F.W. Lancaster is no more!

F. W. Lancaster (79 years old), Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) professor emeritus at Illinois , passed away on August 25 Sunday. He is behind the term “Paper less Society”. Lancaster graduated as an associate of the British Library Association from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, England, in 1955. After gaining experience as a senior assistant at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Public Libraries, Lancaster immigrated to the United States in 1959. He became known for his revolutionary work in the evaluation and management of MEDLARS, the National Library of Medicine’s computerized bibliographic retrieval system for articles in academic journals in medicine and allied health professions. Though one of the earliest evaluations of a computer-based retrieval system, it continues to have a lasting impact on information systems today.