DR. SARAH K. VANN


In Loving Tribute
to an International Scholar,
Teacher, Philanthropist
and Community Activist




DR. SARAH K. VANN, professor emerita in the University of Hawaii’s Library and Information Science Program, passed away at the age of 96 on May 25, 2012, at Hi‘olani Care Center of Kahala Nui. She was a widely recognized authority in library history and international librarianship and a master teacher in library education. Born in Georgia, Dr. Vann received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Michigan before completing her doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1958.

Dr. Vann always stated that her forty-year career as a library educator was her crowning accomplishment. Before joining the UHM faculty in 1969, she taught at the Carnegie Library School in Pittsburgh, Columbia University, and the University of Texas at Austin. She brought to the newly established UHM library school first hand knowledge of Asian librarianship and expertise on the Dewey classification. She taught on the Manoa campus for 17 years before retiring in 1986.

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