Thanks for the link to the interview with Mary.  I first met her at a library meeting in Colorado and remember exclaiming, "But you're so young!"

We had used her book on map cataloging in my Non-book Cataloging course at UCLA with Betty Baughman.  Of course she laughed and asked why I'd expected her to be older. A delightful person as well as a significant contributor to the profession.

Best,

Judith Rice-Jones, M.A., M.L.I.S.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 5, 2017, at 3:50 PM, Kathy Weimer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

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


regards all,
Kathy 

-- 
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