Wayne A. Wiegand, a native of Manitowoc, WI, is called the “dean of American library historians.” He is the F. William Summers Professor of Library and Information Studies and Professor of American Studies emeritus at Florida State University. While in Wisconsin Wiegand served as a professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1987 to 2002. Wiegand is an outstanding teacher who influenced numerous Wisconsin librarians and an innovative researcher who utilizes qualitative and flexible strategies from the broader fields of the social sciences and humanities in his research. At UW-SLIS Wiegand was a co-founder and director of the Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America (now the Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture), a nationally respected print history research institution. He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles about the history of libraries and librarianship, a number of which have included significant aspects of the history of Wisconsin libraries. His latest book, published in October 2015, is Part of Our Lives: A People’s History of the American Public Library.
Wiegand was born in Manitowoc, WI on April 15, 1946. He received a BA in history at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh (1968), an MA in history at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (1970), and an MLS at Western Michigan University and a Ph.D. in history at Southern Illinois University (1974). He was Librarian at Urbana College in Ohio (1974-1976), and on the faculty of the College of Library Science at the University of Kentucky (1976-1986). After teaching at UW-SLIS (1987-2002), Wiegand moved to Tallahassee, FL in 2003 where he joined the faculty of Florida State University. While at FSU Wiegand organized and for six years served as Director of the Florida Book Awards, now the nation’s most comprehensive state book awards program. He retired in 2010 from Florida State University and currently resides with his wife in Walnut Creek, CA.