Lois Mai Chan


Lois Mai Chan was an American librarian, author, and professor at the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science until 2011. Her publications on cataloging, library classification, and subject indexing were recognized with various awards.

Early life

On July 30, 1934, Chan was born in Taiwan. Chan's parents are Mai Wuzhi and Tuen-Mok Sau-Ng.

Education

Chan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from National Taiwan University. After moving to the United States, Chan obtained a Master's of Arts from Florida State University. Chan earned a Ph.D. degree in English Literature from the University of Kentucky.

Career

In 1966, Chan began her library career as a serials cataloger at the University of Kentucky. By 1980, Chan was a professor in the library sciences department at University of Kentucky. Chan began publishing books in the late 1970s, beginning with Library of Congress Subject Headings: Principles and Application, a text on the Library of Congress system of subject headings. She followed with texts on library cataloging, the LC classification scheme, and the Dewey Decimal Classification.
Chan received the American Library Association Margaret Mann Citation for her contributions to the library science profession.

Awards

Chan's husband is Shung-Kai Chan. They have two children, Jennifer and Stephen.
On August 20, 2014, Chan died in Kentucky. She was 80 years old.