A Pioneer in Chemical Literature: Librarian Marion E. Sparks

Marion Emeline Sparks (1872-1929) was the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s (UIUC) first chemistry librarian in the early 20th century. During her tenure as librarian, she taught classes in chemical literature, published papers and books on chemical information, conducted bibliographic research, translated foreign language publications in chemistry, and became a trusted colleague of chemistry library patrons. In 1919, she self-published Chemical Literature and Its Use, the first chemical information textbook of its kind, with a widely distributed second edition published in 1921 (1). Sparks established the importance of the Chemistry Library at UIUC and trained Illinois chemists to appreciate and contribute to the literature of the chemical sciences.