User:Quercusechinus/Claribel Barnett

Claribel Ruth Barnett (1872- 1951) was an American librarian and the head of the United States Department of Agriculture Library from 1907 to 1940. She was an advocate for agricultural libraries and lead the development of new approaches to information sharing and collaboration among agricultural librarians.

Biography
Claribel Ruth Barnett was born on March 26th, 1872 in Kent, Ohio to parents George and Lucina Barnett. She attended Kent High School and Western Reserve Academy, then went on to earn a Ph.B. from the University of Michigan in 1893 and B.L.S. from Library School of New York State Library in 1895. She died in Washington, D.C. on March 6th, 1951 and was buried in Kent, Ohio.

Career
Barnett began at the United States Department of Agriculture Library (later named National Agricultural Library) as a cataloger in 1895. She became assistant librarian in 1901, was appointed head of the library in 1907, following Josephine Clark, and held this position until retirement on November 15, 1940.

With strong desire to share National Agricultural Library services as far as possible, Barnett established many library programs and services. Notable among these was a copying system for providing interlibrary loan. The Bibliofilm Service was established in collaboration with the American Documentation Institute. She also advocated for bringing together resources from distributed USDA departmental libraries. Began a program to bring librarians from land-grant colleges to Washington, DC to receive agricultural librarian training and intern at the National Agricultural Library.

Leadership

 * American Library Association, 2nd Vice President (1921-1922)
 * American Library Association, Agricultural Section Chair (1910 - 1914, 1927)
 * American Library Association, Oberly Memorial Fund Committee Chair (1923-1934)
 * American Library Association War Service Sub-Committee on Food Information, Chair
 * District of Columbia Library Association, 2nd Vice President (1912, 1919-1920)
 * District of Columbia Library Association, President (1929-1930)
 * New York State Library School Association, 2nd Vice President (1921-1922)

Editorship

 * Editor, Agricultural Library Notes
 * Associate Editor, Special Libraries (1919-1923)
 * Associate Editor, Agricultural History (1932)