Life Memberships and Memorials
Prepared by the Life Memberships/Memorials Committee
(Richard E. Ducey, Chair)
for distribution at the SWALL Business Meeting in Albuquerque March 27, 2009
LIFE MEMBERSHIP: Lorraine Lester
Associate Professor Emeritus, University of New Mexico Law Library
Lorraine earned her MSLS in 1968 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her first
professional job was as Serials Librarian at the University of Idaho General Library. Lorraine’s long
tenure at the University of New Mexico Law Library started in October 1974 when she assumed the
position as Head of Technical Services, a position she held until about 1985. During these 11 or so years,
Lorraine wrote guidelines for promotion and tenure for law librarians (and was herself tenured in 1980),
was active in SWALL, and served in two officer positions (Vice President and President) in the Rio
Grande Chapter of Special Libraries Association. Along with the Special Collections Librarian, Lorraine
established the LATIN (Mexican law) and the LAND GRANT special collections at UNM Law Library.
From 1985 - 1987, Lorraine held the title Administrative Librarian, in 1987 became the Deputy Director,
and, with the departure of the Law Library Director in 1991, became the Acting Director of the Law
Library. During the period in which she served as Acting Director, Lorraine and Eileen Cohen planned
and directed the memorable SWALL meeting in Albuquerque, represented the library in the 7-year ABA
accreditation visit, and oversaw major wall construction on an upper floor of the library. Lorraine also
served on the Public Relations Committee of SWALL. For many years, Lorraine served as both Deputy
Director and Collection Development Librarian. In 1998, her title changed to Collection Development
and Government Documents Librarian, all the while continuing to participate in Reference coverage. She
later took on a new challenge teaching one section of Legal Research, during which she remained the
Government Documents Librarian. Until her retirement in June 2007, Lorraine was active in legal
research, Reference and faculty liaison work. Lorraine attended AALL meeting for many years and
continues to attend AALL now that she is retired. It should be noted that she is the recipient of the 2007
UNM Sarah Belle Brown Community Service Award for contributing to the Katrina recovery, including
working in New Orleans for a week helping to replant a botanic garden. She volunteers at the
Albuquerque BioPark, the Zoo, the Aquarium, and other places that permit her to support her interests in
conservation, animal diversity, biodiversity, and protecting endangered species.
LIFE MEMBERSHIP: Violanda B. Fabugais
Violanda earned a BSE from the University of San Carlos in the Philippines in 1961. Violanda retired in
December 2005. She was the Assistant Director for Library Services for Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston
from 1979 – 2005, and was an active member of SWALL during that period. Among her varied
responsibilities, Violanda conducted computer research for attorneys and legal assistants, especially on
topics that included antitrust, securities, corporate law, and medical matters. She often handled local,
national and international interlibrary loans. Other responsibilities included book acquisitions, cataloging,
and the occasional communication with vendors to resolve subscription problems. We understand that
Violanda is busy working on her daughter Trish Fabugais’s April 2009 wedding (she is also a law
librarian). Attorneys and paralegals at F&J continue to call the library with requests that start: “Violanda
used to do this—I don’t know who does it now, but I need….” She is missed!
LIFE MEMBERSHIP: Elizabeth "Beth" K.
Schneider (Retired Librarian of Plattner, Schneidman & Schneider, Phoenix, Arizona)
Beth earned her library degree in 1969 from the University of Minnesota, her J.D. in 1973 from William
Mitchell, and her LLM in Health Law in 1997 from St. Louis University. A Minnesota Bar member, Beth
cut her law librarian's teeth while she was working for her J.D. as the librarian at Ramsey County (St.
Paul, Minn.) Law Library, where she established the first card catalog for its collection. Beth held
positions in various types of law libraries, including academic, county, and firm libraries. She was the
Reference and Public Services librarian at University of Akron School of Law upon her graduation from
William Mitchell. Between 1974 and 1981, she held the position of Professor of Law and Librarian at
Hamline University School of Law. For the next ten years, Beth served as the Director of Maricopa
County (Phoenix, AZ) Law Library & Director of Administration, Minnesota Institute of Legal
Education. Then she was the librarian of Plattner, Schneidman & Schneider. Between 1992 – 2000, Beth
served as Assistant Professor & Associate Law Library Director at Texas Tech University. In 2000 Beth
returned to Plattner, Schneidman & Schneider until her recent retirement. From 2000 – 2001, Beth also
served as the Consultant for the Arizona State Library, analyzing and relocating their law collection.
