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An integral member of the Bibliographic Control Department of the University Libraries for
nineteen years, Dona Lloyd retired this past December, a victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(Lou Gehrig's disease). On May 4th she succumbed to this illness.
Although Dona lived in Texas nearly all of her adulthood, she never did become pure
"Texan". Growing up in the Pacific Northwest --- Washington, Idaho, and Montana --- she
found the move to Texas traumatic and remained uncertain about the vernacular here.
Unlike many librarians, Dona never aspired to any profession other than librarianship.
She worked in the local library before she was old enough to enter school. Her first
paying job was that of a page in the Spokane (Washington) Public Library. After earning a
B.A. in Library Science at NTSU in 1953, Dona worked as a library assistant in serials
acquisitions at the General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin from 1953 to
1956 an then as head librarian at the Rusk County (Texas) Public Library from 1956 to
1967.
In 1968 she earner her M.L.S. at NTSU and joined the staff as a monographs cataloger here
at the University Libraries shortly thereafter. At the time Dr. David A. Webb was
director, and all of the collections were housed in what is now the ISB. In 1971 Dona
participated in the move of the collections (less library science, science and
technology) into the present Willis Library by helping in the relocation of the main card
catalogs.
In 1974 the Libraries entered the cataloging computer age, the first Southwestern United
States institution in the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) bibliographic utility. Dona
and other catalogers learned the MARC format for inputting cataloging information in
machine-readable form. A decade later the Libraries installed its own local computer
bibliographic database using the VTLS system. Dona again became a pioneer, performing a
major role. Most memorable was her direction of the Libraries-wide barcoding project
which the entire staff went to the shelves and barcoded volumes for which item (i.e.
circulation) records had been created by a computer program for approximately 255,000
bibliographic records.
Additionally, Dona served at various times on such library committees as Special
Collections, Collection Development, and Staff Development. For at least ten years, she
served on the University Student Fee Committee.
An active member of the Library Staff Association from its inception in 1969 until 1987,
Dona served in many capacities too numerous to cite. Through the years she chaired
several committees and was vice-president from 1972 until 1974. Her last service was as a
member of the Scholarship and Awards Committee for two years ending in 1987.
Dona was a unique individual to her many friends and co-workers. Unpretentious, she
possessed candor witnessed often here at the Libraries in group situations. She was
counted on to make a statement or to ask a question everyone present wanted expressed but
was hesitant to state aloud. A sympathetic friend and confidante, Dona was a magnet to
people, attracting then because she was a person to whom they could speak honestly of her
concerns, hopes, fears, etc. There were no pretenses.
Dona could and did add her own brand of "lloydese" on almost any issue of topic. "Pure
Dona" was the turn of the phrase often expressed by colleagues alike.