ArticleslgStudy

astronomy

Lester Asheim

Lester Asheim is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lester Asheim rather than just read about it. In short: Lester Eugene Asheim (January 22, 1914 – July 1, 1997) was an American librarian and scholar of library science and film history. He was on the faculty of the University of Chicago Graduate Library School and the University of North Carolina and held positions in the American Library Association (ALA).

Lester Asheim — main illustration
Lester Asheim — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Lester Asheim belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Lester Asheim to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Lester Asheim from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lester Eugene Asheim (January 22, 1914 – July 1, 1997) was an American librarian and scholar of library science and film history. He was on the faculty of the University of Chicago Graduate Library School and the University of North Carolina and held positions in the American Library Association (ALA). He was included among the "100 most important leaders we had in the 20th century" by the American Library Association.

Early life Lester Asheim was born on January 22, 1914, in Spokane, Washington. His family moved to Seattle, which is where he grew up until he went to the University of Washington. While there he earned two undergraduate degrees, one in English in 1936, and another in Librarianship in 1937. He also earned his master's degree in American literature in 1941 from the same institution. When the United States entered World War II, Asheim joined the Army Signal Corps for three years. After his tour of duty, Asheim attended the University of Chicago. He earned his Ph.D. in librarianship from the university's graduate program in 1949. His dissertation, From Book to Film, was the subject of an analysis in Hollywood Quarterly.

Academic life Asheim's first faculty position was at the University of Chicago, which started in 1948 while he was still attaining his Ph.D. He became dean in 1952 and held the position until he left the school in 1961. From 1961 until 1971 he held two different positions with the American Library Association (ALA). His first was director of International relations until 1966, then he moved on to be the director of the ALA's office for library education. Asheim left the ALA in 1971 to return to the University of Chicago as a faculty member. In 1975 he accepted a position as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina. He remained at the School of Information and Library Science until his retirement in 1984. His papers are archived at the Southern Historical Collection of the Louis Round Wilson Library on the University of North Carolina at the Chapel Hill campus

Death and afterward Asheim died on July 1, 1997, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Library and Science department at the University Of North Carolina has created a scholarship fund in his name.

Contribution to library science Asheim made some of the most important contributions in Library science through his work on censorship in the library atmosphere. Asheim was an active librarian in a time of great growth in the library science community. His most famous article entitled "Not Censorship, But Selection" has become as ingrained to library science as the five laws of Ranganathan. Asheim's article articulated the difference between censorship and selection in several parts that address each of the problems that were associated with collection continuation. He presents and advocates several rules that librarians should follow in deciding what materials to include and exclude in their libraries' collections. Asheim's article is still cited by library science community decades later when dealing with the problems of cyber materials. The article "Lester Asheim in Cyberspace: A tribute to Sound reasoning" by June Pinnell-Stephens takes Asheim's arguments and applies them to the cyber age.

Published works Asheim, Lester, ed. A Forum on the Public Library Inquiry : The Conference at the University of Chicago Graduate Library School August 8–13.1949. Oxford University Press: Columbia University Press; 1950. Asheim, Lester (September 1953). "Not Censorship But Selection". Wilson Library Bulletin. 28: 63–67. Asheim, Lester E. "Training needs of librarians doing adult education work." The Library Quarterly. 1956:153-154. Asheim L. The Humanities and the Library: Problems in the Interpretation Evaluation and Use of Library Materials. Chicago: American Library Association; 1957. Asheim, L. E. (1983). Selection and censorship: a reappraisal. Wilson Library Bulletin, 58, 180–184. Asheim L Library of Congress. The Reader-Viewer-Listener: An Essay in Communication. Washington: Library of Congress; 1987.

Awards Professor Asheim received many awards during his lifetime. These included:

University of Washington Distinguished Alumni Award in 1966. Illinois Library Association Intellectual Freedom Award in 1966. Beta Phi Mu Award for Distinguished Service to Education for Librarianship in 1973. The Joseph W. Lippincott Award from the American Library Association in 1976. American Library Association Honorary Membership in 1984. ALISE (Association for Library and Information Science Education) Award for Professional contribution to Library and Information Science Education in 1992. In 1979, in honor of Asheim's 65th birthday, the festschrift, a collection of articles written in his honor, As Much to Learn as to Teach, was published.

References

External links Asheim, Lester (1914-1997) | The American Library Association Archives

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lester Asheim

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lester Asheim claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lester Asheim before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lester Asheim ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lester Asheim

In research
Lester Asheim appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Lester Asheim in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Lester Asheim is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1914 births, 1997 deaths, 20th-century American historians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Lester Asheim outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Lester Asheim in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Lester Asheim means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Lester Asheim out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lester Asheim in simple terms?

Lester Eugene Asheim (January 22, 1914 – July 1, 1997) was an American librarian and scholar of library science and film history. He was on the faculty of the University of Chicago Graduate Library School and the University of North Carolina and held positions in the American Library Association (A…

Why does Lester Asheim matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lester Asheim?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lester Asheim.

Tags

  • 1914 births
  • 1997 deaths
  • 20th-century American historians
  • 20th-century American librarians
  • Academics from Spokane, Washington
  • American film historians
  • American librarianship and human rights
  • Censorship
  • Librarians from Washington (state)
  • Library science scholars
  • University of Chicago Graduate Library School alumni
  • University of Chicago faculty

Keep exploring