Janet Crayne, Library's International Studies colleague, passed away on November 21, 2024

With great sadness, the Library's International Studies colleague, