Jean Elizabeth Lowrie

Jean Elizabeth Lowrie, 96, born in Northville, New York, the daughter of the Reverend A. Sydney and Edith (Roos) Lowrie ,and the esteemed leader in the establishment of International Association of School Librarianship, died November 09, 2014.
Lowrie received her BA from Keuka College, a liberal arts based college in Keuka Park, New York , in 1940. She received a BSLS from Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) in 1941. She was inducted into Beta Phi Mu, the international honor society that recognizes scholastic achievement among library and information students. She completed her MA in Education from Western Michigan University in 1956 and a Phd at Western Reserve University in 1959. She received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Keuka College in 1973.
Lowrie began her library career as a children's librarian at the Toledo Ohio Public Library. She left Toledo to become an elementary school librarian from 1944-48 in the newly created school system of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a city that was established by the U. S. government in 1942 as a production site for the highly secret Manhattan Project. In 1948-49 she took a year's leave from Oak Ridge to become a member of the U.S. government's teacher exchange program in Nottingham, England. She returned to Oak Ridge school libraries from 1949-51. Lowrie then left Oak Ridge to begin her distinguished thirty-two year career in library education at Western Michigan University. She became the librarian at Western Michigan Campus School and then became a professor in the Department of Librarianship that led to her becoming the Director of the School of Librarianship in 1970-83. Lowrie retired in 1983 and was named Professor Emerita at Western Michigan University.
Lowrie held many offices in library associations in Michigan and the United States but most notably she served as president of the American Library Association from 1973-74 and the International Association of School Librarianship from 1971-77.
Among her many accomplishments, Lowrie is recognized as the guiding force in the establishment of the International Association of School Librarianship in Jamaica in 1971. Its mission is to provide an international forum to promote effective school library advice for the development of school library programs and the school library profession. Lowrie served as its first president from 1971-77 and its executive secretary from 1977-96.
Lowrie shared her knowledge about the development of school libraries by authoring articles in many publications. Scarecrow Press published Elementary Libraries, her doctoral dissertation, a study of elementary school library service for middle grades, in 1961 and a revised edition in 1970. In 1972 Lowrie edited School Libraries: International Developments, papers presented at meetings of the World Confederation of the Teaching Profession. A second edition co-edited with Mieko Nagakura added new countries and provided additional information on countries found in the first edition.
In 1978 she was the first recipient of the American Association of School Librarians Distinguished Service Award that recognizes and individual member who has made an outstanding national contribution to school librarianship and school library development over a significant period of time.
In recognition of her contributions to the organizing and development of the International Association of School Librarianship, the Association established the Jean Lowrie Leadership Grant in 1988. The grant provides funding for leaders in developing countries to attend an IASL conference. In 2013 the School of Library and Information Science at Florida State University established the Dr. Jean E. Lowrie Endowment to award scholarships and fellowships to the school's students.
Dr. Sigrun Klara Hannesdottir, the former National Librarian of Iceland, stated, "I doubt that many people are aware of the enormous contribution Dr. Jean E. Lowrie has made to librarianship, in particular school librarianship, worldwide. She has always been untiring in developing school libraries around the world and has used her untiring imagination to point out new ways to lead the development."
Her parents, her brother Robert S. Lowrie and her Aunt Jean Carolyn Roos, of Jensen Beach, FL, preceded her in death.
She is survived by sister-in-law, Janet B. Lowrie of Clinton, TN; four nephews, Douglass(Mary Ann) Knoxville, TN; Bruce (Sara) Winston-Salem, NC; Thomas (Mayra) Metairie, LA; and Stuart(Kenneth) Sag Harbor, NY; and ten great nephews and nieces.
Contributions in her memory may be sent to the First Presbyterian Church of Stuart, FL and the International Association of School Librarianship Margot Nilson Children's Literature Project Award, or a charity of your choice.
Service will be held at First Presbyterian Church of Stuart, 1715 NW Pine Lake Drive, Stuart, FL, 34994 at 2:00PM on Monday, November 17, 2014.
Please sign her online guest book at www.aycockjensenbeach.com
Arrangements entrusted to Aycock Funeral Home, Jensen Beach, Florida.