Dayton Docket

Jackie Johnston was the Acquisitions Supervisor in the Technical Services department of the Zimmerman Law Library, University of Dayton School of Law. She devoted an amazing thirty-seven years of service to the University.

Jackie’s commitment to the University was unsurpassed. She was as an essential component of the Law Library staff and, before that, the Roesch Library staff.  She was able to earn her bachelor’s degree at the University while working full time. In addition to the duties and responsibilities she had undertaken in both libraries, Jackie had devoted years of service of the University’s Hay Committee. She touched the lives of many people during the years she has spent here – professors and fellow students in the classes she took, colleagues across campus, student and faculty patrons of the libraries, student employees whom she supervised, and of course her beloved husband of almost 40 years, Steve Johnston, who also worked for the University and passed away in February 2013.

Jackie worked in the complex and – particularly in recent years -- rapidly evolving area of library acquisitions: ordering and processing print and electronic materials, maintaining payment records, working with a series of cataloguing and record systems, establishing relationships with vendors, and training and supervising student employees. She bore primary responsibility for having instituted the Law Library’s electronic financial record-keeping system. Her work consistently evidenced dedication, admirable attention to detail, and a strong work ethic.

Jackie leaves a distinctive and accomplished legacy at the School of Law and the University. She looks forward to spending more time with her family and in her church (where she sings and has, to no one’s surprise, taken charge of the library collections). In her retirement announcement, Jackie described herself as feeling blessed to have worked here and blessed in having acquired “so many amazing friends.” Jackie will be greatly missed – as a colleague and friend.

View the photo gallery.

For questions on this post, please contact Susan Newhart Elliott, associate professor and director of Zimmerman Law Library at elliott@udayton.edu.

For more information, or to submit a news item, contact Denise Baker, assistant director of communications at the University of Dayton School of Law, at lawcomm@udayton.edu. Or submit your news online here.