Farewell to Dimond Library's Pat Haggarty

by Dal Sellman

Supervisors and coworkers of Pat Haggarty, retiring research librarian at Dimond Branch Library, attribute to him all the admirable human qualities. They call him "responsible, dependable, committed, knowledgeable, compassionate, patient and friendly." And "he is particularly requested by phone callers with questions for the library staff."

Pat is actually semiretiring. He will be on call two days each week, but on call for the entire library system, so we may not see much of him at Dimond. This summer we not only lose Bill Sturm of the Oakland History Room but our own Pat (does anyone actually call him Mr. Haggarty?)

Pat has been with the Oakland Library system for thirty years. After early stints as a teacher and social worker, he found that being a librarian used his talents with books and people to the best advantage. He has served at the Main Library, Latin American Branch (now César Chávez), and Laurel Branch, when it was across the street from the Cine 7 theater (admission $1, he recalls) in the Laurel District. The Laurel and Dimond branches were combined to form the Dimond-Rohan Branch, and Pat was assigned 10 years ago. He also operated the Native American Bookmobile from 1979 to 1988 and remains the authority on Dimond's extensive Native American collection.

He has been a Library Union Steward for twenty years and active in community charities, such as Oakland Potluck, a food rescue organization, for which he drives monthly.

Pat tells us that he believes he has witnessed three evolutions in library research: manual, computer catalog, and the Internet. His concern is that book circulation is generally limited to pre-12-year-olds and those over 50 years of age. That's a big chunk of non-book-users in between.

His retirement will mean more time to spend with his Wisconsin family and to work on his Oakland home. He is looking forward to no more weekend work after 40 years of Saturday duty. Sigh!

As Catherine Nichols, Dimond Branch Librarian, says, "We will miss his professionalism, his expertise, his support, but most of all his friendship."