Obituaries
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Lesley Keogh, 68, children’s librarian at Wilton (Conn.) Library since 2001, died March 25. She had previously served as a children’s librarian at Bethel (Conn.) Public Library from 1982 to 2001.
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Susana Hinojosa, 74, a reference librarian and government documents librarian at University of California, Berkeley (UCB) for 38 years until retiring in 2009, died June 21. She was an active ALA member, serving on the Intellectual Freedom Committee and the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Racial and Ethnic Diversity Committee. She served as 2001–2002 president of Reforma, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, and as a member of the California Library Association’s Minority Concerns Committee. A strong union activist, Hinojosa served as president of AFT Local 1795, representing Berkeley librarians, from 1986 to 1992, and was an active member of the Librarians Association of the University of California. In 2010, she received the Arnulfo D. Trejo Librarian of the Year Award from Reforma, and in 2020, she was recognized by the 150 Years of Women at Berkeley Project, which highlights the untold stories of UCB’s women leaders.
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Jeanie Diaz, 43, a youth librarian at the Belmont branch of Multnomah County (Ore.) Library, died July 15. She had worked in the library system since 2015.
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Peter Spyers-Duran, 91, professor and dean of the library and MLIS program at Wayne State University (WSU) in Detroit from 1983 until his 1995 retirement, died July 2. In his career, he held library management roles at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB); Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton; Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo; University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee; University of Wichita in Kansas; and ALA. Spyers-Duran authored numerous articles and wrote or edited 10 books, including Austerity Management in Academic Libraries (1984) and Issues in Academic Librarianship (1985). He served on the editorial board of the Journal of Library Administration from 1989 to 1995 and, along with his wife, Jane, created endowments and scholarships for the benefit of students at WSU and CSULB.
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Phoebe Jane Smith, 91, who worked for many years in both the art and children’s departments of Seattle Public Library, died June 13.
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Randall Rosensteel, 84, a longtime member of ALA, the Catholic Library Association, and the Pennsylvania Library Association, died May 23. He spent his career working in various positions in the Parkway Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia, retiring in 2001.
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Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, director of the Faculty and Professional Learning Center at Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM), died March 8. She joined the university as a librarian in 1997 and held many roles there, including professor, dean of instructional resources, and executive director of MSUM’s Livingston Lord Library. She was also active in ACRL.
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Theresa LaNell Dickson, 76, retired librarian and administrator at Pioneer Library System in central Oklahoma, died April 8.
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Veronica T. Chiang, 87, librarian and exhibits director for 45 years at Pollak Library at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), died June 1. In collaboration with her second husband, artist Scott FitzGerald, she mounted more than 100 library exhibits. Together, they designed CSUF’s Atrium Gallery.
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Robert Britt, who worked in the East Asian Law Department of the University of Washington’s Gallagher Law Library in Seattle from 1987 to 2019, died June 23. He handled all aspects of Japanese legal materials at the library, and eventually did so for Chinese and Korean legal materials as well. He was active in the Council on East Asian Libraries. His publications included Japanese Laws in English: An Index to the EHS Law Bulletin Series, an index that greatly improved access to Japanese laws in English translation.
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Patricia “Pat” A. Wand, 81, longtime ALA and international library leader, died April 28. During her career, Wand held positions at Wittenberg University Library in Springfield, Ohio; College of Staten Island, City University of New York; Columbia University Libraries in New York City; and University of Oregon in Eugene. She also served as university librarian and professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and as dean of library and learning resources and professor at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. She chaired ALA’s Budget Analysis Review Committee and Committee on Legislation and helped to grow ALA’s endowment as an endowment trustee (and later senior endowment trustee). On behalf of ALA and other library associations, she testified three times before the US House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations in support of budgets for the Library of Congress and the Superintendent of Documents. She was also particularly active in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), serving on its board, as chair of its Budget and Finance and International Relations committees, and as ACRL representative on ALA Council. She helped found the ACRL Instruction Section in 1977 and chaired the Anthropology and Sociology Section from 1982 to 1983.
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Marilynn “Dale” Thompson, 79, director of Providence (R.I.) Public Library (PPL) for 34 years until her 2014 retirement, died March 25. In 2001, under her leadership, PPL received the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ National Medal for Museum and Library Service.