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October 9, 1941 ~ August 27, 2011 Barbara Jeanne Brown, university librarian and professor emerita at Washington and Lee University (W&L), died on August 27, 2011, in Lexington, Va. She was 69.
Brown was the university librarian from 1985 to 2003. Previously, from 1971 to 1976, she headed reference and public services at W&L, one of the first women to hold a senior administrative post there.
Brown was born on October 9, 1941, in Charles City, Iowa. She earned a B.S. in English from Iowa State University (1963) and an M.S. in library science from Columbia University (1964).
She began her career in 1964 at Cornell University. Between tenures at W&L, she was assistant university librarian for general reader services at the Princeton University Library and associate director of program coordination at the Research Libraries Group Inc. at Stanford University. She spent 1974 with the Council on Library Resources Management Intern Program.
At W&L, Brown oversaw the introduction of automation through the online catalog and other resources. She doubled the library's holdings and established the Telford Science Library. She served on numerous committees, including the President's Advisory Committee and the committee that planned W&L's 250th anniversary celebration. She presided over the ceremony when the University Library was renamed in honor of former W&L dean, James G. Leyburn. For her contributions to academic life, in 1976 Brown received the prestigious Ring-tum Phi Award from the student newspaper. She belonged to Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society.
Her professional affiliations included Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET), Virginia Library Association, Virginia State Council of Higher Education, Virginia Independent Colleges & Universities Library Association, American Library Association and Associated Colleges of the South.
Brown volunteered with United Way, American Cancer Society, Rockbridge Historical Society, Kendal at Lexington and English-Speaking Union. A member of Lexington Presbyterian Church, she sang in its choir and with the Rockbridge Choral Society, of which she was a founding member.
She is survived by many dear friends and several cousins.
Memorial donations may be made to Lexington Presbyterian Church, Kendal at Lexington, Friends of the Rockbridge Choral Society, Rockbridge SPCA, and First Presbyterian Church of Carroll, Iowa.
The Memorial Service will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27, 2011, at the Lexington Presbyterian Church, followed by a reception at Evans Hall on the W&L campus.
Published in Roanoke Times on September 4, 2011
