James McConnell Orr, librarian; born August 19, 1926, died April 27, 1998
James (Jimmy) Orr was an outstanding figure in Scottish librarianship. An adopted Aberdonian, he was born in Motherwell, and attended Knowetop Public School and Dalziel High School.
He entered the Fleet Air Arm in 1944 and, on his release, joined Lanark County Library in 1947 as a trainee.
He obtained his professional qualifications, as was then the norm, through part-time study and it was during his stay with Lanark County that he began to acquire what was to become a lifelong interest in professional education, undertaking part-time teaching at the then Glasgow Library School from 1951.
In 1957, having obtained the Fellowship of the Library Association, he moved to Loughborough Technical College to lecture full-time and then,
in 1965, obtained a senior
lecturer position at Manchester Polytechnic.
In 1967 he was appointed as the first head of the newly-formed School of Librarianship at the Robert Gordon Institute of Technology in Aberdeen.
During his 20 years as the Head of School, Jimmy Orr orchestrated many significant innovations, including an Honours Degree, a Postgraduate Diploma, and higher degrees
by research.
He was a member of many institute committees and working parties, including the Academic Council, and served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts.
He was also active outwith the institute, chairing the Library and Information Science Committee of SCOTEC and, most notably, the Librarianship and Information Studies Board of the Council for National Academic Awards.
A great advocate of the value of professional bodies, Jimmy had joined the Library Association in 1949 and served on a number of committees. On his return to Scotland in 1967, he became a long-serving member of the Council of the Scottish Library Association and was elected president in 1986.
His principal academic interest was in library design; in addition to his many publications and contributions to professional journals were two standard texts, Designing Library Buildings for Activity (which reached a third edition) and Libraries as Communications Systems, the latter being an expanded version of his Master's Degree thesis which he submitted to the University of Strathclyde.
On his retirement in 1987, he left a school which had gained an international reputation within the library profession, had an expanding research base, and particular strengths in information technology, all of which paved the way for a smooth transition upon the institute's subsequent elevation to university status.
On a personal level, Jimmy's great loves were golf - he was champion, senior champion and club captain of Murcar Golf Club - photography, and literature, particularly the poetry of Robert Burns.
A devoted family man, he married Betty, his childhood sweetheart, in 1951; she proved the perfect partner to Jimmy, sharing his lifelong interests. He was extremely proud of
the artistic achievements of his two daughters, Christine and Irene, and derived great pleasure from the company of his four grandchildren.
Jimmy died in Aberdeen after a short illness. He will be greatly missed and his many friends, colleagues, and former students extend their sympathy to Betty and the family.
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