Charles H. Davis
Senior Fellow 
Education and Professional Background
Ph.D., Information Science, Indiana University, 1969(Minors: Research Libraries, Toxicology)
M.A., Library and Information Science, Indiana University, 1966
Assistant Editor, Organic Index Editing, Chemical Abstracts, 1962-65
Research Assistant, Toxicology, Indiana University, 1961-62
German Government Fellow (Chemistry), University of Munich, 1960-61
B.S., Chemistry, Indiana University, 1960
(Minor(s): Math/Physics)
Charles H. Davis is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor at SLIS as well as a full member of the IU Graduate Faculty. He is also Professor Emeritus of library and information science at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, where he was Dean from 1979 to 1986. Before going to Illinois, he was Dean of the Faculty of Library Science at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and prior to that was an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and an Assistant Professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Research and Teaching
Dr. Davis's research interests include information storage and retrieval, chemical documentation, and abstracting and indexing. Most recently, he has taught courses on entrepreneurial information services, research methods, and computer programming.
Publications of Note
Books
Bullen, Andrew H. and Charles H. Davis, Database Techniques: A Primer Using Turbo Pascal. New York: Macmillan/G.K. Hall, 1993.
Davis, Charles H. (ed.), Database Management: How Much Power Is Enough?: Issues for Librarians and Information Scientists (Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing). Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois, 1991.
Davis, Charles H., Gerald W. Lundeen, and Debora Shaw, Pascal Programming for Libraries: Illustrative Examples for Information Specialists. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1988.
Davis, Charles H., Illustrative Computer Programming for Libraries: Selected Examples for Information Specialists. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1974. [2d ed. (with G. W. Lundeen), 1981.]
Davis, Charles H. and James E. Rush, Guide to Information Science. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1979.[2d ed. (in progress)] [Chinese ed. by Margaret C. Fung, Chinese Library Association, Taipei, Taiwan]
Davis, Charles H. and James E. Rush, Information Retrieval and Documentation in Chemistry. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1974. [Japanese ed. by Maruzen Publishing Co.]
Selected Journal Publications
Nisonger, Thomas E. and Charles H. Davis (2005). "The Perception of Library and Information Science Journals by LIS Education Deans and ARL Library Directors: A Replication of the Kohl-Davis Study," College & Research Libraries (accepted for publication 2005).
Shaw, Debora, and Charles H. Davis (2003). "American Society for Information Science and Technology." In Encyclopedia of library and information science, (2nd ed.) pp. 130-132. New York: Marcel Dekker.
Davis, Charles H. (2002). "Indexing and Index Editing at Chemical Abstracts before the Registry System." In The History and Heritage of Scientific and Technological Information Systems, W. Boyd Rayward and Mary Ellen Bowden, eds, pp. 182-189. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.
Charles H. Davis and Geoffrey W. McKim (1999), "Systematic Weighting and Ranking: Cutting the Gordian Knot," Journal of the American Society for Information Science 50(7):626-628.
Charles H. Davis (1997) "From Document Retrieval to Web Browsing: Some Universal Concerns," Journal of Information, Communication & Library Science 3(3):3-10.
Charles H. Davis (1995) "Beyond Boole: The Next Logical Step," Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science 21(5): 17-20.
Charles H. Davis and Blaise Cronin (1993), "Acknowledgments and Intellectual Indebtedness: A Bibliometric Conjecture." Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 44(10):590-592.
Charles H. Davis and Debora Shaw (1989), "Comparison of Retrieval System Interfaces Using an Objective Measure of Screen Design Effectiveness." Library & Information Science Research 11, no. 4: 325-334.
Awards and Honors
- Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Society
- Phi Lambda Upsilon, Honorary Chemical Society
- Beta Phi Mu, Library Science Honorary
- Indiana University Alumni Association Award
- Watson Davis Award, American Society for Information Science
- German Government Fellow