Eoin Howitt Wilkinson.(Obituary)(Obituary)

Those who knew and admired Eoin Wilkinson feel keenly the loss of such a complete professional and gentle man from among the ranks of leading Australian librarians.

Although since July 1987 Eoin had been retired from his position as University Librarian at Macquarie University, Sydney, he remained strongly supportive of that library and of the profession's association, expressing that support in many practical ways. He also took great pleasure in maintaining contacts with colleagues, and, in company with his wife Betty, devoted a lot of time to his local community and was much appreciated there for his active role in ensuring its wellbeing.

One would wish that his happy and productive retirement could have lasted longer, but that was not to be. Approximately seven months after the diagnosis of a brain tumour, he passed away peacefully on 15 April 2004, surrounded by his family, at the age of 78.

Eoin was one of many young librarians whose careers began at the State Library of New South Wales, in January 1949, then known as the Public Library. This followed graduation with Honours in History from the University of Sydney in 1948 and completion of the library school course run by the Public Library in the same year. He was seconded as Librarian of the Hawkesbury Agricultural College in 1951-1953 and was Librarian of the New South Wales Department of Agriculture between 1953 and 1960.

In 1957 and 1958 Eoin took up a scholarship at the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago, and received his Master of Arts degree from this prestigious institution in 1960. Whilst in the United States he received a travel grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which enabled him to study the organisation and administration of research libraries in North America.

In 1960 Eoin was appointed Reference Librarian at the University of New South Wales; in 1961 he was also a part-time lecturer in its School of Librarianship. Thereafter, for nine years he served at the Barr Smith Library, University of Adelaide, as Deputy Librarian--working for some time under Ira Raymond, his great friend and mentor. The nine months from May 1967 to February 1968 Eoin spent overseas, pursuing interests such as education for librarianship, automation and the planning of…