Biographical Note
W. (Willis) Carl Jackson was born May 20, 1923 in Beverly,
Massachusetts. After having received his B.A. in History at Florida State
University in 1951 and his M.A. in Library Science at Florida State University
in 1952, he began his extensive career in the library profession.
His employment included Assistant Order Librarian at the University of
Tennessee, 1952-54; Head, Order Department, University of Iowa, 1954-55; Head,
Acquisitions Department, University of Iowa, 1955-57; Chief Acquisitions
Librarian, University of Minnesota, 1957-63; Associate Director of Libraries,
University of Colorado, 1963-66; Director of Libraries, Pennsylvania State
University, 1966-72; and Dean of Libraries, Indiana University, Bloomington,
1973-80.
Jackson was involved with several professional organization
activities. He was a life member of the American Library Association and
chaired several ALA committees. He served as President of the Resources and
Technical Services Division of ALA, 1969-70, and was a member of the ALA
Council, 1975-79. In 1975 he began his leadership in the founding of the
Midwest Regional Library Network (MIDLNET). During 1966-1974, Jackson served on
EDUCOM Board of Directors and the Editorial Advisory Committee. He was also
involved with the U.S. COSATI Panel on Library Programs, the Task Group on
Cooperative Technology for Academic and Research Libraries, and the
Mid-Atlantic Library Information Network (MARLIN), among others. Jackson was
also a consultant for several university libraries in the U.S. and abroad.
Jackson was well-known for his love of sailing. In 1978 he fulfilled a
lifelong dream to set sail on a solo journey across the Atlantic on his yacht,
the "Carla Mia," named for his daughter Carla. After the journey, Jackson
received a heroic homecoming. He later recounted his experiences during the
solo crossing in "The Log of the Carla Mia." In 1981 during an attempt to sail
the opposite direction from Europe to America, Jackson was lost at sea and
declared legally dead after wreckage from his boat was found off the coast of
Spain. (As appeared in
Indiana University, Bloomington) |
