Harold B. Shill, Ph.D.

Harold B. Shill joined the School of Public Affairs faculty in fall 2005, following a distinguished career in academic librarianship, including service as director of the Capital College Libraries from 1991-2005 and leadership positions at West Virginia University from 1975-91. While serving as library director, he provided the vision and had a key role in planning Penn State Harrisburg's "Library of the Future," opened in 2000. His areas of research interest include: American politics, the U.S. Congress, information policy and politics, and the emerging area of E-Government.

Dr. Shill's research contributions include 40 journal articles, numerous conference presentations, and several book chapters, primarily in the areas of government information policy and library facilities design. He is also a co-author of Insurgency (University of North Carolina Press, 1970). He is currently engaged in a study of the American Library Association as an interest group. His research on library facility improvements and their impact on physical library usage (co-authored with Shawn Tonner) is widely regarded as the definitive research on this topic in the Library Science literature and has been featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education. He continues to serve the library community as an academic library planning consultant.

In addition to his research activities, Dr. Shill brings extensive experience as a legislative advocate to the classroom. He has testified before Congressional committees on six occasions, addressing the proposed privatization of federal information agencies, American scientific and technical competitiveness, library programs in the Higher Education Act and other topics. He has interacted extensively with Congress and helped formulate legislative policy as chair of the American Library Association's Legislative Assembly, chair of the Association of College & Research Libraries Legislative Committee, and Federal Relations coordinator for the West Virginia Library Association. He has also served as a charter member of the National Technical Information Service Advisory Board in the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Dr. Shill teaches courses in American government, the legislative process, political parties and interest groups, and E-Government. He is an active member of the American Political Science Association, the Midwest Political Science Association, the American Library Association and the Pennsylvania Library Association.

• American Political Science Association
• Midwest Political Science Association
• American Library Association
• Pennsylvania Library Association