UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #800
ROBBINS, LOUISE S.

ROBBINS, Louise S. (1944- )
Professor and Director, UW School of Library and Information Studies
At UW: 1991-2009

Interviewed: 2006	
Interviewer: Sandy Pfahler
Length: 2 hours, 47 minutes

Abstract: Childhood and education in Virginia and Indonesia; family life; Undergraduate studies at Mary Washington College; civil rights activities; Master’s degree at University of Tennessee and East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma; Teaching; politics and culture in Ada; Ph.D. studies at Texas Women’s University; Library work; Dissertation research; Faculty position at the UW School of Library and Information Studies; tenure process; experience as director of SLIS; hobbies and family activities.

Interview Session (August 16, 2006): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:16	Louise Robbins was born in Washington DC.  Her father worked for the 
government, usually overseas.  Her grandmother, a significant influence, lived with the family.  She has two sisters.

00:02:15	She talks about her neighbors and growing up in Washington.  Playing in Rock 
Creek Park with other neighborhood children.  She talks about her mother and father.

00:04:27	The James F. Oyster school.  The school had many international students because 
it was near many embassies in Washington.

00:04:58	At age 9, she moved to Indonesia, where her father was working for USAID.  
She talks about school in Indonesia.  

00:10:03	She recounts a visit to China in 2003 where she met one of her former school 
mates.

00:12:12	She talks about reading books from the USAID library and her developing 
interest in libraries.

00:13:08	She recalls some of the servants who worked in her family home in Indonesia.

00:14:24	They returned to the US in 1955 and moved to Virginia.  She talks more about 
her education and the town of Culpepper, Virginia.

00:17:19	She talks about going to an all-white school before racial integration.  Her 
experience as a minority in Indonesia.

00:18:12	Her father took a government job and moved to Paraguay.  Her parents separated 
and eventually divorced.  She talks about her mother.

00:22:33	She discusses the strong influence of her mother and grandmother.  She wasn’t 
close to her father after her parents’ divorce.  She talks about her later relationship with her father.

00:25:26	She talks about growing up in a household with limited income.

00:25:52	She talks about making plans to attend college.  She wanted to attend Bryn 
Mawr, but couldn’t afford it.  She attended Mary Washington College.  She talks about scholarships and working part-time in the library.	

00:27:07	She talks about campus life.  She talks about the limited career options for 
women at the time.

00:29:31	She majored in English and was certified to teach.  

00:29:50	She talks about her activities in the civil rights movement.

00:33:50	Working as a waitress and serving African-American customers.

00:35:37	She describes looking for a job and refusing to teach in a segregated school.  The 
influence of Liz Clark, one of her teachers at Mary Washington.

00:40:28	She talks about working at the library in college.

00:41:30	She talks about deciding to attend graduate school.  She won a Teaching 
Assistantship at the University of Tennessee and she decided to go there.  She completed two years of course work.  She got married in November 1966 and they moved to Oklahoma while she was working on her thesis.

00:43:27	She explains why she did not get her degree from UT.

00:44:10	Her husband taught at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma.  She 
eventually got a Master’s degree in Education there.

00:45:06	She talks about her two sons and her family life.  She worked for a time at the 
local newspaper.

00:46:47	End of Side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:46:49	She describes teaching for one year in an all-black high school in Oklahoma City.  
Her involvement with the NAACP.

00:48:11	She talks about the lack of political consciousness among young black students in 
Oklahoma. 

00:51:30	Her family returned to Ada after one year.  She talks about her civil rights 
activities in Ada.  The economy and culture of Ada.

00:54:50	LR talks about teaching at Byng School.  Superintendent Marvin Stokes.  
Reading instruction.  

00:58:39	She talks about getting additional training in reading education.  Her enjoyment 
of teaching people how to read.

01:01:09	She talks about becoming an elementary school librarian.  She starting taking 
library science courses at Texas Women’s University in 1981.  She describes her schooling and her eventual job at the library at East Central University in Ada, which she began in 1985.

01:04:55	She started working on a Ph.D. in January 1986.  Commuting between Ada and 
Denton.

01:06:33	She talks about her job at the library in Ada.

