To my colleagues & friends, I will also add
a few words
about Mary Larsgaard. Looking
back, I
realize what a huge impact she had on my career, and how our paths
overlapped
at various points. I came
to know Mary in
my 'baby' librarian days –in the mid 1990s, through ALA MAGERT. I have some vague memories of
her discussing
the Alexandria Digital Library – she always conveyed a mix of
excitement about
its evolution and frustrations about technical details (as is
typical with
these kind of things). It was groundbreaking work. I wish I would have listened
a bit closer! A
few years later, I got to work with Mary when I wrote a paper for
the landmark map
cataloging issue in CCQ (vol. 27) that she and Paige Andrew were
guest editing. I remember
her patience with me as a new
author, my asking numerous questions about the article, and
publishing process.
She was already a legend in
the field, a
multiple award winner, and here she was, so kind and helping me
through just my
second scholarly paper.
Mary was able to demystify map cataloging
(extended to
geospatial metadata too) and collection development and so many
things. Her book, Map
Librarianship, was a bible for
map librarians. She had a
huge role in
1980, co-founding MAGIRT, which was instigated primarily by a
break-out group
of dissatisfied SLA members, in response to the complete lack of
involvement
felt by SLA members during the writing of AACR2. That move, has proven to be
hugely beneficial
to map catalogers, as well as map librarians, generally. Moving into the 2000s, Mary
and I interacted
many times through ALA MAGIRT, but much closer in 2009-10 when I
stepping into
her very large (actually tiny) shoes when she retired as co-editor
of the
Journal of Map & Geography Libraries. Again, she was always
the consummate
professional, but at the same time extremely warm and
approachable, and helped
me get up and running in no time. I
was
in contact with Mary a few times in the recent couple of years,
and had a chance to see her during an event at the Newberry
Library during AAG
2015, at an unveiling of the History of Cartography project. She was in good cheer, upbeat
and chatty, and
seemed to know everyone. This is the Mary that I remember.
And, I am happy to share an interview with her,
from 2009, published in the Journal of Map & Geography
Libraries. Please read and enjoy her speaking about life and
acomplishments in her own words.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15420350903432713
-- Katherine Hart Weimer Head, Kelley Center for Government Information, Data and Geospatial Services Rice University, Fondren Library 713.348.6212 | [log in to unmask] ORCID orcid.org/0000-0002-3010-7787