Obituaries

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James A. Benson, 78, whose library career at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, spanned five decades, died June 27. He held the roles of dean of libraries, chief information officer, dean of information resources, vice provost of academic affairs, and professor of university libraries before retiring from St. John’s as dean emeritus in 2010. Benson also previously served on the teaching faculties of Rutgers University, University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and as librarian at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) in San Marcos, Texas Southern University in Houston, and California State University, Chico. He volunteered with ALA’s Committee on Accreditation and was on the board of directors for the Association for Library and Information Science Education.
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Missy Dillingham, 64, children’s services manager at John P. Holt Brentwood (Tenn.) Library for nearly 38 years, died August 1. She was an active member of the Tennessee Library Association (TLA), serving as head of the Children’s and Young Adult Services Round Table and cochairing the Conference Planning Committee. She received TLA’s 2011 Daniel A. Taylor Memorial Award for her contributions to children’s and young adult services and the 2020 Frances Neel Cheney Award for her contributions to librarianship through the encouragement of a love of books and reading. Dillingham began her career at Sullivan County (Tenn.) Public Library.
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Judith Ann Schiff, 84, chief research archivist at Yale Library in New Haven, Connecticut, died July 11. She had worked at the library for more than 60 years and served as New Haven’s city historian since 2012. She collaborated with aviator Charles Lindbergh for more than a decade while assembling his archives and coedited his book Autobiography of Values, later coauthoring the biography Charles Lindbergh: An American Life. Schiff was also a founder or cofounder of several local and professional historical organizations, including New England Archivists, the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven, and the Ethnic Heritage Center of New Haven. She was author of the Old Yale column in the Yale Alumni Magazine and in 2020 was awarded the Yale Medal, the Yale Alumni Association’s highest honor for individual service to the university.
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Ross J. Todd, 70, associate professor of library and information science at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information in New Brunswick, New Jersey, died March 30. A faculty member for more than 21 years, he was research director for the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries and served as chair of the Department of Library and Information Science from 2014 to 2018. Todd published regularly in numerous journals, particularly on information literacy and information-seeking behavior, school libraries as pedagogical centers, the impact of school libraries on student learning, and evidence-based practice for information professionals. He previously taught library and information science at University of Technology Sydney in Australia.
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LeMoyne “Lee” W. Anderson, 98, director of libraries at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins from 1957 to 1985, died February 18. During his tenure at CSU, Anderson led the construction of Morgan Library in the 1960s, expanded the collection from 200,000 books to 1.3 million books, and quadrupled the library staff. He was also responsible for librarians’ faculty status at the university. Anderson served as president of the Association of Research Libraries in 1979. Prior to joining CSU, he held positions at Iowa State University in Ames and University of Illinois Chicago.
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Suzanne Sherwood Cane, 75, lower school librarian at the Lincoln School in Providence, Rhode Island, for 25 years until her 2000 retirement, died March 29. She previously served as librarian at the Inter-Community School outside of Zurich, Switzerland.
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Janice B. Cronkhite, 87, head librarian at Weller Public Library in Waitsburg, Washington, until her 2012 retirement, died March 26. She also served as a librarian at Walla Walla (Wash.) Public Library and Lewiston (Idaho) City Library.
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Jeanette Merkl, 96, former medical librarian at Winifred B. Baldwin School of Nursing at Orange (N.J.) Memorial Hospital, died March 23.
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Thomas F. Staley, 86, director of the Harry Ransom Center at University of Texas at Austin for 25 years until retiring in 2013, died March 29. As director, he pursued the acquisition of notable archives, including the papers of Norman Mailer, Doris Lessing, Tom Stoppard, James Joyce’s translator Stuart Gilbert, and the Watergate papers of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Prior to joining the Harry Ransom Center, Staley acquired literary collections for University of Tulsa’s McFarlin Library.
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Jean-Barry Molz, 95, director of public services at Baltimore County (Md.) Public Library for 33 years until retiring in 1996, died November 22. She provided leadership at the library as it expanded from 10 to 24 branches, instituted face-out shelving and flexible floor arrangements, and implemented a computerized card catalog. Molz also served for 13 years at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.
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Catherine Ann Liptak, 90, longtime reference librarian and director at Virginia (Minn.) Public Library until her retirement in 1993, died August 7. Liptak was an ALA member for 62 years.
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Marvin Kierstead, 84, librarian at the law firm Wiley Rein from the mid-1980s until retiring in 1995, died December 31.

