David Starr Jordan was born on January 19, 1851, in Gainesville, New York.

He was an educator and ichthyologist. He was inspired by Louis Agassiz to pursue his studies in ichthyology and graduated from Cornell University in 1872 with a master's degree in botany. Jordan initially taught natural history courses at several small Midwestern colleges and secondary schools. In 1875, he obtained a medical degree, M.D., from Indiana Medical College. He became a Professor of Zoology at the Indiana University Bloomington in 1879. In 1885, he was named the nation's youngest president of Indiana University and in 1891, he was offered the presidency of Leland Stanford Junior University, which was about to open in California. He served Stanford as president until 1913 and then chancellor until his retirement in 1916, promoting science education and Darwinian natural selection. He served as the president of the National Education Association and was a member of the Bohemian Club and the University Club in San Francisco. Jordan served as a director of the Sierra Club (1892-1903), president of the World Peace Foundation (1910-1914), and president of the World Peace Conference in 1915. In 1928, he served on the initial board of trustees of the Human Betterment Foundation, a eugenics organization that advocated compulsory sterilization legislation in the U.S. In retirement, he remained active, writing on ichthyology, world relations, peace, and his autobiography.

In 1875, he married Susan Bowan (1845–1885), and in 1887, he married Jessie L. Knight (1866–1952). He died on September 19, 1931, in Stanford, California.

Falconer Madan was Librarian of the Bodleian Library between 1912 and 1919.

Gerhard Lomer was born in Montreal and graduated B.A. from McGill in 1903. He earned his Ph.D. in education from Columbia in 1910. From 1903 until 1907, Lomer taught English and education at McGill, and in 1920 he was appointed University Librarian, a position he held until his retirement in 1948. In 1927 he succeeded in upgrading McGill's Library School from a summer school to a full graduate course; from 1927 to 1947 he was the School's Director and Professor of Library Administration. Lomer also served as associate director of the University of Ottawa Library School, and as president of the Quebec Library Association (1932-1933) becoming honorary life president in 1937. He wrote a biography of Stephen Leacock and collaborated on educational textbooks.