Mona E. Going 1910–2003

Abstract

Mona Going, who died on 4th February 2003 aged 93, was a leading figure in the field of health and welfare librarianship. Her chosen path was probably influenced by her family's background and her own medical history Mona Edgecombe Going was born on 11th January 1910. Her father was a surgeon, her mother a nursing sister and her sister a physiotherapist. After leaving school, she started at St James’ Secretarial College, but in 1929 she contracted poliomyelitis and spent 3 months in the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases. At first it was feared she would never walk again but, with the help of her physiotherapist sister and her own determination, she succeeded in doing so. For the rest of her life she had to wear a very uncomfortable back support. In 1938, she began voluntary library work at the Kent and Sussex Hospital at Tunbridge Wells and also at King's College Hospital, London. Then, in 1941, she took up a post at Tonbridge Library and remained there until 1951. She studied for her ALA, then her FLA, both by correspondence; she also obtained the LA's Specialist Certificate in Hospital Library Work. Her appointment as Hospitals Librarian for Kent in 1951 was a post she held until her retirement in 1975. Mona established services in Kentish hospitals and also in many homes for elderly and disabled people as the ‘Welfare’ added to her job title required. She also became aware of the parlous state of library and information provision for medical and nursing staff, in fact for all those working in the NHS, and this led her to press for improvements. After her retirement, she became a part-time Information Consultant for the Kent Area Health Authority for 2 years. Voluntary work with the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and then Tonbridge School followed. An attempt to form an LA group in 1957 for all those working, or interested, in services to hospital patients and disabled people in the community did not succeed. However, informal discussions were ongoing and, in December 1960, Ronald Sturt wrote a letter to the Library Association Record which brought sufficient response to go ahead, in 1961, and form the Hospital Libraries and Handicapped Readers’ Group. The Group received official LA status from January 1962 with Mona its first Chairman. Even before the Group was officially established, discussions took place between Mona, Ronald Sturt and ourselves about a number of matters, including the possibility of a book based partly, but not exclusively, on papers given at the evening course on hospital librarianship at the North Western Polytechnic School of Librarianship in the autumn of 1959. Mona agreed to edit such a book and in 1963 the LA published Hospital Libraries and work with the disabled. It went into four, much enlarged, editions, the last published in 1990 with a slight change in the title to reflect community care. It became a standard textbook for library students and others in the field. From the royalties of the book Mona set up the Sheila Moore Award, to help library students and those working in the field to attend the Group's annual weekend conference. Between 1965 and 1996, over 50 awards were made. In the early Sixties there were very few good libraries for doctors, elementary provision for student nurses, with generally nothing for trained or other health professionals, and few good services for patients. From the formation of the Group, Mona, along with others, urged the need for ‘standards’ as a way to improve library facilities. She, Ronald Sturt, Brian Armitage (Librarian of Charing Cross Hospital Medical School) and Alice Thompson (Librarian of the Royal College of Nursing) worked on producing standards for libraries in hospitals. Their deliberations resulted in the LA's Hospital libraries: recommended standards for libraries in hospitals published in 1965. In 1966 we went with Mona, Ronald Sturt and others to a meeting at the Ministry of Health to discuss the provision of libraries for postgraduate education. We were able to have an informal talk with Dr Henry Yellowlees after the official meeting had ended to brief him on the library needs of hospital patients and disabled people. That afternoon paved the way for the Ministry to issue two memoranda: one in 1967 on postgraduate medical and allied education, the other in 1970 on library services in hospitals. Mona continued to contribute to ongoing discussions on standards and guidelines. She also made contributions in the international field and made many friends abroad, particularly in Scandinavia. Recognition of Mona's work came when she was appointed MBE for services to hospital libraries in 1976; in 1990 the June issue of Health Libraries Review was in her honour; and in 2000 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the LA. As she was too frail to go to London to accept the Certificate, the then President of the LA, the Rev. Graham Cornish, went to her home in Tonbridge to present the certificate in person. The honour, and the President's visit, afforded her much pleasure. As well as her church activities, Mona had very wide interests. Reading was an essential element in her life (she read War and peace in between driving a Red Cross ambulance during the war). Other interests included Guiding (she was Divisional President until she retired in 1988); music; the theatre; travel; gardening; the Jane Austen Society; and Church Recording for the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies. Mona's strong Christian faith shone through everything she did. One's spirits were lifted in her company by her great enthusiasm for life and her work and by her sense of humour. Mona took a great interest and delight in her brother's family. Her two nephews and a niece and their children were very close to her. Tonbridge Parish Church was full on 18th February when family and friends, including a number of librarians, celebrated Mona's life. She was a courageous woman who, despite her own physical disability, made a tremendous contribution to librarianship and to the lives of many people around her.