Passing of a Former Colleague

Today I received an e-mail from my boss Richard Sweeney informing the NJIT Library staff of the untimely passing of Jamie McGuiness in the summer of 2007. He found out about it from a September 2008 post of the blog of the Southern California Chapter of the Special Libraries Association.

I fondly remember how enthusiastic Jamie was when she worked here from September 1996 until March 1997. She actually traveled to New Jersey from North Carolina to be interviewed for a temporary position. Before her interview, she made a trip to the NC State library to examine their science and engineering collections. She tried very hard to learn to use the technical resources available at NJIT even though her educational background was in the humanities. I have known many librarians who panic when confronted with reference questions in technical disciplines (especially chemistry). Jamie made it her business to attend my lectures teaching students to use information resources in chemistry and related disciplines. She was able to use her experience at NJIT to land her next position at the University of Missouri at Rolla (UMR).

When people leave professional positions, they usually keep in touch for a short period of time after their departure, but eventually move on and let go. I knew that she worked for several years at UMR, but I didn't know that she later became Library Director at the Art Institute of California’s San Francisco campus.

I was saddened to hear today (2 1/2 years later) of her untimely passing. The library at the Art Institute is now known as the Jamie A. McGuiness Memorial Library. That is quite a tribute.