David W. C. Stewart, 1941–2000

David Stewart, formerly chief librarian at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), died on June 2, 2000, following a fall at his house in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

Figure 1.

David Stewart

David William Campbell Stewart was born in Athlone, Ireland, on September 12, 1941. At the age of eleven, he won a scholarship to Galway Grammar School, from where he proceeded to Trinity College, Dublin, graduating BA in 1963. Later the same year, he was appointed library assistant at the Royal Society of Medicine, where he spent the rest of his working life.

David studied in his spare time for the associateship of the Library Association (U.K.) and became a chartered librarian in 1971. At that time, Philip Wade was chief librarian at the RSM, and the two developed a close working relationship. David's potential was quickly appreciated, and Philip Wade left him to tackle the implications for the RSM of the emerging electronic revolution. He was also entrusted with a review of the library's future direction and was given a sabbatical year for this purpose. In April 1973, he submitted his report, which included a ten-year strategic plan for expanding, rebuilding, and restructuring the library. His recommendations were accepted and were incorporated in what was internally a new building, reopened by Her Majesty the Queen in July 1986. In 1973, David became deputy librarian and, in 1977, he succeeded Philip Wade as chief librarian. He retired in 1995.

The RSM Library is among the largest of its kind in the world. Besides its coverage of current medical science it has, due to its earlier amalgamation of preexisting collections, considerable historical depth. Although it belongs to a private society, it is the medical back-up collection for the national interlibrary lending system.

David became a central figure in British medical librarianship and strove to promote cooperation, nationally and internationally. He was a founding member of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) and was coeditor of its Proceedings. He attended meetings of the International Congress on Medical Librarianship (1969–1995) and was for a time chair of the Steering Committee for the eighth congress, London, 2000. At its Seattle meeting in 1997, the (American) Medical Library Association (MLA) awarded him honorary membership—recognition of his contributions to international cooperation. At home, he was an active member of the Health Libraries and Rare Books Groups of the Library Association.

He wrote a valuable chapter for Information Sources in the Medical Sciences. He contributed also to the Health Libraries Review and served on its editorial board and that of the Journal of Medical Biography. He arranged numerous historical and bibliographical exhibitions at the RSM.

David was an active churchman. At his funeral service at the Church of Our Holy Saviour, Hitchin, a very large congregation heard the vicar speak highly of his work as sacristan and church warden there and of his concern for the underprivileged, the disadvantaged, and the underserved. For many years, he was actively involved with the World Development Movement, a pressure group for fair trade and such issues.

An American colleague writes of him: “Perhaps among all British medical librarians he has become the best known by his American counterparts. His dapper and jaunty figure and his friendly face have been seen regularly at MLA meetings in recent years. He made a point of getting to know as many people as possible and was willing to share his experience and viewpoints.” We, too, miss his smiling face (and his bow tie, bearing the “all-heal” motif of the RSM).

David met his future wife, Audrey Thornton, as a colleague on the library staff in 1963. They were married in 1966. We extend our deepest sympathy to Audrey and to their daughter, Catherine, also a librarian.