MacALISTER,+John+Young+Walker+(Sir)

MacALISTER, Sir John Young Walker (1856-1925) Liverpool 1877; CL Leeds 1880; CL Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society 1884-1925 His services to librarianship dwarf even those to medicine where he was the architect of the present RSM. As LA Honorary Secretary 1887-1898 and as Editor and Proprietor of its 'organ', //The Library//, 1889-1898 he was the Association's leader, revivifier and the idol of young librarians. The LA's Charter of 1898 was essentially his achievement and his Presidency during World War I added further lustre to his fame. He also did much to help to establish the first full-time school of librarianship at UCL in 1919. He was made LA Honorary Fellow in 1898.

S Godbolt and W A Munford //The incomparable Mac// (1983).

Evelyn Kerslake, ‘ MacAlister, Sir John Young Walker (1856–1925) ’, //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 8 Nov 2009