Latest Library Links

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Nora Neus writes: “On a recent spring Saturday morning in Uvalde, Texas, young library patrons were learning how to set off a volcano. With help from Michelle Ramirez, outreach coordinator for the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas, kids carefully poured vinegar into a glass bottle with baking soda. Almost instantly, the concoction bubbled up and overflowed, to shrieks of joy and giggles. But the activity wasn’t just for fun. It was part of a grief counseling session for children following the massacre at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, that killed 19 students and two teachers.”

American Libraries feature, May 22
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Sheree Strange writes: “Nothing beats a good podcast while doing chores, taking a drive, working out, or even making dinner. And of course, we especially cannot resist podcasts about books. We want to hear about hot new releases, indie titles we missed, and creepy books to keep us awake all night long. Not to mention those coveted author interviews and spicy opinions. Find the best bookish podcasts—and we say “bookish” because not all are limited to solely book talk. A few will cover multiple topics.”

The Uncorked Librarian, May 20
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Chris Reber writes: “Ten students at Landisville (Pa.) Middle School staged a walkout and protest Tuesday morning in opposition to proposed school district policies that they call censorship. The Hempfield School District board of directors is considering a set of policies that would lay the groundwork for reviewing and potentially removing library books deemed sexually explicit or inappropriate for students. The students said the policies would hurt their education and infringe on their civil rights.”

LNP Lancaster Online, May 17
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Jason Scott writes: “While there are plenty of items at the Internet Archive that have no obvious home elsewhere online, there are also cases where we hold a copy of a frequently-available set of material, but we can provide it for much easier distribution and preview, including the ability to download the entire original set of files in one fell swoop. Such it is with the USC Sound Effects Library, a collection of .WAV files taken from rapidly crumbling magnetic tape and presented for reference, enjoyment and even projects.”

Internet Archive Blogs, May 20
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Tate Ryan-Mosley writes: “Robyn Caplan understands the fragility of digital memories intimately. After tragically losing both of her parents in recent years, Caplan treasures the digital possessions she inherited. She cherishes her mom’s iPad, access to their email inboxes, and message threads with both of them. It allows her to see the world through the eyes of her parents, she says. But on May 16, Google announced that starting in December 2023, it would delete personal accounts that haven’t been active in over two years. Photos, emails, and docs attached to inactive accounts will all be eradicated as part of the policy.”

MIT Technology Review, May 19
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David Nield writes: “Your laptop is going to pick up dust, grime, and fingerprints as you use it day to day—and not only does this make it less appealing to look at and work with but it also encourages bacteria to set up home on your portable computer and can reduce its lifespan. Like your bathroom or your car, it’s a good idea to regularly clean your laptop, and it’s not difficult to do. You may already have everything you need for the job, and if not, the necessary supplies can be sourced inexpensively.”

The Verge, May 16
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Andrew Albanese writes: “In response to a troubling wave of book bans, PEN America, Penguin Random House, a group of authors, and a group of parents have filed a federal lawsuit against a Florida school district over the ‘unconstitutional’ removal of books from school libraries. The suit, filed on May 16 in the Northern District of Florida in Pensacola, alleges that administrators and school board members in Florida’s Escambia County School District are violating the First Amendment as well as the 14th Amendment (the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution) because the books being singled out are ‘disproportionately books by non-white and/or LGBTQ+ authors.’”

Publishers Weekly, May 17

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