Robert Mayo Hayes was born on 3 December 1926, in New York City.[2][3] During his childhood his family moved frequently because of his stepfather's acting career; as a result he attended over sixteen different high schools before receiving his diploma.[4] By that time the United States had entered the Second World War. He was drafted into the Navy, and gained acceptance into the Navy's V-12 program, in the context of which he took courses at the University of Colorado Boulder.[4]
After the War, Hayes completed his B.A. in mathematics at UCLA, in 1946; he went on to earn his M.A. in mathematics there in 1949, and his Ph.D. in 1952.[5] While completing his Ph.D., he worked in information science at the National Bureau of Standards.[4]
Career
Upon receiving his Ph.D. in 1952, Hayes decided to move into industry, and found a position at Hughes Aircraft, where he programmed a computer to fly an airplane.[4] At that time he also taught in UCLA's university-extension program.[4]
In 1954, he began working at the National Cash Register Company, and a year later he moved to Magnavox Research Laboratories.[4] His work at Magnavox was related to important developments in information storage and retrieval, such as the Minicard and the Magnacard systems.[4] Eager to share his knowledge in the field with students, he subsequently went into teaching; in the 1950s to 1960s he held teaching positions at American University, the University of Washington, and the University of Illinois, as well as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.[4][6]
In 1958, Hayes was hired as a vice president of Electrada Corporation,[6] where, together with John A. Postley, he created Advanced Information Systems as a subsidiary of Electrada.[4]
At the 1962 Seattle World's Fair ("Century 21 Exposition") Hayes led the training program in library automation for the professional staff of the American Library Association (ALA) exhibit, "Library 21", which aimed to introduce online retrieval to the general public.[1][7]
He and Joseph Becker co-authored Information Storage and Retrieval (1963), the most comprehensive text in the field at the time.[1] He also partnered with Becker in 1969 to found Becker and Hayes Incorporated, for the purpose of creating an interlibrary network for the State of Washington, a goal that they eventually accomplished.[4]
A lecturer in mathematics at UCLA since 1952, Hayes became a full-time professor there in 1964.[1] Around that time he played a role in the formation of the School of Library Service and the Institute for Library Research.[4]
He was inducted into the California Librarian Hall of Fame in 2022. [11]
Publications
Hayes, Robert M. Models for Library Management, Decision-Making, and Planning. San Diego: Academic Press, 2001
Hayes, Robert M. Strategic Management for Academic Libraries. Westport, CO: Greenwood Press, 1993
Hayes, Robert M. Libraries and the Information Economy of California. Los Angeles: UCLA, 1985
Hayes, Robert M. and Becker, Joseph. Handbook of Data Processing for Libraries. New York: Becker and Hayes, 1970 (2nd edition, Wiley, 1974). Winner of Best Information Science Book Award, from ASIS&T, 1971[12]
Becker, Joseph and Hayes, Robert M. Information Storage and Retrieval: Tools, Elements, Theories. New York: John Wiley, 1963
References
^ abcd"Robert M. Hayes" biographical page (April 14, 1999), in "Index of Information Science Pioneers", Pioneers of Information Science in North America: A Project of SIG/HFIS (History and Foundations of Information Science), American Society of Information Scientists (ASIS). Website hosted by the University of South Carolina. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
^"Past Presidents".
Association for Information Science and Technology. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
^"LITA Presidents". Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), division of the American Library Association. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
^Hayes, Robert M. (2009). "Robert M. Hayes, Professor Emeritus" [faculty page]. Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. Retrieved 2016-11-25.