After her return to Arizona, Beth also taught health law in the School of Health Management and Policy
at Arizona State University as an adjunct professor.
Beth was a member of the ABA, the American Society of Law Medicine and Ethics, the American Health
Lawyers Association, AALL, the Arizona Association of Law Libraries (AZALL), and last but not least,
SWALL. Beth was very active in many professional organizations. She was the president of the AZALL
1985-86 and 2003-04, the chair of the Legal Information Services to the Public Special Interest Section
1988-89, and SIS Council Chair 1989-1990. She chaired several AALL committees and was the chair
and member of numerous committees in AZALL. Her contribution to SWALL includes but is not limited
to: Chair, Legal Information Services to the Public Committee 1996 to 2003; Secretary 1987-1990; Vice
President/President Elect 1990-1991; Co-chair Annual Meeting Local Arrangements l989. For her
service Beth was named the Outstanding Member Award in 1989 by the AZALL and received the same
honor from SWALL in 1993. Beth cares about SWALL deeply. She persuaded her husband John to
handle all the legal work for SWALL to become a non-profit organization. While we confer the life
membership on Beth, we should also remember her husband John's contribution to the organization, even
though he may have done it per her instruction.
Beth's publication list includes Legal Research for Practicing Attorneys, Advanced Legal Education;
Bibliographies on environmental and school law for Minnesota CLE publications; The ADA - A Little
Used Tool to Remedy Nursing Home Discrimination, 28 U. Tol. L. Rev. (Fall 1997); Long-Term Care
Regulatory Reform: HCFA, the IOM, and Opportunity Lost, Quinnipiac Health L.J., (Fall 2000); and
Pain and Disability under Social Security - Time for a New Standard, Health L. Rev. (Fall 2001). Beth
was a frequent speaker at the PAALL Institute on Legal Bibliography, gave various legal research
seminars and classes sponsored by Phoenix College, the Arizona State Library Association, and the
Western Maricopa County Legal Secretaries Association and HalfMoon seminars. Just last year Beth was
a panelist at one of the LISP programs at AALL in Portland, speaking on legal issues of assisted living.
Beth always enjoys traveling. In her retirement, Beth makes regular trips back to Minnesota, Illinois and
Buffalo. In the summer she and her husband always go to Flagstaff to re-acquaint themselves with the
Grand Canyon. For those who know her well, Beth still does cross stitch and has taken up knitting,
making sweaters for kids on the Navajo Reservation.
Memorial: Susan D. Csaky, 1926-2006
Susan Dischka Csaky died Saturday, April 22, 2006 in Fort Worth, Texas. She was preceded in
death by her husband, Dr. T.Z. Csaky in 1998. Mrs. Csaky is survived by her daughter, Cathy
Csaky Hirt and son, Karl Csaky and their families.
Mrs. Csaky was born Zsusanna Dischka on July 25, 1926, in Budapest,
Hungary, the second daughter of Victor and Herta Dischka. Zsusanna graduated
from the Ursuline Academy in Budapest and attended law school. She came to
the United States to attend the University of Georgia in 1948 on a Rotary
scholarship. She was sponsored by an American Rotarian family in
Thomasville, Ga. Subsequently, the Hungarian border was closed when the
Russian-sponsored Communist government took power. Her mother wrote her
daughter of the volatile political situation in Hungary and advised her to try to
remain in the United States. Zsusanna petitioned Congress and was granted
permission to remain. The Dischka family would be separated for the next 20
years.
Csaky
Susan applied to Johns Hopkins University for graduate work and was among the first women to
be admitted to the graduate school and to earn her master’s degree in political science. On an
outing with other Hungarian friends in Cold Springs Harbor, N.Y., she met her future husband,
Dr. Tihamer Z. Csaky, a physician-scientist who was a professor of medicine and pharmacology
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The couple married in Thomasville in 1953.
Their daughter, Cathy, was born in 1954, followed by a son, Karl, in 1956. While living in
Chapel Hill, Mrs. Csaky earned a master of library science degree at UNC.
The Csaky family moved to Lexington, Ky., in 1963 when Dr. T.Z. Csaky became professor and
chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Kentucky Medical School.
