Janice Sieburth

1927 - 2019

Sieburth, Janice
Janice Sieburth, 92, mother of five, professor and librarian at URI, died peacefully in the presence of family on October 15th. She was a fixture at the reference desk of the University of Rhode Island main campus library and later headed the Pell Marine Sciences Library at URI's Narragansett Bay campus. She will be remembered for her warmth and her unfailing belief in the best of people.
Born Janice Fae Boston in Ellensburg, Washington on January 26, 1927 to Monta E. Boston and Emma Huston Boston, she was the eldest, followed by sister Muriel and brother Monta Jr. She graduated from Tacoma's Lincoln High School in 1945 with a scholarship from the local chapter of the D.A.R.
She attended Washington State College in Pullman where, forbidden to major in Chemistry because she was a woman, she majored in Home Economics. She graduated in 1949 as a member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi honor societies. Continuing at WSC, she joined the research group of Professor Barbara McLaren studying the nutritional value of Unifine Flour, a new product. As one of the "Flour Girls" she authored five research publications with the McLaren group. She also gained her lifelong love of coffee as specified by Dr. McLaren – hot and black (no sugar) – and received her M.S. degree in Foods and Nutrition in 1951.
It was at WSC that she met John Sieburth, another graduate student and "the only boy who would talk science" with her. They married in 1950. His career took them to the University of Minnesota, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the University of Rhode Island as they raised their five children. Janice Sieburth returned to school at URI, earning a Master of Library Science degree in 1972 and became a librarian there. She was a leader in the emerging area of electronic databases and wrote a well-received 1988 book "Online Search Services in the Academic Library: Planning, Management, and Operation." She was active in library organizations and was elected President of the New England Library Association. She pushed for recognition of librarians as academicians, co-authoring a 1985 publication with her colleague Sylvia Krausse "Patterns of Authorship in Library Journals by Academic Librarians," that demonstrated the equivalence of faculty and librarian scholarship in academics.
From 1987 until her retirement in 1996 she ran the Pell Marine Sciences Library at the URI Narragansett Bay campus, adjacent to where her husband John Sieburth had his office and research labs.
Janice Sieburth was active in many other pursuits. In the 1960s she headed the local chapter of the League of Women Voters. During a 1966 sabbatical year in Norway she made Rya rugs and enamel jewelry and dishes, and later made quilts for her children and her grandchildren. She took up rug hooking after retirement; her many rugs include a series designed by and for her grandchildren.
She is survived by her five children, her eldest daughter (Vancouver, WA), Scott Sieburth (Philadelphia, PA), Peggy Sieburth (Winter Haven, FL), Leslie Sieburth (Salt Lake City, UT), Clark Sieburth (West Kingston, RI) and six grandchildren.
Contributions may be made in her memory to the Janice & John Sieburth '72 GSO Pell Library Endowment.