Dear friends and colleagues

I did not learn of the passing of Nancy Kandoian until recently, andhope 
the community won’t mind if I post a few thoughts.

I worked with Nancy at The New York Public Library MapDivision from 1986 
until 1994. I had worked with maps previously, at the Newark(NJ) Public 
Library, and cataloging collections of historical maps at theMorristown 
(NJ) Public Library and Rutgers University Libraries SpecialCollections 
Department. Based on this experience, I was hired for a one 
year,grant-funded project to catalog a collection of maps of Latin 
America at NYPL.I thought I knew how to catalog maps when I arrived at 
5th Avenueand 42nd Street, and then I met Nancy, who taught me how to 
reallycatalog cartographic materials. Nancy was a generous and gracious 
teacher, andI owe much of the map cataloging knowledge I have used and 
passed on in mycareer to her. It wasn’t long before I became the map 
referencespecialist and later the assistant chief of the Division, and 
it was a joy towork with Nancy, Alice Hudson, and our wonderful staff. 
Whenever I see the NYPL appear in the background of a movie or tv 
program, which is more often thanyou’d expect, I think of the days when 
my ‘office’ was next to one of thosewindows, and how remarkable that 
time was.

Nancy lived in New Jersey, as I did at the time, and we hadenough in 
common to become friends as well as colleagues. For eight years, 
ourlockers were next to each other, and I’d watch her put on her LL Bean 
boots andgather up her other LL Bean paraphernalia, and often we’d head 
to the PATHstation on 33rd Street together on our way to Hoboken to 
catch ourdifferent trains home. She would tell me about her love of 
Maine, and of herArmenian ancestry, along with her baking skills.

Without Nancy, I doubt I would have become the map catalogerI've been 
for many years on both sides of the Atlantic. As a teacher and 
librarian,she had the patience of a saint and the knowledge of a 
mastermind. As a friendshe was always generous and humble. She worked 
hard not only for the users ofthe NYPL map collection, but for the 
profession as well, to which so manyothers have testified here. Nancy 
was devoted to the maps she catalogued, butmore so to the readers who 
would be able to find and use them because of her efforts.The last time 
I heard from her, she told me that she was anxious to get back tothe 
Library to deal with the everchanging stack of uncataloged maps that 
tookup most of her desk in all the years I knew her. I’ll miss her, as 
will allthose maps, as well as everyone who goes to the Map Division and 
finds the map thatanswers their question, even if they don’t know that 
they owe it to Nancy.

Take care all.

April Carlucci
Still in London, England