Mary Elizabeth Downey

Mary Elizabeth Downey ( – May 25, 1949) was a librarian and activist who created and promoted library science education courses across the Midwestern and Western United States. She is regarded as a pioneer of the modern library movement.

Early life and education Mary Elizabeth Downey was born in Sarahsville, Ohio, to Dr. Hiram James and Martha Ball Downey. In 1903, the decision was made to close the library school. Downey, acting as President of the University of Chicago Library Students Club, wrote another letter to the dean of the university, requesting that the school show loyalty to its students by keeping the program open and continuing its work. Neither her letter nor the many other letters of protest the university received dissuaded President William Rainey Harper from closing the school.

Dr. Suzanne M. Stauffer writes in her article, "'She Speaks as One Having Authority': Mary E. Downey's Use of Libraries as a Means to Public Power":

During her time in Ottumwa Downey began a story hour in the library, invited Friends of the Library to give presentations on books, and gave talks on the history of the book and the library at the high school. She also established the Children's Library League, which met weekly to read and discuss books, with the motto 'Clean hearts, clean hands, and clean books.'

Downey was elected secretary of the Iowa Library Association for the 1904 to 1905 term. In 1906, Downey became the director of the Chautauqua School for Librarians, a short-course summer school which Downey would expand in 1918 into a professional certificate program. She acted as the school's director every summer for thirty years. Stauffer writes that Downey's main duties were to "encourage tax support for libraries, assist with the organization and cataloging of collections and the standardization of library procedures, increase the use of libraries, develop library extension, and encourage formal library training. In 1910 alone she made 216 visits to 116 towns; gave twenty-six addresses in support of the library movement to mass meetings, women's clubs, teachers' institutes, and other groups; and presided over district library meetings in six cities." In her addresses to the teachers' institutes, she called for teachers to utilize public libraries in education, promote the reading of "good books" (i.e. books that encouraged good morals), and provide education for librarians. She also represented the state of Ohio in the meetings of the Ohio Library Association, the American Library Association, the League of Library Commissions, the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs, and the General Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1916, she took on the position of state library secretary while continuing to work as organizer. After two years, Downey had visited every library in Utah multiple times, calling for tax-funded libraries, assisting with Carnegie grant applications, evaluating the libraries, recommending materials, and speaking before community groups.

Downey pushed for the passage of the County Public Libraries Act which established a county library system in Utah that provided public libraries to rural areas. The Act was passed in 1919 not long after the end of World War I, and Downey convinced the Library War Service to donate its unused books to Utah's new, rural county libraries.

Throughout her career, Downey continued to promote education for librarians by offering Utah librarians scholarships to the Chautauqua School, starting a traveling school that would hold six-week sessions in various places in Utah, and calling for library boards to pay for their librarians to attend school.

In 1921, Downey became the state library organizer for North Dakota and began reforming the state's libraries just as she had in Utah by calling for a county library system. Downey then returned to Denison University in 1923 as the school's librarian and received her M.A. there the following year. Downey organized the library's initial collection and promoted women's issues through a variety of mediums throughout her time there. Downey believed that librarians could instill cultural norms and mores in children by providing them with books that encouraged adherence to those values. She would reiterate this message in public lectures she delivered at the Chautauqua School for Librarians. As Stauffer writes:

Speaking in the Hall of Philosophy on 'The Evolution of the Library,' Downey concluded that 'it is the birthright of every child to have access to a good collection of books just as it is his birthright to have a free education' and declared that 'the development of a love for regular and for good reading is necessary to bring the child to the proper development.' Downey stated in speeches that public libraries could provide all the benefits of a university for the entire community.

In 1923, Downey spoke to the Daughters of the American Revolution, stating:

Feminism Downey was a member of the Columbus Equal Suffrage Association and advocated for women's right to vote.

Downey spoke out for women's equal employment in libraries by joining several other female librarians in asking the War Service Committee to stop protecting women from hard work. She also wrote a letter to the executive secretary of the Library War Service asking that the military lift its ban on women in the Camp Library Service.

Downey was a member of the American Library Association Council from 1914 to 1916 due to her position as president of the Ohio Library Association at the time. She would rejoin the Council in 1920 when she became president of the Utah Library Association and again in 1922 when she became president of the North Dakota Library Association. In 1923, she was appointed to a five-year term on the Council. Downey also served on the American Library Association's Committee on Legislation from 1920 to 1927.