Early in his career, Paul Kobasa, M.S.L.S. ’77, once drove a four-year-old to tears while trying to explain ever so gently why the child couldn’t leave the library with a reference book.

Kobasa had just started a part-time stint at the Fairfield Woods Branch Library when he found himself in a mini tug-of-war with the disgruntled child who was clutching a book about trucks. The scene left Kobasa with a sense of where his library career would not be going.

Paul Kobasa, M.S.L.S. '77

“The experience led me to believe that I probably was not cut out for children’s librarianship,” says Kobasa. “I felt terrible. I was sure that he would grow up to hate libraries and librarians, would avoid taking advantage of the school library media center, and, as an adult, would vote against local bond issues meant to benefit his public library. And all of it would be my fault.”

Today, Kobasa is making up for that possibly traumatic episode by putting encyclopedias in the hands of children around the world. As vice president, editorial, and editor in chief at World Book, Inc., Kobasa plays a pivotal role at the organization, an industry leader in the production of award-winning encyclopedias, reference sources, and digital products for homes and schools.

Founded in 1917, the Chicago-based company publishes nearly 90 reference titles, including Animals of the World, Human Body Works, and Biographical Connections. The jewels in its crown, however, are The World Book Encyclopedia, the top-selling encyclopedia in print, and the World Book Web, staples in homes and libraries for their accurate, current, and reliable information for children and adults.

Kobasa was recruited by the company in 1988 and charged with developing topical reference publications. He took on the task with gusto, leading numerous highly successful launches. He also was instrumental in guiding the evolution of the company’s electronic publishing efforts.

In 2006, he was promoted to editor in chief. Today, he is responsible for the content development and business management of the company’s editorial operations for print and electronic publications directed to the worldwide school, library, and home consumer markets.

The position brings with it tremendous responsibility in the educational arena, which is one reason that Nancy Disbrow, associate professor for the Department of Information and Library Science, nominated Kobasa for the Distinguished Alumnus Award, one of Southern’s highest honors. Disbrow, who attended classes with Kobasa in the 1970s, remembers him as a student who was “kind of quiet, but very, very intelligent.” His work ethic was undeniable even then. “I could tell he would do well in his field,” she says.

Kobasa’s multifaceted position at World Book is much different from the job he expected to pursue in 1974 when he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Fairfield University and enrolled at Southern in the master’s program in library science. “My goal was to be a reference librarian in a college or university library,” Kobasa says.

“Friends here groan when my response to even a rhetorical question is, `let’s look that up,’” says Kobasa [center] with Photo Editor Tom Evans and Associate Manager of Editorial Development Cassie Mayer.

He worked at Fairfield University’s Nyselius Library, now the DiMenna-Nyselius Library, as an undergraduate and graduate student and immediately after earning his degree. But an opportunity to break into the field of scholarly publishing presented itself in 1977, and Kobasa was intrigued. Greenwood Press, now the Greenwood Publishing Group in Westport, Conn., had an ad in the newspaper for an indexer. Kobasa applied.

“I knew the company from my library work because much of Greenwood’s early production was the reprinting of out-of-print books appropriate for academic library collections,” he says. “I had enjoyed the abstracting and indexing work to which I had been exposed in library school, and the position in Greenwood was an opportunity to do that work. Because libraries were, and are, Greenwood’s principal audience, I felt I still was within the ambit of librarianship.”

He quickly rose through the ranks, serving successively as an indexer, production manager, acquisitions editor, and marketing manager.

Drawing on his library and scholarly publishing experience, he joined the American Library Association (ALA) in Chicago in 1983 to head marketing operations in ALA’s publishing division. He left in 1988, after being recruited by World Book.

Business has changed significantly since Kobasa started at World Book 20 years ago. The company once employed a large, permanent sales force that handled house calls to parents. By 1999, the sales force for that market was gone. Currently, the sales efforts focus on the school and library markets in the United States and Canada. Elsewhere, in countries where English is the principal language, door-to-door home sales are still profitable. Technology also has changed the business. Kobasa says one of World Book’s greatest challenges is showing people the value of being discriminating, even skeptical, about the information they obtain on the Internet. “Some of the information out there is opinion masquerading as fact,” he says.

Kobasa notes that the Internet’s defining rapidity of response tends to elevate efficiency over effectiveness. But misinformation quickly obtained is still misinformation. World Book, which has embraced digital publishing, is committed to providing accurate information in a user-friendly format.

Kobasa, who grew up in Seymour, Conn., and now lives in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago, recalls that between work and attending class, he didn’t have much time for a social life as a student, but he knew that his hard work would eventually pay off.

“The library school had the reputation of producing librarians who hit the ground running, so I felt studying there would prepare me well,” says Kobasa, adding that Southern provided a sound grounding in the theory and practice of librarianship. One principle that was thoroughly ingrained in his classes was that of client service.

Today, even though Kobasa does not spend his days at the reference desk, he points out that his work keeps him firmly connected to that insatiable thirst for knowledge that made him want to study library science in the first place.

“Friends here groan when my response to even a rhetorical question is, ‘let’s look that up,’” he says.

Kobasa’s principal activity outside of publishing has been in the area of community mental health through his involvement with the Cathedral Counseling Center (CCC), an agency of Episcopal Charities and Community Services of Chicago. Kobasa also was a longtime volunteer at Deborah’s Place, a Chicago organization providing housing and other services to women who are homeless.