Item Details

Description

The Charles Bourne papers consist of materials related to Bourne’s pioneering career in the online and database industry, including his work at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), UC Berkeley, and Dialog Information Services. Ranging in date from 1947 to 2016, the collection traces Bourne's career as well as his interest in documenting information about computer-searching systems, organizations active in the field, and people who worked in the industry.

Roughly a third of the collection consists of Bourne's personal project files, which include papers, presentations, and other activities related to his professional work. These include records from his jobs at Berkeley, SRI, and Dialog, as well as files from his consulting work for various universities, government departments, and national organizations. There is a separate series related to these materials, Series 2, “Unpublished writings and related research material,” which consists primarily of background research documents for two planned books that never saw publication.

The bulk of the collection is made up of Bourne's subject files on organizations and systems, people, and database suppliers. This group of records contains reports, instruction manuals, internal reports, and clippings about organizations active in developing computer-based search systems as well as stand-alone computer search systems. There are also files on organizations that were related to, but not directly engaged in, computer-based searching. Many of these materials were used as research for his book, A History of Online Information Services, 1963-1976. The papers also include subject files on people that Bourne worked with or heard about over his career. This portion of the collection contains articles and publications about or by these people, as well as correspondence, meeting notes, and some images and recordings. Also included in the subject files are records on database suppliers, which hold documentation about and by organizations that were making their computer-based databases available for computer searching.

Additionally, the collection includes Bourne's technical library, which consists of about fifteen linear feet of publications relevant to Bourne's computer and information science interests, including serials, conference proceedings, and individual reports and books.

Biographical/Historical Note

Charles (Charlie) Bourne is an information scientist and engineer who is a pioneer in information retrieval services. He specialized in areas such as search and information retrieval systems, library analysis, automation and evaluation, and natural systems.

Born in San Francisco on September 2, 1931, Bourne grew up in Los Gatos, California. After graduating from high school, Bourne enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve, where he spent several years on active duty and worked as an instructor. In August 1953, he married Elizabeth Scheidtmann and started courses at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), in the School of Engineering. Bourne received a BS in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Computers from UCB in 1957 and an MS in Industrial Engineering, specializing in computer technology, from Stanford University in 1963.

From 1957 to 1966, Bourne worked as a research engineer at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in their Computer Systems Lab. He then spent five years in private industry, working as a vice-president at Information General Corporation as well as consulting in the information industry. From 1971 to 1977, Bourne worked as a professor at the School of Librarianship and Information Studies at UCB. During this time, he was also the director of the Institute of Library Research at the university. Beginning in 1977, Bourne began working at Dialog Information Services, initially as a project manager and eventually as Vice President of the General Information Division. He worked there until 1992.

For much of his professional career, Bourne also worked as a consultant for libraries, schools, academies, and government institutions. Clients of note include the Stanford University Libraries, UNESCO, National Academy of Science, Library of Congress, National Agricultural Library, US Patent Office, United Nations, and Central Intelligence Agency. Most of his work as a consultant involved evaluating, developing, and upgrading information systems, serving on advisory panels, and working to increase access to information through improving technical information services in developing countries.

Bourne is the author or co-author of several books, including Methods of Information Handling (1963), which won the American Documentation Institute (ADI) Book-of-the-Year award, Technology in Support of Library Science and Information Service (1980), and A History of Online Information Services, 1963-1976 (2003), which won the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Book-of-the-Year award.

Bourne has also received a number of awards for his professional accomplishments. He was a recipient of the ADI/ASIS&T Award of Merit in 1965, was named a Pioneer of Information Science by ASIS&T in 1987, and was honored by the National Federation of Abstracting and Indexing Services for “Achievement in the field of Information Science and Distinguished Service to the Federation” in 1999.

Level of description

Collection

Date

1947-2016 (Made), 1961-1999 (Bulk)

Extent

97.58 linear feet in 66 record cartons, 19 periodical boxes, and 2 manuscript boxes

Subject

Information Retrieval, Information Storage and Retrieval Systems, Stanford Research Institute (SRI)

Collection title

Charles Bourne papers

Credit

Gift of Charles P. Bourne

Catalogue number

102776102

Lot number

X8308.2018

Download

102776102-Bourne.pdf (PDF 239 KB)