Michael Buckland

Who is Michael Buckland?

Michael Keeble Buckland is an Emeritus Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information and Co-Director of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative.

Michael Buckland was born and grew up in England. He entered library work as a trainee at the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford after studying History at that University. After taking his professional qualification in librarianship from the University of Sheffield in 1965, he joined the staff at the Lancaster University Library in 1965, one year after it was founded. From 1967 to 1972 he was responsible on a day-to-day basis for the University of Lancaster Library Research Unit where a series of studies were undertaken concerning book usage, book availability, and library management games. In the meanwhile he received his Ph.D from Sheffield University. His doctoral dissertation was published as Book Availability and the Library User.

In 1972 he moved to the United States to Purdue University Libraries where he was Assistant Director of Libraries for Technical Services, before becoming Dean of the School of Library and Information Studies at Berkeley, 1976-84. From 1983 to 1987 he served as Assistant Vice President for Library Plans and Policies for the nine campuses of the University of California. He has been a visiting professor in Austria and in Australia.