Mrs. Csaky earned her law degree while working at the law library at the University of
Kentucky College of Law. - Columbia Daily Tribune, April 28,2006
In 1979, Susan became a professor of law and the director of the law library at the University of
Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. One of the first challenges that Susan encountered after assuming
her position as director was to make the law library autonomous from the university’s main
library. Susan accomplished this goal with skill and diplomacy. Throughout her tenure at the
University of Missouri Law Library, Susan focused on the law library and its staff being a place
that valued service to law faculty, law students, the judiciary, practicing bar and other library
patrons. Susan encouraged the librarians and staff to be proactive learners through attendance at
workshops and seminars, educational courses and involvement in professional library
organizations. Even during times when the budgets were low or suffered from serious cutbacks,
the library maintained its level of excellent service. Under Susan’s leadership, the law library
staff doubled in size, an automated system for cataloging and an online catalog were
implemented, a networked system for the staff computers and a student computer lab were
created and a new functional library was designed for the new law school building.
Susan will be remembered for several achievements in law librarianship. She was a member of a
group that formed the Mid-America Law School Library Consortium which focused on
developing resource sharing opportunities for the 19 member law school libraries. She was chair
of the consortium from 1990 - 1992. Susan taught several courses at the law school and school
of library and informational science. Susan implemented the law librarianship specialist program
in the library and informational science department to train graduate library science students to
become future law librarians. - University of Missouri School of Law Transcript, Spring 1993
One of Susan’s most notable written contributions is an index to “A Collection of Trials on
Microfiche” published and distributed by W.S. Hein Company. This collection is based on trial
materials collected by John Davison Lawson, editor of “American State Trials”.
Susan was honored by her law librarian colleagues with a lifetime achievement award from the
American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) for her commitment to the law library
profession. Susan was also an active chapter member of Mid-America Association of Law
Libraries (MAALL) and the Southwest Association of Law Libraries (SWALL).
Susan retired from the University of Missouri in 1993 and moved with her husband to Fort
Worth, Texas to be near her daughter and family. The University of Missouri School of Law
honored Susan with a portrait unveiling ceremony in 1994. Susan’s portrait was hung on a wall
on the first floor of the law library as a tribute to her commitment, dedication and service to the
legal profession as a scholar, teacher, and law librarian. – Needra Jackson1
Memorial: Roy M. Mersky, 1925-2008
Roy Mersky, the Harry M. Reasoner Regents Chair in Law and the longtime director of the Tarlton Law
Library and Jamail Center for Legal Research at the University of Texas School of Law, passed away on
May 6, 2008.
[The following is a tribute submitted to the AALL all-sis list on May 7, 2008, by Terry Martin]:
1971 was coming to an end. I was finishing my library degree in Pittsburgh and looking for a job in a
large academic law library. I called a friend on the Texas faculty who said that Austin was a wonderful
place, the library was very well regarded, and Roy Mersky always seemed to be hiring promising young
librarians. He put in a word for me with Roy, who called to talk and offered me a job, sight unseen. So
my wife and I threw our meager households into a UHaul and set off for the heart of Texas. We arrived
on two remaining cylinders New Year's 1972, saw the tower from which Charles Whitman had killed 14
people only a few years before, and ate at a restaurant with a TV at every table - UT was playing Penn
State in the Cotton Bowl.
Associate Law Librarian for Collections, School of Law Library, University of Missouri,
Columbia, Missouri.
1
By this time my wife was having third thoughts but things
turned around. The princely salary of $12,000/year
actually went quite far (gas was 19¢ a gallon), Austin was
culturally fascinating and very livable, and we both found
our jobs rewarding.
Roy put me in reference as Marian Boner had left to
become the first Texas State Law Librarian after some
twelve years at UT. The first month was impossibly
difficult until Marian called to tell me where she had left
her file of reference questions that took more than 15
minutes to answer. Things picked up after that. Initially the
only reference librarian, I was still drafted into numerous
RMM projects besides spending part of everyday working
in every department of the library, a training process Roy
imposed on every new librarian. The worst month was
filling in for our crackerjack looseleaf filer, when I learned
exactly how the Sorcerer's Apprentice felt as the inbox
grew higher and faster than I could file. Eventually, Don
Dunn took pity on me and helped me catch up.
