ARLIS/UK confers honorary life membership on Trevor Fawcett

Extract

Trevor Fawcett has retired from art librarianship. An era is thus delineated. While Trevor had published on art library issues before the birth of ARLIS/UK in 1969, none of these articles had the impact of a short letter which appeared in the Library Association Record in March 1968, asking if there was any interest in co-operation amongst art librarians.

This was the acorn from which grew the oak tree of ARLIS/UK, and ultimately, through Trevor’s role in planning the first International Art Libraries Conference in 1976, the thicket of trees represented by the IFLA Section of Art Libraries, which now shades several continents.

One might say that Trevor Fawcett was fortunate to raise the question of co-operation at a time when the soil for an art library organisation was exceptionally fertile. But one can also propose that the incipient sub-profession of art librarianship was extremely fortunate in having Trevor Fawcett in the right place at the right time.