Diana Priestly passed away in Victoria last Thursday,
March 27, 1997. Miss Priestly's health had been very
fragile in recent months. As much as we have been
saddened by her passing, it was not unexpected.
Most of you are familiar with Diana Priestly's many
accomplishments as a law librarian. She was a founding
member of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries,
president from 1969 to 1971, and editor of the newsletter
from 1970 to 1973. In 1987, C.A.L.L. established the
Diana M. Priestly Scholarship in her honour, and awarded
her the status of Honoured Member. The Diana M. Priestly
Law Library, which she founded at the University of
Victoria in 1974, is named for her as well. Law libraries
in Canada: essays to honour Diana M. Priestly, edited by
Joan Fraser, was published by Carswell in 1988. She was
also honoured as a Distinguished Alumnus that year by
the University of Washington's Graduate School of Library
and Information Science.
Diana Priestly was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1922, and
served with the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service
during World War II. After the war, she obtained B.A.
and LL.B. degrees from the University of British Columbia,
and was called to the bar in 1950. After a time in law
practice in Nanaimo, she took the Master of Law
Librarianship degree at the University of Washington,
graduating in 1953.
>From 1953 to 1963, Diana Priestly was the law librarian
and a lecturer at the University of British Columbia.
Her next appointment, from 1964 to 1967, was as law
librarian and assistant professor at the University of
Toronto. Then she became assistant law librarian and
assistant professor at the Osgoode Hall Law School,
York University. In 1970, she moved to the University
of Western Ontario to become director of research and
an associate professor. Next she joined the Legal Research
and Planning Section of the Department of Justice in
Ottawa as a legal officer in 1972.
In 1974, Diana Priestly returned to British Columbia
to create a law library for the new Faculty of Law
at the University of Victoria. After 13 busy and
successful years as law librarian and professor, she
retired in 1987 with the status of emeritus professor.
The funeral will be at Christ Church Cathedral,
912 Vancouver St. in Victoria on Friday, April 4th
at 2 p.m.
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John N. Davis Priestly Law Library
Law Librarian University of Victoria
Associate Professor of Law Box 2300
jndavis@uvic.ca Victoria, British Columbia
Fax (250) 472-4174 Canada V8W 3B1
Ariel 142.104.60.179 (250) 721-8562
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