{{Short description|British librarian (1873–1966)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Kate Edith Pierce | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1873|11|30}} | birth_place = Kettering, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1966|3|27|1873|11|30}} | death_place = Royal Tunbridge Wells, England | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = | education = private | employer = | occupation = librarian | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Kate Edith Pierce''' (30 November 1873 – 27 March 1966) was a British librarian based in Kettering. She was appointed chief librarian and introduced an early open-shelf library. Aided by Carnegie funding she opened one of the first purpose-built open shelf libraries and introduced Inter-Library Lending in the 1930s.
== Life == Pierce was the first of two girls born to Emma Norah (born Mawby) and Edward Pierce in Kettering. Her father was an attorney's clerk. She rose to be a pupil-teacher at the private school she attended before deciding to be a librarian. There were no courses in librarianship, so she had on the job training at Clerkenwell public library. She was inspired by James Duff Brown<ref name="orb">{{Cite ODNB |last=Kerslake |first=Evelyn |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-70123 |title=Pierce, Kate Edith (1873–1966), librarian |date=25 September 2014 |volume=1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/70123|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref> who had designed the "first ever open shelf library system launched in May, 1893".<ref name="Kelly">{{cite book |title=Books for the People: an illustrated history of the British public library |url=https://archive.org/details/booksforpeopleil0000kell_z8c6 |url-access=registration |last =Kelly |first=Thomas |publisher=André Deutsch |location=London |year=1977 |isbn=0-233-96795-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/booksforpeopleil0000kell_z8c6/page/137 137]}}</ref>
In 1896 there were about 240 public libraries in England, only 16 of them were led by a woman. Pierce became the 17th when she was appointed to be the chief librarian in Kettering. Her new library was in the Corn Market Hall and it was, like Clerkenwell, open-access. It was one of the first four in the country. Because visitors were allowed to find their own books, subject classification became more important. Pierce used the Quinn-Brown approach (and she was still using it in 1937).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bowman |first=J H |date=November 2005 |title=CLASSIFICATION IN BRITISH PUBLIC LIBRARIES: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/12229/1/12229.pdf |journal=Library History |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=147–149|doi=10.1179/002423005x62196 |s2cid=146711663 }}</ref> thumb|left|Andrew Carnegie opening Kettering's new library (foreground with woman) thumb|left|Kettering's purpose-built Carnegie Public Library The library moved in 1901 and again in 1904 to one of the first purpose-built open access libraries following £8,000 from Andrew Carnegie.<ref name="orb" /> Carnegie had funded hundreds of libraries but he attended this one in person. He used a silver key to open the library and Pierce let him borrow the first book.<ref name="hulmeFBook">Northampton Mercury, 13 May 1904</ref> Pierce defended the right of women to become librarians, joining debates in the pages of the ''Library World'' journal.<ref name="orb" />
In 1913 she also took on the honorary curatorship of the Alfred East Art Gallery. Her open access library was admired as others introduced similar systems. She became a Fellow of the Library Association.<ref name="orb" /> When the Central Bureau for the Employment of Women wrote ''A Guide to the Professions and Occupations of Educated Women and Girls'' in 1919<ref>{{Cite book |last=etc. (LONDON) |first=Central Bureau for the Employment of Women, afterwards Central Employment Bureau for Women |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rj9tzwEACAAJ |title=Careers ... A Guide to the Professions and Occupations of Educated Women and Girls. (Careers After the War. Careers and Vocational Training.). |date=1919 |language=en}}</ref> she wrote the section on librarianship. In 1914 she was the President of the North Midlands Library Association for the first time when women librarians began to be the majority. She served for the last time as president in 1932–34 when the NMLA merged with the Library Association. After this she became the chair of the newly formed East Midlands Regional Library Bureau. This had been enabled by Carnegie Trust funding and it enabled "Inter-Library Lending".<ref name="orb" />
==Death and legacy== Pierce retired and died in Royal Tunbridge Wells in 1966. She left £2200 to the Library Association and this funds the Kate Pierce international award to enable international study.<ref name="orb" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Kate Edith}} Category:1873 births Category:1966 deaths Category:People from Kettering Category:English librarians Category:British women librarians Category:20th-century British librarians Category:20th-century women librarians