Arcadia’s New Library Director Dies

-Courtesy Photo

Arcadia’s Director of Library and Museum Services Jackie Faust-Moreno died Saturday at Methodist Hospital after apparently suffering a heart attack in her office Wednesday according to Arcadia officials.
Faust-Moreno, first joined the library in 1984 as a reference librarian and worked her way up to being a library services manager before replacing Carolyn Garner Reagan who retired last year.
Carolyn Garner Reagan said “I had the distinct pleasure of working with Jackie for nearly 10 years. She was a wonderful professional librarian and a level-headed manager and supervisor who could almost always figure out ways to talk vendors down on prices. She was always eager to try out new technology, which in today’s rapidly changing library world was a tremendous asset to the Library and the community. Jackie was instrumental in obtaining a grant for the Library’s first digitization project and also led the Library as it became the first library in Southern California to move to an open source online catalog, saving the City $20,000 in the first year and improving service to patrons. She also was a warm and devoted friend whose quick smile and laugh was always a delight. I can’t imagine the Arcadia Public Library without her and I know I couldn’t have done my job as director as effectively had she not been part of my management team.”
Arcadia Weekly columnist Dorothy Denne said: “ As a member of the Arcadia Library Board of Trustees, I appreciated the privilege of working with Jackie at a professional level. As a senior somewhat daunted by modern technology, I admired her expertise and skill. As a friend, I enjoyed the many giggles we shared. Jackie leaves a hole that I am fortunate to be able to fill with happy memories.”
Jackie was a graduate of Hollywood High School and majored in Theater Arts at Los Angeles City College and UCLA. She received her Master of Library Science degree from USC and began her career as a librarian at USC.
In 1984, she began her career with the Arcadia Public Library, first as a Reference Librarian, then as a supervisor of Cataloging and Information Services. In 2001 she became the Library Services Manager for Materials and Information Management where she oversaw a variety of technology upgrades, including the recent migration to a new open-source Library catalog using Koha. Her passion for theater arts was always with her and her dream of a Foreign Film program was realized over four years ago. In June 2011, she became the Library and Museum Services Director.
Jackie’s passions included show tunes and movies and she had a soft spot for helping adolescents.. She was always concerned that middle school students and teens were misunderstood and overlooked and wanted to have a place at the Library where they would feel just as welcomed as everyone else. This past year she opened up the Auditorium in the afternoons for the high school students to have a place to socialize. She also expanded the teen area and was in the process of creating a middle school area in the Jerry Broadwell Children’s Room. Her enthusiasm was inspiring to staff and she will truly be missed.
Jackie is survived by her husband Dave, two daughters and a granddaughter. At this time, there are no services pending.
The family requests donations, in lieu of flowers, be made to: Hollywood High Alumnae Association in memory of Jackie (Gillett) Faust-Moreno Scholarship Fund C/O Shirley Norby 3852 Eureka Dr. Studio City, CA 91604.

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