I have had the great opportunity to work with Mary on a number of occasions
and always appreciated her kindness, humor, and common sense. She was
always willing to help with any questions that I had and I know many of us
had that same experience. I followed in her footsteps as chair of the
MAGIRT Cataloging and Classification Committee and she made the transition
very easy. She will be missed.

Susan Moore
University of Northern Iowa

On Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 8:08 PM, Jon Jablonski <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Friends:
>
> It is with a heavy heart that I write to inform you of the passing of our
> friend and former colleague Mary Larsgaard.  Mary took ill last winter, and
> passed comfortably on Tuesday morning.  Up until early June, Mary continued
> to enjoy lunch outings and discussions of her reading list with friends.
>
> Mary arrived at UCSB as map librarian and assistant department head of the
> Map & Imagery Laboratory in 1988, and for her final year served as
> department head before retiring in June of 2009.
>
> Mary literally wrote the book on map librarianship.  It is called *Map
> Librarianship*, and Mary penned all three editions: 1978, 1987, and
> 1998.  She was a giant in the cataloging field:  frequently writing with
> Penn State’s Paige Andrew, and served for decades on the Anglo-American
> Cataloguing Committee for Cartographic Materials.  With Paige, she was a
> founding editor of the *Journal of Map and Geography Libraries*.
>
> Mary earned her Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of
> Minnesota, and holds a second MA in Geography from the University of
> Oregon.  Prior to coming to UCSB, she was Assistant Director for Special
> Collections at the Colorado School of Mines.  She also has the distinction
> of serving as president or chair of all three major American map library
> organizations: ALA’s Map & Geography Roundtable, SLA’s Geography and Map
> Division, and the Western Association of Map Libraries.
>
> Mary is survived by her sister Caroline Thompson.  A memorial service is
> being planned for Friday, August 4 in Santa Barbara, which is Mary’s
> birthday.  Details to follow.
>
> -jon
>
> Jon Jablonski
> Map & Imagery Lab
> UCSB Library
>