Frank Hogg (1927-2022)

Frank Norry Hogg, OBE, ALA, FLA, MA  was the first and founding Principal of the College of Librarianship Wales (CLW) and President of the Aberystwyth Bibliographical Group in 1983-4

Frank was born in October, 1927 and brought up in Manchester and had worked in libraries as well as the School of Librarianship there. In February 1964 Frank was appointed to be Principal at CLW which was planned to be  a small college with an intake of up to 30 students per year and a full-time staff of three. At his interview though, Frank made it clear that he envisaged a college that would appeal to prospective students from all over the world. The first 12 postgraduate students were enrolled in October 1964.

By 1968, under Frank’s visionary leadership, CLW had become the largest library school in the UK with over 400 students and 40 or so full-time academic teaching staff, a large number of support staff and with more international students than all the other British library schools combined.

During 1969 Frank was a visiting international professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh in the US and there discussed ideas of a possible International Graduate Summer School (IGSS). Such a school was held annually at CLW with over 1,000 students from 70 countries attending.

Frank played a key role in the design of the CLW campus in Llanbadarn, and in particular the “library of librarianship” which opened in 1971. This library was internationally renowned for the scope and breadth of its collection, and attracting visiting scholars from all over the world. By 1972 CLW was the largest school of librarianship in Europe. Students went on study tours to libraries in the UK and Europe and academic staff were frequently seconded to work overseas. Frank also was involved in a wide range of overseas consultancies as well as visiting professorships in Canada, Jamaica, Korea, Indonesia, Peru, Poland, Tanzania, and Turkey. CLW and therefore Aberystwyth, became a significant location for library education globally.

CLW also had a significant impact on Welsh librarianship with staff in the Welsh Studies Department delivering core subjects in Welsh. CLW-educated librarians have played a prominent role in public, academic and national libraries in Wales, as well as the world for almost 60 years. In 1977 Frank was made President of the UK’s School Library Association, a post that he held until his retirement in 1989 when CLW became part of the university.

In retirement, Frank continued with his consultancy work as well as various voluntary work both in Aberystwyth (with the 50+ Forum), with library services for visually impaired users, and was also a volunteer in a medical research project on open heart surgery. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the University in 2019.

Frank married his wife Pat in 1954, and they had three sons. Pat died in 2000 and one of his sons died in 2022. Frank continued to live in Llanbadarn until a few weeks before he died in a nursing home in Norfolk which was close to his family there. 

Lucy Tedd