Mary Jane MacDonald

Mary Jane MacDonald, 84, of Springfield, died at 2:00 a.m. Monday, March 1, at Memorial Medical Center. Honoring her wishes, there will be no visitation or funeral service. Boardman-Smith Funeral Chapel will transport her body to the Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois in Chicago.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Friends of Brookens Library in care of Marcia Rossi, University of Illinois at Springfield, 1 University Plaza, Springfield, IL 62703 or AAUW Springfield Branch, P.O. Box 7475, Springfield, IL 62791.

Miss MacDonald was born in Springfield August 11, 1925, to William and Mabel Cunningham MacDonald. She is survived by one sister, Margaret (Lawrence E) Connolly of Bloomington; one niece, Kathleen (William M.) Butler of East Lansing, MI; one nephew, Joseph L. (Joan) Connolly of Arlington, MA; two great nieces, Halle Jane Butler of Chicago and Emma Connolly of Arlington, MA; and six first cousins.

A Springfield High School graduate, she also earned three degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-a bachelor’s in political science in 1946, a bachelor’s in library science in 1948, and a master’s in public administration in 1974. She was elected to Beta Phi Mu, national library science honorary fraternity, in 1954 and to Illinois Alpha Chapter, Order of Artus, a national honorary economics fraternity, in 1960.

She began her professional career as a reference librarian at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, MD, and later worked at the Yakima Valley Regional Library in Yakima, WA and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Research Library before returning to Illinois in 1958 to become head of the commerce Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana. She also worked at the Illinois State Library from 1962-1968. When Sangamon State University was being formed, she was the first professional librarian hired. The MacDonald Lounge in Brookens Library was named and dedicated in honor of her many years of service to the university as professor of library instructional services. The area was later changed into a coffee shop and named Mary Jane’s Café.

After her retirement, MacDonald was a volunteer researcher at the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, where she was instrumental in building the research library.

She was an ordained elder at First Presbyterian Church of Springfield and an active member of AAUW, Springfield Branch. She was a former member of the Special Libraries Association and the American Library Association.