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Marta L. Dosa Papers

An inventory of her papers at the Syracuse University Archives


Finding aid created by: Maggie Teschler and Katie Swingly
Date: 2017



Biography

Photograph of Marta Dosa

Marta L. Dosa (1923-2015) was a professor in Syracuse University's School of Information Studies (now the iSchool) from 1961 to 1991 and an advocate of information sharing.

Marta Leszeli Dosa was born in Szekszard, Hungary on May 20, 1923. She earned bachelor's and master’s degrees from Pazmany Peter Catholic University in Budapest in 1943 and 1944. During World War II, Dosa left her home country to escape the Russian occupation of Hungary. After living in several places in Europe, including West Germany, Dosa, her husband, and their young son came to Syracuse in 1951.

Before earning her master’s in library and information science from Syracuse University in 1957, Dosa was an active writer and published three books in Hungarian. In 1947, she was awarded the International P.E.N. Club Intellectual Award and later received the Post-Standard Woman of Achievement Award in 1955.

After earning her master’s degree, Dosa worked as the University’s government documents librarian. She served in this position until 1960, when she became the librarian for mathematics and metallurgy. Dosa began teaching at the iSchool in 1961 and officially joined the faulty one year later. She taught a variety of courses, focusing on subjects such as international information policy, environmental information, gerontological information, and government information, and also served as an adjunct faculty member at SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

In 1965, Dosa’s husband Joseph, a Syracuse University librarian, died at the age of 52. A memorial scholarship fund for library science students was established in his honor by Beta Phi Mu. When Marta retired, the scholarship expanded to include her as well.

Dosa received assistant professorship at the iSchool in 1966, and was later promoted to associate professor in 1971. In the same year, she also earned her PhD from the University of Michigan, focusing on the German librarian Georg Leyh in her dissertation. She later published a comprehensive study based on this dissertation in 1974, titled Libraries in the Political Scene. In 1976, Dosa earned the title of professor at the iSchool.

Throughout her time in Syracuse, Dosa actively participated in various research projects and consultancies both locally and abroad. She conducted studies with organizations such as the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Sierra Club’s International Division, and the Center for Environmental Information.

During the 1970s, Dosa served as the Principal Investigator for the six-year long Health Information Sharing Project (HISP), which was intended to facilitate the sharing of locally produced studies, surveys, reports, and data files related to health planning, program development, and research. She also created and implemented an International Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in 1983. The clearinghouse was sponsored by the U.S. government and received cooperation from UNESCO. It was designed to provide assistance to economically developing nations by instituting seminars and programs on information. During this period Dosa also served as a consultant to the Kellogg Project, which aimed at making the University’s vast archive of adult education materials available in electronic formats.

Dosa served as an advisor to national and international organizations and universities, traveling to Central and South America, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Africa, and China. One of her international projects was with the Centre of Advanced Studies in Agricultural Communication for Rural Development (CASAC), where she promoted rural development by strengthening communication as an academic discipline. In 1984, she was named an academic specialist to Yugoslavia by the U.S. Department of State. She was also commissioned by UNESCO to study the feasibility of an electronic network that would link Syracuse University with information schools in ten developing nations. In the early 1990s, Dosa served as a visiting scholar for AT&T Bell Laboratories to study the privatization of information services in developing countries and policy implications.

On top of her research and consultant work, Dosa was a Fellow of the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID) and maintained memberships with the Association for Information Science, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, Maxwell School’s Center for the Study of Citizenship, the Gerontological Society of America, the National Advisory Council to the Acid Rain Information Clearinghouse, and the Special Libraries Association.

For her tireless work, Dosa received various awards and honors. Notably, she received the Outstanding Information Science Teacher Award of the American Society of Information Science in 1986, the University Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award from United Methodist Church in 1988, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Michigan in 1990.

Marta L. Dosa died January 8, 2015.


Scope and Content Note

The Marta L. Dosa Papers contain numerous pieces of correspondence, photographs and writings from Dosa's personal life, a variety of material from her professional and teaching work at the School of Information Studies, and publications and data related to her projects and research. The materials have been divided into five series.

The Correspondence series contains letters Marta Dosa received from 1963 to 2009. These letters range from both professional to personal and include correspondence she maintained with contacts abroad. Correspondence also includes printed emails that Dosa kept. Two folders of letters in this series are in Hungarian.

The Personal Materials series includes photographs from her travels and everyday life, various short stories, poems, memorial notes she wrote, and drawings from her granddaughters.

The Professional Materials series contains items related to her work as a scholar and librarian, such as her Curriculum Vitae, awards she received for her professional work, material related to her retirement in 1991, and faculty newsletters and calendar announcements that highlight her work or travels.

The Projects and Research series comprises the majority of the papers. The material in the series includes publications and drafts of Dosa's research, her PhD dissertation, punched cards, and various data and bibliographic information she collected for her work. The series contains materials from Dosa's work with the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID), the Health Information Sharing Project (HISP), and the Kellogg Project, among many others.

The Teaching Materials series includes syllabi and handouts from graduate and undergraduate courses Dosa taught at the School of Information Studies as well as a selection of student work.


Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

Please note that the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.

Please also note that the Reading Room does not have the proper equipment to read the disk storage materials in this collection.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from the Syracuse University Archives and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.


Related Material

Various newspaper clippings have been pulled from the collection and added to Marta Dosa's Clipping File.

The Syracuse University Archives holds a Clipping File and a Portrait File for Marta Dosa.


Selected Search Terms

Names

Dosa, Marta L.
International Federation for Information and Documentation.
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University.
Syracuse University. -- School of Information Studies.

Subjects

Health Information Sharing Project.
Library science.
Syracuse University Kellogg Project.
College teachers.
Higher education.
Librarians.

Types of Material

Correspondence.
Floppy disks.
Microfiche.
Photographs.
Punched cards.
Transparencies.
Writings (documents)

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Marta L. Dosa Papers
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Marta Dosa donated materials related to the Health Information Sharing Project and her other publications to the University Archives in 1983 and 2007. The rest of the collection was donated in 2016 by her daughter-in-law Nienke Dosa.

Processing Information

All materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes.


Arrangement

Materials are arranged alphabetically within each series. One exception is the arrangement of the punched cards, which maintain their original order.


Table of Contents

General Correspondence

Personal Material

Professional Material

Projects and Research

Teaching Material


Inventory