Obituaries J
John Fletcher
ohn Fletcher, who died in September 2021 aged 90, came late into librarianship, but rose via spells in Leeds Public Library and Bradford Institute of Technology and economic subject Librarian at Warwick University Library to become Polytechnic and then first University Librarian at Coventry University. His achievements in these later roles were manifold. He was born in 1931 and after attending Hulme Grammar School did his National Service in the RAF between 1949 and 1951, after which he spent several years with Clarks Shoes in Somerset before taking a part-time BSc Economics Degree at Manchester University. At this point he switched careers and rose rapidly to be appointed at Warwick in 1965, where he had a free hand to begin developing the economics collection from scratch prior to the university’s opening in 1966. His achievements included the building of collections of statistics and pre-publication economics papers, and editing The Use of Economics Literature, with chapters from leading economists and published by Butterworths. He also became a prominent member of the newly formed European Business Schools Librarians Group, links which he kept up throughout his professional life.
Appointed Coventry Polytechnic Librarian in 1979, he immediately transformed the library structure along subject lines, along with the introduction of a senior team, promot- ing strong links with the academic community, and led the major move to online systems. He constantly fought for better library resources and oversaw the enlargement of the library in 1984. His lasting legacy was associated with this project. The Library already contained the manuscript
Lynne Mackie B
arts Health Knowledge and Library Service lost our favourite colleague when Lynne Mackie passed away on 5 December 2021, aged just 30, after nearly a year of being cared-for at our hospitals, by some of the staff she served with distinction as a librarian. Lynne was a Trustee at the stammering charity Stamma, and her friends there paid her a lovely tribute at https://stamma. org/news-features/lynne-mack- ie-tribute that describes just some of her many achievements. Rather than list more from the professional sphere of her life we wanted to convey why we miss her so much.
We should start with her voice: we can hear
52 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
our pictures of Lynne. Her Midlothian lilt; confident and characterful, always supporting, encouraging, advocating, speaking-up; for libraries, for her charities, for any of us when we needed it. It’s especially hard to believe we won’t hear it again when it’s there on her YouTube channel Stam- merOn, which was burgeoning just as she became ill. That was just one of the seemingly endless irons Lynne had in the fire. She was also an actor, dramatist, “coolest uncle ever” (corroborated by pictorial evidence), dedicated cat auntie (to Tali and Aussie), gamer (both board and video), and holder of deeply questionable musical tastes (McFly and techno?!). But listening was Lynne’s talent too; interestedly, patiently, and generously to our non-problems, even as she continued to face-down challenges many of us will never have to under- stand, with quiet bravery.
When someone passes away, litanies of adjectives are laid-out in their image: caring, kind, funny – all of those were just Lynne’s baseline. Even though they’re accurate they seem so inadequate when literally the sunniest, most full-of-life, most life-affirming person you know dies so young, in such cruel circumstances. She was so much more
June 2022
papers of the great engineer Frederick Lanchester, after whom the Polytechnic was named. His sketchbooks were secured bidding blind in a Christies auction in late 1981 and proved a treasure trove. John’s masterstroke was then to get the Library named The Lanchester Library, thus preserv- ing the name and connection when the Polytechnic became Coventry University. John went on to edit a volume in the four-volume series, The Lanchester Legacy (the other three are written by Chris Clark) which forms part of a major research collection held in the new Lanchester Library, built in 2000, where a permanent exhibition has been developed with the help of Heritage funding.
John made many friends both within the University and in the wider library world with his contacts via COPOL and SCONUL. He brought a management style that was both firm and fair and created a genuine team spirit within the library, as well as zealously promoting staff development to help foster an ever improving and responsive library service to the University’s staff and students.
John became University Librarian in 1992 and retired in 1994. He enjoyed a happy retirement, though sadly losing his wife Barbara, also a librarian, who died in 2010. He was a keen and active member of the Warwick Society, as membership secretary and involved in photographing and describing all the major Warwick buildings. His major pleasures included theatre-going and walking his dog round Warwick Racecourse.
Barry West, ex-Deputy Librarian, Lanchester Library, Coventry University
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
