James Lyman Whitney

James Lyman Whitney (November 28, 1835 — September 25, 1910) was an American librarian who worked at the Boston Public Library from 1869 to 1910. For the majority of his library career, Whitney was the library catalog head from 1874 to 1899. Prior to this position, Whitney held assistant positions for Cincinnati Public Library and Boston Public Library from 1868 to 1874. After his library catalog position, Whitney was the librarian of Boston Public from 1899 to 1903. He then was in charge of the library's documents and statistics section from 1903 until his death in 1910. Outside of Boston Public, Whitney had experience in book publishing and bookselling from the late 1850s to late 1860s. During the late 1870s, Whitney was a co-founding organizer of the American Library Association. With the ALA, he was a board member during the 1870s to 1890s. He was also the organization's treasurer from 1882 to 1886. Early life and education On November 28, 1835, Whitney was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. Throughout the 1850s, Whitney attended Yale University for a Bachelor of Arts. During his time at Yale, Whitney joined the Yale Banner as a newspaper editor at the start of his post-secondary education. He then became a library assistant before working for the Brothers in Unity as their librarian. In the 1860s, Whitney returned to Yale for a Master of Arts. Career With Wiley & Halsted, Whitney briefly worked in New York for the book publishing company when he started his career in 1857. The following year, Whitney switched to bookselling in Springfield, Massachusetts when he was hired by Bridgman & Company. After the company was renamed to Bridgman & Whitney, he continued to work there until 1868. With W. F. Adams, Whitney became co-owner of the Old Corner Bookstore in the early 1870s. Whitney continued to co-own the Springfield bookstore leading up to the mid 1880s before ending his retail career in 1887.