Ida Jane Dacus

Ida Jane Dacus (September 9, 1875 – October 18, 1964) was the first professionally trained librarian in the state of South Carolina.

She attended Williamston Female Academy, which is now Lander University. In 1896, the Winthrop Normal and Industrial College Following her junior year, Dacus was asked by Winthrop President David Bancroft Johnson to head the school's library. Her salary was $20 per month including housing. The following year, she and fifteen others became the first trained librarians in the entire Southern United States. The next year, the foundation increased their donation to $30,000 and added 500 books, contingent on the new library offering library methods courses and serving as a training school.

Later life and legacy Dacus retired in 1945 after working at the Winthrop library for 43 years. In 1959, she received the Mary Mildred Sullivan Medallion, the highest alumna award offered by Winthrop University. The library was dedicated to Dacus, who had died five years prior.