In Memorium
Harold
Jones was born in Philadelphia on 26 June 1911. After graduating from
Swarthmore with a bachelor’s degree in economics (1933), he went on to
earn a B.S. in library science at Drexal (1935) and a master’s degree
in
economics at the University of Pennsylvania (1940). During World War
II, he served as an enlisted man whose duties involved work in
intelligence and chemical warfare. As an Information Education
Specialist, he also taught courses in American history and culture, a
job for which he was particularly suited. Professor Jones arrived at
Brooklyn College in September 1952 to assume the duties of Chief
Circulation Librarian after serving as the Head Librarian and Chairman
of the library science department at Fairmont State College, West
Virginia. A gifted teacher and a powerful speaker, he was soon placed
in charge of the library’s formal instruction program, arranging for
orientation sessions for over 3,000 freshman. He also gave classes on
bibliographic research to both undergraduates and graduate students. Over his career at Brooklyn College, Prof. Jones developed an expertise in library architecture. As a result, he was closely involved with the planning and building of the library extension in the mid-1950s.
In the 1970s, he chaired the library department’s building, instruction, and grants committees. He assumed the title of Coordinator of Special Projects in 1970 and was promoted to associate professor in 1971.
Prof. Jones was active nationally and locally in promoting library related issues. He was a member of ALA (American Library Association), the Association of College and Research Library, and served as President of LACUNY (Library Association, City University of New York) 1965-1966. An avid bibliofile, he also belonged to the Bibliographical Society of America and Gutenberg Gesellschaft. He was elected again and again as the library department’s representative to faculty council and he was sent to represent Brooklyn College in the University Faculty Senate in 1981, shortly before his retirement.
After his retirement Harold cared for his wife Ferrell, who died after a long illness in 1994. Prof. Jones passed away on Friday May 9th, 2003 at the age of ninety-one. Unfortunately, failing health in his last year kept him from visiting the newly renovated Brooklyn College Library. Like Moses, he died without seeing the promised land.
Born
29 October 1929, a few days after Black Friday ushered in the Great
Depression, Joan K. Marshall was raised in the Marine Park section of
Brooklyn. From 1946-1960, she worked as a vari-typist for several
companies, including the Arabian American Oil Company in Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia. In 1960 she enrolled at New York University, earning her
bachelor’s degree in English four years later. She completed a master’s
degree in library science at Columbia in 1966 and a master’s in English
at New York University in 1967. Prof. Marshall began work at Brooklyn College in July 1966 as a humanities and social science cataloger. Her cataloging expertise and managerial skills led to Professor Marshall’s appointment as the Head of Technical Services, where she oversaw the library’s shift first to a microfiche and then to an online catalog.
A lifetime member of the ALA, Prof. Marshall was a staunch supporter of intellectual freedom. She served as a trustee for ALA’s Leroy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund from 1977-1980 and as a trustee for the Freedom to Read Foundation from 1969-1972. She also fought for women’s rights, as evidenced by her book On Equal Terms: A Thesaurus for Non-Sexist Indexing and Cataloging (Neal-Schuman, 1977), which won the Ralph R. Shaw Award for Library Literature. Her next book, Serials For Libraries (ABC-Clio/Neal Schuman, 1979) was included in the American Library Association’s 1980 list of outstanding reference resources and led to her promotion to the rank of professor.
Professor Marshall retired in 1988. Although plagued by health problems in her last years, she continued to play an active role in the ALA and traveled abroad whenever the opportunity presented itself. Joan Marshall died on July 22nd, 2003. Her friends gathered on East 7th St. , in the garden below her apartment, on November 1st (All Saints Day in the Catholic calendar) to celebrate her life.
Antoinette
Ciolli was born August 20th, 1915 in New York City. After graduating
from Bay Ridge High School, she enrolled in Brooklyn College in 1933.
Four years later, she graduated magna cum laude with a major in
history. She was among the first group of students to receive their
degrees at the inaugural commencement on the Midwood campus in 1937.
Miss Ciolli went on to complete her master’s degree in history in 1940,
writing her thesis on “Thomas Jefferson as a Man of Science.” She began
working in the library as a part-time page in 1937 and was employed as
the librarians' secretary from 1940-1943. After teaching briefly in
Brooklyn’s public high schools, she earned a bachelor’s degree in
library science from Columbia University and returned to her alma mater
as circulation librarian in July 1944. She would assume a wide variety
of duties and increasing administrative responsibilities in the years
to come, including reference librarian (1944-50), Chief Science
Librarian (1959-1970) and Head of Special Collections (1970-1981). Throughout her career Prof. Ciolli remained active professionally, participating in the ALA, the Special Library Association, LACUNY, and the New York Library Club. She published several articles in College and Research Libraries, including “The Faculty Day Library Exhibit” (April 1954) , “A College Library Reports on Its Freshman Lecture Program” (Nov. 1959), and “The Subject Division Organization in a Liberal Arts College Library: A Commentary” (July 1961). Her article, “Fiction Titles on Anti-Communism…,” Wilson Library Bulletin (June 1954) was read into the Congressional Record Appendix at the request of the Honorable Eugene J. McCarthy of Minnesota, whose efforts to root out Communism in American society made him notorious. With Brooklyn College librarians Alex Preminger and Lillian Lester, Prof. Ciolli also coauthored Urban Educator: Harry D. Gideonse, Brooklyn College and the City University of New York: An Annotated Bibliography (Twayne, 1970), a tribute to the past president of Brooklyn College for whom the library extension, built in 1959, was later named.
Throughout the turbulent years of student unrest in the 1960s, the chaos followed by open admissions, and the City's financial crises during the 1970s, Professor Ciolli recorded the college’s history and continued to build the archives. Her efforts were rewarded with a promotion to associate professor in 1973. Upon her retirement in 1981, President Robert L. Hess named her professor emeritus. Professor Ciolli remained in Brooklyn, taking care of her elderly mother with whom she had lived her whole life. The Antoinette Ciolli Award in History honors the memory of this dedicated Brooklyn College librarian and alumnus.
Prof William Gargan bgargan@brooklyn.cuny.edu
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