Obituaries S
Sylvia Cummins
ylvia Cummins, librarian with Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service since 2002, died sud- denly on 25 October 2022.
Sylvia was born in Hackney, went to Dalston County Secondary School and initially trained as a teacher at Wall Hall College of Education
in Hertfordshire (Certificate of Education) and then at Wolfson College Cambridge where she gained a B Ed Honours degree. After spending time as a supply teacher in the London Boroughs of Islington and Waltham For- est, she decided teaching was not for her, and found work in publishing for a short while before joining the staff of Haringey Public Libraries as a library assistant. From there, she went on to study for a postgraduate diploma in Librarianship in 1983. After a short time as an assistant librarian at the Department for the Environ- ment, rejoined Haringey Libraries as a senior librarian in 1984, first at the Marcus Garvey Library and then at St Ann’s Library where she introduced computers in the children’s library, set up a collection of audio books and in 1999, helped found the St Ann’s Toy Library. She joined Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service in 2002, two days before her birthday and just prior to the start of the World Cup. Not being a football fan, she found herself keeping the service going whilst other members of staff took toil in order to watch key matches! She took it all in her stride and got her own back when Wimbledon started! Over the years, Sylvia proved to be a dependable, warm, kind and considerate colleague and became a friend to us all. Her quiet ways belied her asser-
Arthur Davies A
rthur Davies was born 19 May 1931 at Walk- den, near Manchester, and went to Farnworth Grammar School. He read Classics at Liverpool and then did two years of National Service, after which he went into library work at Liver- pool, Edinburgh, and Sheffield.
He joined Lancaster University in 1963 as Assistant Librarian, part of a small team temporarily based in a for- mer stained-glass works at 23 Castle Hill. Here he helped develop the library’s collections in preparation for the admission of the first students in 1964. In 1966 he moved to Leeds University as Deputy Librarian. He returned to Lancaster in 1976 as its second Librarian, succeeding Graham Mackenzie and served until his retirement in September 1994. This was a period of financial difficulties within the higher education sector. There was
retrenchment within the University and financial austeri- ty. Inflation further eroded the library’s budget requiring painful cuts in journal subscriptions and other services. In
48 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
the words of his successor Jacqueline Whiteside: “He piloted the University Library through extremely difficult financial waters, using its limited resources wisely and well. He devel- oped an advanced and complex Library Resource Allocation Model well in advance of the formulation of the Total Resource Allocation Module adopted by the University”. His 18 years of tenure saw significant changes in library services particularly in the field of information technology and automation. As funds were not available to purchase a commercial integrated library system, it was decided to proceed in-house with a phased development, led by Ian Richardson and others, which resulted in a tailored, cost-effective system that provided an online catalogue and issue system, and automated procedures for acquisi- tions and cataloguing.
Arthur was a very supportive boss who encouraged his staff to develop their talents. This led to Ian Stuart devel- oping an automated system for Inter-Library Loans which was sold to 67 other libraries. Ken Harrison developed an automated system for the slide collection which also achieved external sales and he also automated the journal acquisition procedures. A number of library assistants became professionally qualified via day-release courses during his tenure.
January-February 2023
tiveness and drive, and she excelled at encouraging others in the workplace to achieve and learn more. She was a key member of the Schools Library Service staff for over twenty years, latterly taking sole respon- sibility for managing the stock of the Schools Library Service and seeking out all the weird and wonderful resources that the service lends to teachers to support the teaching of the curriculum. She loved her work. Education, libraries and bringing history to life were all her passions. She loved the incred- ible history, art and culture of the East End and was quite the ambassador for this in the service. Even whilst the borough was focussing on getting young people to look outside of Tower Hamlets, she was a voice that reminded us that people can still be allowed to be proud of where they live and grew up. In 2021 she won for us a Heritage Lottery Grant to create local history resources for chil- dren. Sylvia created artefact “suitcases” and co-wrote the booklets to accompany them, and these suitcases, along with all the other fascinating resources she has sought out, will be her legacy to the children of Tower Hamlets. A staunch believer in equality and social justice, she has been a lifelong Unison member, and with her love of gardening, walking, crosswords and reading, had an allot- ment and was a member of a variety of walking groups and reading clubs. Every lunch time for the past 20 years we did the Guardian cryptic crossword together.
Gillian Harris MBE, Hon FClip, MA (London) Head of Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service
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