A Tribute to Lucy Steelman

Delivered at the May 26, 2004, Meeting of the
San Andreas Chapter, Special Libraries Association
by Wynne Dobyns

Lucy Steelman was with us at this meeting last year. How short a time ago, and yet how long a time ago, that was! Most of us were not even aware that Lucy was ill, so to learn of her death on December 2 after a short, hard struggle with acute myeloid leukemia was doubly shocking.

For many of us here tonight, Lucy was a colleague, a mentor, and a friend. The common thread in peoples’ memories of Lucy is what a wonderful a mentor she was—energetic, encouraging, supportive, helpful, appreciative. Lucy was among the earliest to realize the advantages of technology in corporate libraries and worked hard to implement electronic resources at SRI where she worked for many years. She was also one of the first Chapter presidents to fully grasp the advantages of e-mail and the Chapter’s Web site for comunication with the membership.

In response to one of the questions asked during the oral interview that Doreen Cohen conducted with her in 1997, Lucy indicated that she would like to be remembered for the contributions she made to the SRI library in many different areas as she worked through the hierarchy. She said, “Things happened in the library that I wanted to happen, things that we planned for.” She derived great satisfaction from the fact that her library users at SRI considered her their champion, especially since she regarded them as the library’s true champions.

Lucy was also a champion for SLA. She was active in the San Francisco Chapter before San Andreas was formed and then was active here for her remaining years. She taught early education and professional development workshops, hosted Chapter events at SRI, chaired the professional development, hospitality and consultation committees, and served as Chapter president in 2000-2001.

In the oral interview, Lucy also said the most exciting part of her work was dealing with people. She stated, “Best of all, a lot of friends. And that’s the most important thing to me—a lot of interesting people.” I would like to propose a toast from a lot of friends to Lucy Steelman, whom we will surely remember as one of our most interesting people. Thank you, Lucy, for all you accomplished in your work, for your support of colleagues and friends, and most of all for your friendship.