Hannah Logasa

Hannah Logasa Professor Emeritus
Native name	Анна Логаса (Russian) חנה לאֹגַסַ (Hebrew)
Born	February 27, 1878 Krasnoe, Vinnitsya, Podolia, Ukraine
Died	December 11, 1967 Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Known for	Professionalising school libraries
Awards	Phi Beta Kappa
Academic background
Alma mater	State University of Iowa
Academic work
Discipline	Libraries
Sub-discipline	School libraries
Signature

Hannah Logasa (1878–1967) is considered a pioneer of school libraries. Credited with identifying the necessity of libraries in school, Logasa worked to achieve strong interaction between the library, students, and teachers at the University of Chicago Laboratory High School.

Hannah Logasa was the daughter of Seth Moses Logasa, an immigrant to Omaha, Nebraska from the Ukraine and a Sephardic Jew, and her mother Ida (née Wasserman). She was one of four siblings. She had an older sister, Bertha Glikbarg (née Logasa), a brother, artist Charles Logasa, and a sister named Jeanie Deana Bogen (née Logasa). She moved to Omaha from the Ukraine when she was three years old.

From 1904 to 1914 Logasa worked at the Omaha Public Library. By 1908, she was a head librarian, and in 1914 was head of the department of statistics and accounts. During this period she attended class in library science at the State University of Iowa.

In 1909, education psychologist Charles Hubbard Judd arrived at the University of Chicago and in 1910, set up a study hall in the school library of the University of Chicago Laboratory High School. The library and the study hall were established in September 1910. The first librarian hired to run the library resigned after a short time because she had not expected the extra work the study hall and formation of the library would take. In 1914, Logasa was appointed head librarian at University of Chicago Laboratory School. In the interim, without a librarian, the library room had become disorderly. Logasa was very successful in bringing Judd's vision to a reality, building up the library collection, improving student morale, and supervising study.

In the late 1910s, Logasa was a member of the Commission on Library Organization and Equipment of the National Education Association and the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools chaired by Carl Casper Certain. The Commission published a preliminary report in 1917 and a final report, Standard Library Organization and Equipment for Secondary Schools of Different Sizes, in 1920, which set guidelines and standards for early school libraries. Her work in promoting school libraries, both at the Lab and nationally, earned her a position as an instructor of Education at the University of Chicago in 1928. In 1929 she began teaching home study courses in library science. After retiring as a professor emeritus, she returned to Omaha. She left the University in 1939, although she remained on the roles of faculty until her death.

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