Obituary: Justin Arundale ; Apostle of information science and former librarian of `The Independent FOREIGN Edition

• Published in: Independent (London, England : 1986)
• Main Author: Woodroof, Harry
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Independent Digital News & Media 25.09.2002
• Subjects: Arundale, Nigel Justin
• ISSN: 0951-9467

After four years as Reference Librarian at Hemel Hempstead Public Library, he moved to Today and then, the following year, to The Independent. As the paper's second librarian he was cast as a reformer not originator, and its founder editor, Andreas Whittam Smith, maintains that never can a newspaper have had a more intelligent or creative librarian. Arundale took over a conventional cuttings library (the core of it an old library bought from the Westminster Press) and brought it into the electronic age. The Independent was one of the first newspapers in Europe to make all its back editions available on CD-Rom (when this was still an innovative storage medium). Arundale's time at the paper was important personally, too, for during it he met his partner, Barrie Butcher. Arundale's professional role extended far beyond the university, into committees of the Higher Education Quality Council, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, and other advisory bodies across government. He cared passionately about training and education for library staff, writing the definitive guide for candidates for Scottish and National Vocational Qualifications (S/ NVQs) in his field, Getting Your S/NVQ: a guide for candidates in the information and library sector (1996; revised edition, 1999). He contributed greatly to the Association of UK Media Librarians, and to his professional body, the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals, chairing its Chartership Board. Nigel Justin Arundale, newspaper librarian and teacher: born Lagos 3 January 1954; Librarian, Today 1986-87; Chief Librarian and Head of Information Services, The Independent 1987-94; Senior Lecturer, Department of Librarianship, School of Information Sciences, Brighton University 1994-2002; died Findon, West Sussex 12 September 2002.