Shavit, David 1936–

PERSONAL: Born June 26, 1936, in Haifa, Palestine (now Israel); naturalized U.S. citizen; son of Isaac (in road construction) and Penina (a homemaker; maiden name, Fogel) Shavit; married Penny Bradley (a psychotherapist), July 4, 1963; children: Rebecca Shavit-Lonstein, Rachel Reshef, Ari, Sharon, Robin Jennifer. Education: Howard University, B.A., 1963; Columbia University, M.L.S., 1965, D.L.S., 1984. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, singing, travel.

ADDRESSES: Home—829 S. 2nd St., DeKalb, IL 60115. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer. New York Public Library, New York, NY, periodicals librarian, 1963–65; University of Massachusetts at Amherst, acquisitions librarian, 1966–69; University of Denver, Denver, CO, assistant director of library, 1970–72; Shekel Public Library, Kiryat Gat, Israel, director, 1973–75; Libraries Department, Jerusalem, Israel, director, 1976–80; Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, assistant professor, 1981–87, associate professor, 1988–94, professor of library science, 1995–2002, professor emeritus, 2003–. Military service: Israel Defense Force, 1954–57.

WRITINGS:

Federal Aid and State Library Agencies: Federal Policy Implementation, Greenwood Press (West-port, CT), 1985.

The Politics of Public Librarianship, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1986.

The United States in the Middle East: A Historical Dictionary, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1986.

The United States in Africa: A Historical Dictionary, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1989.

The United States in Asia: A Historical Dictionary, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1990.

The United States in Latin America: A Historical Dictionary, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1992.

The United States Relations with Russia and the Soviet Union: A Historical Dictionary, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1993.

Hunger for the Printed Word: Books and Libraries in the Jewish Ghettoes of Nazi-Occupied Europe, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 1997.

Bali and the Tourist Industry: A History, 1906–1942, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2003.

Contributor to periodicals.

WORK IN PROGRESS: In the Footsteps of the Aristocracy: Americans on the Grand Tour.

SIDELIGHTS: David Shavit told CA: "I always wanted to write. I think that the need to write might be genetic, as several members of my family write. I did not, however, start writing until I stopped being a library administrator and began teaching at Northern Illinois University. One problem I always faced was the fact that I preferred conducting research to writing, believing, like Barbara Tuchman, that 'research is endlessly seductive; writing is hard work.'

"My interest was in library history and library politics, and about Americans who lived abroad. Later I also developed an interest in the history of travel and tourism."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, May 1, 1997, Mary F. Salony, review of Hunger for the Printed Word: Books and Libraries in the Jewish Ghettoes of Nazi-Occupied Europe, p. 121.