{{ site.title }}

Memorial: Jennifer Cargill, 1944–2020

photo of Jennifer Cargill
Jennifer Cargill

Jennifer Cargill, former dean of libraries at Louisiana State University (LSU), died on October 6, 2020, at age 76.

A distinguished graduate of LSU’s School of Library and Information Science, Cargill began her career as an assistant acquisitions librarian at the University of Houston in 1967. She took on responsibility for managing two science branch libraries there and then went on to hold increasingly more responsible administrative positions at Miami University (Ohio), Texas Tech University, and Rice University, where she served as associate university librarian.

Cargill joined the LSU Libraries faculty as dean in 1991. During her tenure at LSU, she played a leadership role in the development of the Louisiana Academic Libraries Information Network Consortium (LALINC) and the LOUIS consortium, which provides resources and services to libraries across the state. She also established the system of library liaisons that serves as the framework for library services offered at LSU. She retired from LSU in 2013.

In 1990, Cargill was honored by LSU’s School of Library and Information Science as the Outstanding Alumna for the year. She received the Louisiana Library Association’s Outstanding Academic Librarian Award in 1997.

Cargill was the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 11 books, as well as numerous articles and book chapters. She served on and chaired many committees of the American Library Association (ALA) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), as well as in various regional and statewide professional organizations.

In ARL, Cargill served on several committees, including the Program Committee for the May 1993 Membership Meeting, the Information Policies Committee in 1993–1994, the Statistics and Measurement Committee in 1995–1997, the Research Library Leadership and Management Committee in 1998–2000, the Collections and Access Issues Committee in 2003–2004, the Research Library Leadership and Management Committee in 2004–2006, and the Membership Committee in 2006–2008 and 2010–2012.

To learn more about Cargill’s life and career, see the LSU Libraries news story “In Memoriam: Jennifer Cargill.”

Affiliates