PEOPLE
Barbara Roe B
arbara Roe died in Bronglais Hospital, Aber- ystwyth on 4 January 2021 after a short illness following a fall at her home. Barbara was born in Middlesex and worked for the London Borough of Ealing Library Service. In November 1971, she changed careers, joining the then rapidly expanding College of Librarianship Wales at Aberystwyth where she taught cataloguing and classification. Former colleagues speak highly of her dedication and care for her students and for her ‘prac- tical and down-to-earth’ approach to a difficult subject which was an essential component of the education of any librarian. Barbara took early retirement during the mid-1980s. Her valedictory address to her colleagues was described as
Roy Tabor A
s we face the short- and long-term consequences of a world-wide pandemic it is more important than ever that NHS staff and learners have access to the right information, at the right time and in the right place. NHS librarians and knowledge specialists are
business-critical, ensuring NHS clinicians, doctors and nurses, as well as managers and the many other professions that design and deliver care – all have the knowledge and the knowledge-skills to do their job well, delivering evidence-based care for patients, carers and families.
NHS library services developed
over many decades following the Second World War. Early reliance on the libraries of London-based professional bodies and Royal Colleges, gave way in the 1960s to a new generation of purpose-built
libraries in district general hospitals; many of them starting life as collections for doctors only or student nurses only and often poorly funded. Roy Tabor, who has died at the age of 91, was appointed in 1967 by the Wessex Regional Postgraduate Dean to improve the quality of these services. That appointment was the first NHS Regional Librarian and the way in which Roy developed the role and the NHS library services across Wessex have served as models ever since. Roy established important principles around equity of access, the need to share scarce resources and the powerful role that can be played by professionally led library services. Roy recognised that providing information to patients and families needed to be part of the core offer, he was far-sighted, always 10 years ahead and impatient to move on to the next thing. Roy championed the need for qualified chartered librarians at a time when many “medical” libraries were run by secre- tarial staff; he built a shared catalogue across the region and created an inter-lending scheme so that scarce resources could be shared. Roy designed libraries which have stood the test of time, including at Poole Hospital.
54 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
As early as 1974, his newly completed network of profes- sional librarians was invited to participate in a pioneering project, testing remote access to the immense resources of the (US) National Library of Medicine – the first such access from outside the USA, and among the earliest non-military uses of what we now call the Internet.
Empowering the patient was crucial to Roy’s philosophy. In 1978 he secured a grant to set up a new database of information for patients, carers and volunteers, which developed as the Help for Health Project and grew into a pilot and pioneer for the NHS Direct phone-in service. As Roy’s ideas spread, other regional networks began to emerge, leading to the establishment for of the NHS Regional Librarians Group, as a lobbying and policy-making forum and the embryo of the national system we enjoy today. Roy worked on consolidating and extending his achievements, educating and training his successors, and carrying out consul- tancy work at home and abroad, including work for the British Council and the University of the West Indies. He retired in 1991. The youngest of three children of Edward and Edith Tabor, Roy attended Woking Grammar School before training as a chirop- odist. Travelling to South Africa in 1957, he studied Theology at Rhodes University; qualified as a librarian; and met Margaret Daly, with whom he enjoyed a long and devoted marriage. Roy was reserved and kindly, helping to launch the careers of many young librarians as trainer and mentor. A practical man of many talents, he developed and published his own system of speed-writing; published several volumes of poetry; with a friend built the family house near Romsey; and acted, produced and directed many amateur theatre productions, including always designing his own stage sets.
Roy’s professional achievements were recognised by the award of the Library Association’s Cyril Barnard Memorial Prize and later rewarded with an MBE. After Margaret’s death he lived independently, writing and publishing to the end. He is survived by one son, Christopher, and one granddaughter.
David Stewart MBE, with contributions from Roy’s former colleagues Lynette Domoney and Michael Carmel.
June 2021
“legendary” – full of wicked yet affectionate humour. In retirement, Barbara completed a research degree: The libraries of archaeological institutions during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which was later used in the official history of the Society of Antiquaries. She extended her life- long love of dogs to the showing and breeding of them. She was a long-term member of the Aberystwyth Quaker Meeting and the Aberystwyth Bibliographical Group – attending many of their meetings and visits. In later years she was also involved with the University of the Third Age and Waunfawr WI.
Dr David Stoker, Emeritus Senior Lecturer and Professor Judy Broady-Preston, Emeritus Professor.
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