A Pioneering and Independent Spirit chronicles the history of San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science as it evolved from a small school-library training program established in 1928 into the largest MLIS degree program in the world. Set within the heart of California's Silicon Valley, the School's history reflects the dramatic social, economic, and educational changes resulting from the information revolution in the 20th century. From the use of closed circuit television in the 1950s to microfilmed course readings in the 1970s to the delivery of courses on the World Wide Web, the School harnessed these new technologies to keep librarianship relevant as a profession and to make education for the field as widely available as possible. In March 2009, they took another bold step by going completely online. This means that now they are not only the world's largest MLIS program, but the first wholly virtual one. Based on extensive research in the university's records, Dr. Hansen shows how the School's tradition of entrepreneurship and innovation shaped its development between 1928 and 2009 and pays tribute to the administrators, faculty, and students who contributed to the School's success.

A Pioneering and Independent Spirit chronicles the history of San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science as it evolved from a small school-library training program established in 1928 into the largest MLIS degree program in the world. Set within the heart of California's Silicon Valley, the School's history reflects the dramatic social, economic, and educational changes resulting from the information revolution in the 20th century. From the use of closed circuit television in the 1950s to microfilmed course readings in the 1970s to the delivery of courses on the World Wide Web, the School harnessed these new technologies to keep librarianship relevant as a profession and to make education for the field as widely available as possible. In March 2009, they took another bold step by going completely online. This means that now they are not only the world's largest MLIS program, but the first wholly virtual one. Based on extensive research in the university's records, Dr. Hansen shows how the School's tradition of entrepreneurship and innovation shaped its development between 1928 and 2009 and pays tribute to the administrators, faculty, and students who contributed to the School's success.

Why do some feminists advocate male-female equality while others remain committed to gender difference? What are the sociocultural foundations of these seemingly opposing gender constructs and why has the American feminist movement failed to articulate an ideology that encompasses both? Debra Gold Hansen explores the origins of the equality-versus-difference debate by examining the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, which disbanded in 1840 over this very issue. After establishing a historical framework for women's lives in early nineteenth-century Boston, Hansen analyzes the membership of the Society along the lines of race, religion, and socioeconomic status. Through her findings, she concludes that many of the issues that estranged female abolitionists in antebellum Boston continue to divide women today, testifying not to the strength of the bonds between women but to the fragility of those ties.