ObituaryMargaret Nichols

Margaret Irby Nichols (’45), 92, Professor Emerita of library and information sciences, died June 6 in Denton. She first began teaching at North Texas in 1956 and retired in 1996 from the faculty of the School of Library and Information Sciences, which she served as associate dean from 1989 to 1991. The program is now part of the College of Information. She specialized in reference services and government documents, and her contributions to the field included six books, numerous articles and hundreds of workshops in addition to the thousands of students and other information professionals she mentored through the years. She served on the executive board and then as president of the Texas Library Association and received the TLA Distinguished Service Award. The UNT Alumni Association recognized her with an Outstanding Service Award in 2011. She also edited Call Number, which became the College of Information’s alumni magazine, from 1988 until the publication ended. She earned her bachelor’s degree in library service at North Texas and a master’s in library science from the University of Texas at Austin. She began her library career in the 1940s, when she helped establish many small-town public libraries in Texas. She also taught at the Selwyn School in the 1960s. Memorials may be made to the Margaret Irby Nichols Scholarship.