; in 1990 he was awarded the first Bozo Tezak Award from the Institute for Information Science of the University of Zagreb, Yugoslavia; in 1993, and the ASIS Award of Merit.

Hayes' publications include Information Storage and Retrieval: Tools, Elements, Theories and Handbook of Data Processing for Libraries published by John Wiley and Sons, Incorporated in 1963 and 1972, respectively. His two most recent books are Strategic Management for Academic Libraries (1993) and Strategic Management for Public Libraries (1996), published by Greenwood Press. He has served as editor for scholarly publications, including fifteen years (1963-1978) as editor of the Information Science Series of John Wiley, ten years as Associate Editor of the Journal of the ACM (1962-1972), and a continuing appointment since 1988 to the Editorial Board of Library & Information Science Research.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Robert M. Hayes, 1986.
Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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