The James D. Hart Papers are the professional files of an educator and director of The Bancroft Library. Born in San Francisco in 1911, Hart was a fifth generation Californian with a passion for books and fine printing. His scholarly career at UC Berkeley included distinguished research, teaching, and publication. The collection contains extensive correspondence with authors, printers, and prominent Californians; drafts for articles, books, and other writings; speeches; material related to his academic career, and a small amount of personal papers.

This second supplement to DALB, the Dictionary of American Library Biography (1978), adds 77 notable, deceased members of the library and archival communities to the 302 entries in the main volume and the 51 entries in the first supplement (1990). The second supplement includes primarily those figures who died between 1987 and the end of the year 2000, though some 13 entries provide sketches for notable persons whose death dates are somewhat earlier and who were not included in earlier works. Among the entries are a number of African Americans, and nearly one-half of the entries are women. Some 80 contributors from the United States and Canada provided sketches, many based on original source material. This supplement follows the practice and format of the earlier volumes, though it allows presidents of the American Library Association to compete for inclusion with other nominations.

Consists primarily of letters from James D. Hart, as director of The Bancroft Library, to James L. Henry. The correspondence concerns the sale or donation of Henry's collections of material relating to 20th-century American authors to The Bancroft Library. Also includes letters to Henry from University of California officials regarding his gifts.