01:07:43	She discusses her decision to get the Ph.D. in library science.

01:09:32	Her dissertation on the American Library Association and censorship.

01:10:30	She talks about her husband’s health problems and his difficulty teaching.

01:12:09	She talks about taking an assistant professor job at UW in 1991.  She discusses 
her library work and teaching at UW.

01:14:44	LR returns to her time in Ada.  She was the first woman to run for, and win, a 
seat on the city council.  She talks about local politics and the effect of her government service on relationships at the school.

01:19:30	She talks about their efforts to promote and increase arts and cultural groups in 
Ada.  

01:22:59	She talks about hosting a large Vietnamese refugee family.  The international 
community in Ada.

01:25:32	She points out that in some ways she experienced more diversity in Ada than in 
Madison.

01:30:02	She talks about being glad they left Ada.  The community is shrinking and the 
economy is suffering.

01:30:52	She talks about her children’s education.  They went to Ivy League schools.

01:33:37	End of Side.  End of Tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

01:33:41	Robbins discusses the completion of her dissertation and the beginning of her job 
search.  She talks about her interview at Wisconsin and her initial impressions.

01:35:33	Her concern about the transition to a large university.

01:38:16	She talks about finishing her dissertation quickly in order to take the UW job.

01:38:32	The talks about moving to Madison.

01:39:46	She talks about the reputation that she and her husband had built in Ada.

01:41:45	She discusses her marriage.

01:43:30	She talks about her publications and some of her colleagues on the faculty.

01:44:28	She describes her tenure process.  The collegial nature of the department’s 
faculty.  Support from colleagues.  She was granted tenure on her 2nd try in 1997.

01:47:06	She talks about her husband’s health problems and his social life in Madison.

01:48:36	She talks about the process of getting to know people at UW.  Making friends in 
the Department of Afro-American Studies and other departments.

01:52:22	She explains how she became the director of SLIS.  The department had a 3 year 
interim director.

01:53:28	She describes the search and the candidates in 1996-97.  The search failed and 
the faculty decided to run an internal search.  

01:56:17	She talks about her support for the position among students and faculty.  She lists 
some of the factors that made her a good candidate.

01:59:30	Robbins became director after winning a secret faculty vote.

02:00:03	She talks about working with the Deans to improve the standing of SLIS.  
Working on budget and faculty hiring issues.

02:01:06	She talks about the status of the faculty in the department.  They are finally at 
full staff and many of the professors are well-established and well-known.

02:07:36	Robbins talks about the rapid pace of change in the field and revising the 
curriculum.  Technological advances and the difficulty of teaching practical library work at the university.  The frustration some students feel about the curriculum.

02:12:12	She talks about the fact that the student body is getting younger.  The varied 
backgrounds of the students in the department.

02:14:13	She talks about funding for graduate students.

02:14:50	LR discusses the climate for women at UW.  The SLIS faculty is dominated by 
women.  She gives her impressions about other departments.  Faculty mentoring.

02:20:27	End of Side.

Tape 2/Side 2

02:20:29	She talks about the absence of women in UW administration.  

02:21:09	Robbins talks about her recent research on libraries and the McCarthy period.  
Awards she has won for her publications.

02:22:51	She talks about how her book on Ruth Brown has affected race relations in 
Bartlesville, OK.  Her experiences with people from the community.

02:29:45	History of the library courses at SLIS.

02:30:10	She talks about her love of teaching.  She wouldn’t mind going back to teaching 
or working at a reference desk.

02:31:35	Community literacy programs.  She talks about campus organizations she works 
with.  Committees and boards.

02:34:15	Professional organizations.

02:36:30	She lists some of the awards and honors she’s won.  Wisconsin Librarian of the 
Year.  Most of her awards have been for research activities.

02:37:37	She talks about some of her hobbies, including photography and gardening.  She 
talks about her family and grandchildren.

02:39:55	Travel to Costa Rica.  Raising flowers.

02:40:27	She talks about her health and maintaining her energy.

02:41:47	She outlines some of her retirement plans.

02:43:20	She talks about the friendly nature of the SLIS faculty and her enjoyment of the 
job.

02:46:38	End of Side.  End of Tape.  End of Interview.

END