Carolyn Larson: In Memorium 1940-2024
Carolyn Larson, retired head of the Business Reference Section in the former Science, Technology and Business Division (ST&B) of the Library of Congress, passed away on August 1, 2024. She is remembered by her colleagues for her curiosity, brilliance, and caring and kind demeanor. Her support and guidance were invaluable in helping many of her younger colleagues navigate their career paths.
Carolyn was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and graduated from Oberlin College. She received her master's degree in library science from Columbia University and started at the Library of Congress in 1965 through the Special Recruit program, a Library initiative to hire outstanding graduates from library schools. Her early career at the Library spanned several divisions, including the Serial and the General Reading Rooms divisions.
In 1976, she was assigned full-time to represent the Library in collaborating on the Union List of Legal Periodical Holdings of Libraries in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Later, in the Humanities and Social Sciences Division, Carolyn worked on the Entrepreneur's Reference Guide to Small Business, published in 1994. She joined the newly created Science, Technology & Business division in 1998 as part of the Business Reference Section, and in 2007, she took charge of it as the Section Head.
Carolyn was part of the Library's Bibliographic Enrichment Advisory Team (BEAT) and was project manager of the BECites+ Project, which transferred print bibliographies online and enhanced them with linked content. At BEAT's 10th anniversary celebration in 2002, she delivered "BeCites+: Not Your Mother's Bibliography; Not Your Father's Catalog; How Scanning and Optical Character Recognition Are Linking the Two."
Carolyn was very active in the American Library Association's Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). She served as the representative for RUSA Standards and Guidelines in 2005–06 and as RUSA secretary in 2011. In 2012, she was recognized by RUSA's Machine-Assisted Reference Section (now the Emerging Technologies Section) for her service and achievements with automation in reference work.
After 50 years of service at the Library of Congress, Carolyn retired in July 2021 to her love of music and family. Carolyn played violin in the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and for a number of Victorian Lyric Opera Company productions of Gilbert and Sullivan works over several decades.
Carolyn is survived by her husband, Everette Larson, four children, and six grandchildren. She is fondly remembered by her colleagues throughout the Library of Congress.
This remembrance is submitted on behalf of Carolyn's colleagues by Gulnar Nagashybayeva, Business Reference Librarian at the Library of Congress.
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In honor of the Sesquicentennial (150th Anniversary of ALA) in 2026, the Library History Round Table is hosting Librarians We Have Lost, Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026. This collage of tributes seeks to honor librarians who died between 1976-2026. The tributes are published to ALA Connect and a digital memorial on LHRT News & Notes.
We invite tributes from anyone about any library worker who passed away between 1976-2026. To submit a tribute, please use the form at https://lhrt.news/librarians-we-have-lost-sesquicentennial-memories-1976-2026-2/
For questions or comments, please reach out to Dr. Kathleen McCook (kmccook@usf.edu) or Brett Spencer (dbs21@psu.edu).
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Brett Spencer
Reference Librarian
Thun Library, Penn State Berks
He/Him/His
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