Prof. Roy M. Mersky
My four and a half years at Tarlton overlapped with several
people who later became directors: Marian Boner; Les Sheridan, who became a university library
director; Don Dunn became a director then a dean; Lance Dickson (Stanford); Stella Chiang (Loyola LA);
Jennie Parrish (Hastings); Charley Dyer (San Diego County); Frank Liu (Duquesne). Bardie Wolfe had
left just before I arrived; Bob Berring and Dan Dabney arrived shortly after I left. I believe it was Frank
who dubbed Tarlton "the mother library". Many others, like John Christensen and David Thomas came
for internships, and we put them to work directly. Roy was running a clinical law librarianship course
long before clinical education moved out of poverty law, although there were $imilaritie$. He took interns
from the library school and convinced them the pro bono work they did was invaluable experience. And
he was right. The experience was tremendous.
The most important and primary rule was that the faculty had their information needs met before they
knew what they were. Service was the primary obligation. The second lesson was that you were always
capable of doing more, perhaps not the 18 projects that RMM seemed to have on his plate, but at least one
more than you already had. Roy's energy level was amazing. He had his picture taken on horseback in the
lobby of his library but if he had been riding a tornado, like Pecos Bill, I would not have been surprised.
The camaraderie of the staff was also an essential part of our daily lives, one he encouraged directly and
fostered indirectly. Roy never removed the billiard table or the ping pong table in the basement stacks.
Roy had an excellent, though not perfect, eye for talent. And he stretched all his resources - fiscal and
personnel - as far as possible. A federal grant allowed him to hire some unemployed minorities for a
limited period, perhaps 18 months. But when the time and the funds expired, he somehow managed to
keep the four on and they all proved to be loyal and capable staff members for years.
After three years, Roy encouraged me to get on the job market. When Georgetown offered me the top
library job there, he was as proud of my new job as I was. He was a mentor like no other. He knew
everyone and all the deans knew him. The Chief Justice of Texas knew him, as did other chief justices.
Publishers knew him; some feared him. Scholars from around the world knew him, as did alumni - rich
and poor, politicians - liberal and conservative. He set a standard for networking that must be unmatched.
For 36 years I've enjoyed his support, advice, suggestions, criticisms, gossip, interest, concern, and
friendship. Now this small whirlwind is gone, leaving a huge vacuum.
Memorial: Harriet Richman, 1947 - 2008
Harriet Richman passed away on May 22, 2008 in the presence of her family at home in Houston, TX.
The notice from her former employer, the University of Houston O'Quinn Law Library, recognized her as
"a loyal and devoted member of the library staff [who] cared deeply about the profession." At the
O'Quinn Law Library Harriet served as Faculty
Services Librarian and Associate Librarian.
She supervised faculty research assistants and
she also personally helped many faculty in
successfully researching for publication.
A
quick look in Westlaw for the name Harriet
Richman is a resounding tribute to her work, as
over forty articles instantly appear, giving
enthusiastic acknowledgment to Harriet and her
law student workers for their help.
One
faculty recognized her "wonderful research,"
another her "tireless efforts,"
another
"excellent research assistance," and time and
again more accolades appear in honor of her
work.
Thankfully,
Harriet shared her
experience in supervising the research
assistants by writing an article in the 1999
Spring Law Library Journal entitled, "Faculty
services: librarian-supervised students as
research assistants in the law library," and her
department was highlighted during SWALL
Harriet Richman and granddaughter Sophie Winaker
tours when Houston hosted SWALL
meetings. She also co-authored the Hein set
U.S. - Mexican Treaties which contained in volumes 12 and 13 an additional compilation she contributed
entitled "Compilation of bilateral and multilateral treaties (in the broadest sense) between the United
States of America and the United Mexican States."
Harriet Richman was a 1971 Brooklyn Law School graduate who maintained her Texas State Bar
membership from 1979 throughout her career. She received her B.A. from New York University, and
her M.L.I.S. from the University of Texas.
Harriet practiced law in Houston from 1976 until 1988.
Before working at O'Quinn Law Library in 1990, she was a law librarian at Tarlton Law Library of the
University of Texas.
Harriet is survived by her children Rabbi Jeremy (Ali) Winaker and Amanda (Ari) Greenberg,
grandchildren Sophie and Max Winaker, and sisters Dr. Beverly Richman (Prutkin) and Dr. Janice Sufrin.
Harriet’s son, Jeremy, contributed to this tribute and described his mother as “an amazing woman.”