PEOPLE
Ian P.G. King B
orn in Surrey and with his librarianship qualifica- tions gained at the then Ealing Library School, Ian’s NHS library career began when he joined the library and education department at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, in the early 1970’s. The majority of Ian’s career was served in Bradford, where he spent several decades in the Health Library at Bradford Royal Infirmary. He managed and men- tored a number of fellow profes- sionals, many of whom went on to senior roles elsewhere. He was instrumental in estab- lishing health libraries elsewhere in the city. He provided a service for Bradford Community Trust for
many years until they set up their own service in the late 1990’s. He was also key to the development of the Bradford Health Authority library during the same decade. It was on Ian’s watch that the School of Nursing library service at St. Luke’s Hospital, Bradford integrated with his medical library service at BRI, an early example of multidisciplinary health library services. After the tragic fire at Bradford City stadium in May 1985, Ian proactively established a city-wide information service available to all staff involved in the treatment and rehabilitation of disaster victims and their families. This service was coordinated with the city’s Public Library and drew on the resources of the British Library at Boston Spa. Recognising the information needs associated with
Ia McIlwaine P
rofessor Ia McIlwaine was born Ia Cecilia Thorold on 20 April 1935. She died on 24 August 2019, from complications following pneumonia. After reading Classics at Bedford College, London, she studied for the Graduate Diploma in Librari-
anship at UCL. After five years at Westminster City Libraries, during which time she was awarded Fellowship of the Library Association, she was appointed Lecturer in UCL’s School of Library & Archive Studies. She was promoted to Senior Lec- turer in 1985 and Reader in 1995, at which time she also took on the Directorship of the School. In 1997 she was honoured with a Chair of Library & Information Studies. Her academic work was primarily focused on classification, but she had a broader interest in subject work and biblio- graphy generally, editing several books in these areas. She was President of the International Society for Knowledge Organization from 2001-2005, and in 1993 took over as Editor-in-Chief of the Universal Decimal Classification. Alongside this work she retained her interest in the clas- sics. Her PhD, Herculaneum: a guide to printed sources, was awarded the prestigious Dunn & Wilson prize. This interest was refreshed in retirement, when she published a supplement to her thesis – and as a result was elected to a Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries, an honour which particularly pleased her.
October-NOvemberr 2019
Ia was a powerful advocate for the profession at both national and international level. In 1998 she was one of 100 recipients of the Library Association Centenary Medal, for her ‘services to the profession’. She had an equivalent commit- ment to the International Federation of Library Associations, and served on its Governing Board from 1993-2003, chair- ing the IFLA Professional Committee from 2001-2003. She was also a member and office holder in the Section for Classification and Indexing and the Division of Knowledge Management, and in 2005 was awarded the IFLA Medal. Ia was tireless in her work for the School, for the College, and for the wider world of librarianship, and it was often her personal involvement and attention to detail that ensured the success of any number of activities, both at home and abroad. Her part in the international scene can hardly be exaggerated, and she will be much missed by friends and colleagues across the globe, as well as the generations of students she taught in a career of almost forty years.
In 1966 she had married her fellow lecturer, John McIlwaine, who was her colleague and her companion for 53 years. He survives her, together with daughter Anne.
Vanda Broughton
Department of Information Studies University College London
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 55
the racially diverse population of Bradford, Ian set up the Ethnic Minorities Health Current Awareness Bulletin. This became a popular quarterly publication with several hundred subscribers throughout the country.
Ian was well known throughout the Yorkshire region. Recog- nising the need and desire for local and regional co-operation Ian, with others from across the region, laid the foundation for the Yorkshire Regional Association of Health Care Library and Information Services (YRAHCLIS). During his time at Bradford he devoted a considerable amount of time and effort to this group, advising hospital management and assisting with recruitment, un- til an NHS reorganisation resulted in a regional post being created. He was also very active at the national level, representing YRAH-
CLIS on the Regional Librarians Group (RLG) where he was one of the few members who was not an appointed Regional Librarian. Throughout his many years on RLG he was known for speaking up for hospital libraries from the perspective at the ‘sharp end’ and for service users of all disciplines and professions. After retirement in 2006, Ian and his wife Lynne moved to Gayle, near Hawes in Wensleydale. He soon became involved in the local community, becoming clerk to the Parish Council, Chairman to Friends of Gayle Mill and undertaking many other roles. Ian passed away, peacefully at home, following a short battle with cancer on Thursday 8 August 2019. He leaves wife Lynne, children Martin and Helen, and grandchildren Aidan and Thomas. He also leaves a lasting gap in the affections of friends and col- leagues, with many of whom he had stayed in touch.
Compiled by Ian’s friends and colleagues
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