PEOPLE
Michael Chapman M J
ichael Chapman died 26 May 2021, aged 74, following a fall at home.
Michael served in the Ministry of Defence Library Service from 1968 until 2004, mainly based in Whitehall but he had short tours at the Royal College of Defence Studies and at the Britannia Royal
Naval College. He had a strong interest in military history and was a traditional book librarian. He leaves a widow, Anne.
Andrea J Drewett FCLIP
Jean Machell
ean Machell passed away peacefully at her home on 9 April 2021.
Jean spent her professional career specialising in library services for disabled people and was a passionate believer in the power of libraries in sup- porting people with very specific needs.
She spent her early career as a public librarian working in the
Durham coastal coalfields but after gaining her professional qualifications at Newcastle School of Librarianship, she moved south as Librarian at Hill End Psychiatric Hospital in St Albans where she began to develop her specialism. In the early sixties she raised her family but by 1970 had returned north to settle in Stockton-on-Tees where she worked initially as a Branch Librarian before taking on the role of Special Services Librarian for the newly formed Cleveland County. She and her team developed, from
nothing, an integrated network of among other things, house- bound services, specialised offers for disabled people, two prison libraries and a number of hospital libraries. Jean’s commitment to people who were vulnerable or who found themselves in an environment where they needed a bit of extra help was unquestionable. She was passionate about providing access to reading and information for all, whether they be prison residents or people in hospital. This firm belief in the power of the written word in help- ing to address health inequalities led to Jean’s considerable contribution to the development of guidelines, networks and
toolkits for librarians directed at improving the offers they provided. Jean joined the steering group in the mid 1980s which led to the establishment of Share the Vision, the charity partnership between libraries and national support agencies for people living with sight loss which still operates today. She wrote the “National guidelines for the development of services for the blind” as she was about to retire in the mid-nineties. She was also an active member of what became the Health
Libraries Group and also the Community Care Network. She contributed to “Library Services to Housebound People” in 1987 and was a member of the working group which produced the Library Association’s “Guidelines for library services to people who are housebound” in 1991. In 1996 Jean was awarded an MBE for services to the Cleveland Library Service and to the community in Cleveland and in 1997 received a Library Association Commendation from the then President, Joe Hendry, at a Members Day event. More than this though, Jean was a woman who was remem- bered very fondly by those who worked with her. Although it is many years now since she worked in Stockton-on-Tees, there are many people who remember her as the supportive librarian who helped them with their first job, who worked with them on high quality innovative services or was simply a friend.
Jean worked most recently on a voluntary basis amongst a committed team of volunteers at Preston Hall Museum where she will be missed as much she will be by her library friends and, of course, her remaining family.
Mark Freeman, Libraries and Information Services Manager, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.
For obituary submissions and guidance please email
infopromag@cilip.org.uk or write to us at Obituaries, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE.
October-November 2021
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