Penn State Harrisburg
351 Olmsted Dr.
Middletown, PA 17057
Biography
Ms. Lear has three decades of experience working in libraries. She is an Education, Behavioral Sciences, and Social Sciences Librarian at Penn State University Park and Penn State Harrisburg, and affiliate faculty member for the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.
Ms. Lear has wide-ranging intellectual interests. One area of her research, service, and leadership is the history of libraries, which she studies as an intersection of U.S. cultural, labor, social, and women's history. Her book, “Made Free and Thrown Open to the Public: Community Libraries in Pennsylvania from the Colonial Era through World War II,” was published in 2021 by the University of Pittsburgh Press. She has published various scholarly articles relating to nineteenth and early twentieth century librarianship.
Another area of Ms. Lear's research, service, and leadership is children's and young adult librarianship and literature. Her publications focus on holdings of children's and young adult titles by various types of libraries, past and present.
Ms. Lear cites library interactions with children, formerly incarcerated persons, international students, LGBTQ+ students, military veterans, students with disabilities, and other diverse clientele as enriching her understanding of what college librarianship can be (and should be).
Ms. Lear currently (2024-25) serves on ALSC's Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal committee. She has also served on Served on the Editorial Advisory Committee of Children and Libraries (2022-23), as Chair of the American Library Association's Library History Round Table (2020-21, 2013-14, and 2009-10), as Chair of the Education and Behavioral Sciences Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries 2015-16), and Chair of the Archives and History Committee of the Pennsylvania Library Association (2008-17).
In 2015, she was the founding co-editor of Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, where she served until 2023.
Research Interests
- History of Libraries/Librarianship
- Children's and Young Adult Librarianship
- Children's and Young Adult Literature
Publications
Lear, B.A. (2023). LHRT Leadership, Programs, and Awards, 1998–2023. Libraries: Culture, History, and Society 7(2): 181-215.
Lear, B.A. (2023). Library History as a Community. Libraries: Culture, History, and Society 7(1): 83-90.
Lear, B.A. (2021). Made Free and Thrown Open to the Public: Community Libraries in Pennsylvania from the Colonial Era through World War II. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Lear, B.A. (2022). What's on Public Library Shelves?: Urban Holdings of Juvenile Works Recommended for Catholic Audiences. Catholic Library World 93(1): 28-39.
Lear, B. (co-author, 80%) & Pritt, A. (2021). ‘We Need Diverse E-Books:’ Availability of Award-Winning Children’s and Young Adult Titles in Today’s E-Book Platforms. Collection Management 46(3/4), 223-247.
Pritt, A. & Lear, B. (co-author, 40%) (2021). Are Ada, Katherine, Sally, and Sophie on-Shelf?: Holdings of Award-Winning Juvenile STEM Works in ARL Libraries with a Special Focus on Female-Themed Titles. Collection Management 46(3/4), 302-322.
Schmit, K. M., & Lear, B. (co-author, 50%) (2018). Frog and Toad's Ongoing Journey: Cooperative Acquisition of Award-Winning Children's and Young Adult Titles at a Multicampus University. College & Research Libraries News, 79(2), 89-92.
Lear, B. (2016). Nineteenth Century Middle Class Women as Economic Beings: The Early Life and Career of Hannah Packard James, Newton Librarian. Historical Journal of Massachusetts, 44(2), 88-111.
Lear, B. (50%), & Schmit, K. M. (2015). Frog and Toad Make Friends: Cooperative Development of PreK-12 Collections at a Multicampus University. College & Research Libraries News, 76(10), 534-543.
Lear, B. (2015). Libraries and Reading Culture at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1879-1918. Book History, 18, 166-196.
Lear, B. (2014). Pennsylvania Public Libraries and the Great Flood of 1936: Dark Clouds and Silver Linings. Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice, 2(2).
Lear, B. (Secondary Author, 50%), & Mulliken, A. J. (2013). Students with Disabilities in Library Instruction In Patrick Ragains (Ed.), Information Literacy Instruction That Works: A Guide to Teaching by Discipline and Student Population. (2nd ed.), (pp. 65-86). Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Invited.
Lear, B. (2013). A State Library Transformed: Pennsylvania, 1878-1921. Information & Culture: A Journal of History, 48(1), 26-49.
Martin, R., & Lear, B. (Co-Author, 50%) (2013). Introduction. Information & Culture: A Journal of History, 48(1), 1-7. Invited. Introduction to journal special issue on the history of state libraries.
Lear, B. (2012). New Journals in Education and Psychology: General Trends, Discoverability, and Ubiquitous Journals of the Decade, 2000-2009. College & Research Libraries, 73(3), 233-262.
Lear, B. (2011). Yankee Librarian in the Diamond City: Hannah Packard James, the Osterhout Free Library of Wilkes-Barre, and the Public Library Movement in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, 78(2), 123-62.
Lear, B. (2009). Were Tom and Huck On-Shelf?: Public Libraries, Mark Twain, and the Formation of Accessible Canons, 1869-1910. Nineteenth-Century Literature, 64(2), 189-224.
Lear, B. (Primary Author, 60%), Strnad, B., Fabbi, J., Hodges, A. R., Flint, W., & Smith, J. (2009). Directory of Curriculum Materials Centers (6th, 144 pp). Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries.
Lear, B. (2009). Recent Approaches in Contemporary Amish Youth Studies: A Book Review Essay. Der Reggeboge (The Rainbow): The Journal of the Pennsylvania German Society, 43(2), 49-53.
Lear, B. (2009). We Are The Difference: Libraries, History, and Helping Customers. Public Libraries, 48(6), 9-11.
Lear, B. (2008). Wishing They Were There: Old Postcards and Library History. Libraries & the Cultural Record, 43(1), 77-101.
Lear, B. (2006). ’Tis Better to be Brief than Tedious’?: The Evolution of the American Public Library Annual Report, 1876–2004. Libraries & the Cultural Record, 41(4), 462-486.
Lear, B. (2007). The Zen of Serving on Thesis Committees: Being a Midwife for New Scholarship. College & Research Libraries News, 68(10), 632-635.
Lear, B. (2006). Book History in Scarlet Letters: The Beginning and Growth of a College Yearbook during the Gilded Age. Book History(9), 179-212.
Lear, B. (2005). The Hippest History. Library Journal, 130(9), 52-53. Discusses the importance of researching, using, and promoting library history.
Education
MA, American Studies, Penn State Harrisburg
MLS, Library Service, Rutgers University
BA, History, The George Washington University