Today Robert Taylor passed away. Bob has had an immense impact on the field of library and information science. He was the dean at Syracuse who transformed the library science program into the School of Information Studies. He is also the pioneer in the field of reference who really invented the serious examination of question negotiation in 1968 (still my favorite article ever). Bob also played an immense role in putting the user at the forefront of information systems with his Value-Added model. I still use his texts and articles to teach doctoral students.
I had the privilege of meeting Bob on several occasions and he was always generous and kind. If scholars stand on the shoulders of giants, he was my giant.
Do yourself a favor and read his articles and books:
Taylor, Robert S. (1968). Question-Negotiation and Information Seeking in Libraries. College & Research Libraries, 29, 178-194.
Taylor. Robert S. (1986). Value-Added Processes in Information Systems. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
He could crystalize ideas without the burden of sounding self-important. He has an understated way of cramming in big ideas into all he wrote.
I just found his Memoriam page at:
http://ischool.syr.edu/taylor_temp/taylor_bio.html