This news indeed is very sad. Jon shared it via the WAML-L list yesterday and I responded in part to that post (along with many others):
"Mary was a JOY to work with on any project, and the larger and more complicated one was the more she rose to the occasion. As others have mentioned about her, she was kind, open to working with anyone especially on cataloging, generous with both her time and expertise. She mentored me soon after I joined the profession in late 1986, in tandem with Betsy Mangan at LC when I reached out for help there as well. Over the years Mary became colleague and collaborator, and best of all, a true friend. I last spoke with her by phone in late April and in her true style she didn't want to talk about herself and condition, so after we finalized some changes to the AACCCM we spent about ten minutes talking about broader librarianship issues. As you all can imagine, Jon's note yesterday hit me very hard and I am deeply saddened and will greatly miss Mary, her smile, her cheerful attitude, her sharp wit, and more."
The blow when receiving this news two days ago was difficult for me, but as of today most of my thoughts turn to cherished memories of the many things Mary and I collaborated on (often with Susan Moore), the times shared with our friends and colleagues at various conferences and meetings, and particularly the week a group of us who were working to finish Cartographic Materials: A Manual of Interpretation for AACR2, second edition, spent together at the Library of Congress in close quarters for hours and hours (and the group involved from across the globe made all of our hard work fun). We separately served in leadership roles for several map librarianship organizations and she was both a role model and a mentor for me in those pursuits as well.
I was so blessed to be able to work as a partner with Mary on many scholarly pursuits over the years and will be forever grateful to her that she thought highly enough of me and my work to want to do things like a special double issue of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly that became a super-useful book and most of all to co-found and then co-edit together the Journal of Map & Geography Libraries to provide a peer-reviewed vehicle for research articles for our colleagues and beyond.
Mary touched so many of us in one way or another and she will definitely be missed by all who knew her, whether briefly or for many years.
Paige
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