Ann Hartness
Encyclopedia
Ann Hartness is an academic research librarian who was Head Librarian of the University of Texas (UT) Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection from 2002 to 2008. The library, established in 1926 [1], is the largest dedicated to Latin America in the United States [2], and is part of the Perry-Castañeda Library
Perry-Castañeda Library
The Perry–Castañeda Library is the main central library of the University of Texas at Austin library system in Austin, Texas. PCL is located at 21st Street and Speedway in Austin, TX....

, the country's fifth-largest academic library.

Retired in 2008, Hartness was a member of the first broad generation of women to rise to professional academic leadership positions in the US. Hartness worked for 40 years at UT Austin, beginning as a serials cataloger in 1969. [3] Her assistance has been acknowledged in original research by numerous scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

Hartness’ focus on Brazil and collecting trips there helped make the UT library a global resource for study of that country. In 2003, Brazil named her a Commander of the National Order of the Southern Cross
Order of the Southern Cross
The National Order of the Southern Cross is a Brazilian order of chivalry founded by Emperor Pedro I on 1 December 1822. This order was intended to commemorate the independence of Brazil and the coronation of Pedro I...

, the highest honor granted by that country to non-Brazilians. [4]

Hartness also directed the United States Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

 field office in Brazil in 1989-90. [5]

Biography

Hartness has been active since the 1970s in the permanent Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM), a nationwide collaborative effort among research libraries, founded in 1956. She was elected Honorary Member of the SALALM board of directors (Secretariat) in 2008. [6]

In 1972-73, while an intern at Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

’s National Library
National Library of Brazil
The Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil is the depository of the bibliographic and documentary heritage of Brazil. It is located in Rio de Janeiro, at Cinelândia square....

 in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Hartness began compiling an index for researchers of the statistics provided during the 19th century in annual reports by the governors (“presidents”) of the 20 provinces of the then Brazilian Empire. The work spanned 59 years of reports, from 1830 to 1889. [7]

This led to a comprehensive published guide for scholars, the 1977 Subject Guide to Statistics in the Presidential Reports of the Brazilian Provinces, 1830–1889, published by the Institute for Latin American Studies at the University of Texas. This later became an interactive online guide. [8]

Hartness’s published works also include a review of reference books since 1965 concerning Brazil, first published in Engish in 1990 and updated in Portuguese in 1999 (see list of published works). While much of Hartness’ work has focused on Brazil, she also published in 1995 a guide to political street literature in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

 during the early Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

: Revolution and Counterrevolution in Guatemala, 1944–1963.

A recurrent theme in her collecting and cataloging work has been material not available from commercial publishing houses, such as publications of government agencies, which she has described as “excellent but poorly publicized reference sources.” [9] From annual collecting trips across Brazil, Hartness brought back tens of thousands of volumes to Austin, much of it collected from such state, local, and federal agencies. Another focus has been “ephemera
Ephemera
Ephemera are transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters,...

,” that is pamphlets, booklets, and other written material of interest to researchers but produced by unions, churches, political parties, etc., and so rarely made available in libraries.

Hartness was a pioneer in the micro-filming of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

n library materials, in an effort to increase the efficiency of academic research in the field.

Published works, as author or editor

  • Subject Guide to Statistics in the Presidential Reports of the Brazilian Provinces, 1830–1889, Institute of Latin American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, 1977
  • Latin American in English-Language Reference Books: a selected, annotated bibliography, Special Libraries Association, 1981
  • Governments as Publishers of Reference Materials: Mexico
    Mexico
    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

     and Brazil, 1970–1980
    , Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, 1982
  • “Social Science Biblographies on Latin America,” in: Latin American Research Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, The Latin American Studies Association, University of Texas, 1985
  • Brazil in Reference Books: an annotated bibliography, 1965–1989 , Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press, 1991 ISBN 0810824000
  • Continuity and Change in Brazil and the Southern Cone: research trends and library collections for the year 2000 = Continuidade e mudanȧs no Brasil e no Cone Sul tendéncias de pesquisa e acervos bibliográficos para o ano 2000: papers of the thirty-fifth Annual Meeting of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Materials, Hotel Meridien Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 3–8, 1990; [co-sponsored by] Fundação Gétulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro and the Library of Congress Office, Rio de Janeiro ; Ann Hartness, editor. Albuquerque, N.M.: SALALM Secretariat, General Library, University of New Mexico, 1992
  • "Continuity and Change in Brazil," Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials XXXV, 1992 (paper included in previous publication)
  • "Introductory essay on bibliographies and general works", Handbook of Latin American Studies, Vol. 53, Library of Congress, 1994.
  • Revolution and Counterrevolution in Guatemala, 1944–1963: an annotated guide to street literature in the Benson Latin American Collection, The General Libraries, University of Texas at Austin, 1995
  • Brasil: Obras de Referência 1965–1998 , uma bibliografia comentada, Briquet de Lemos Livros, 1999
  • “Brasiliana nos Estados Unidos: fontes de referência e documentação” in O Brasil dos Brasilianistas: um guia dos estudos sobre o Brasil nos Estados Unidos, 1945–2000, edited by Rubens Antônio Barbosa, Marshall C. Eakin and Paulo Roberto de Almeida, Paz e Terra, 2002
  • “Brasiliana in the United States: reference sources and documents,” in Envisioning Brazil: a guide to Brazilian studies in the United States, edited by Marshall C. Eakin and Paulo Roberto de Almeida, Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2002

External links

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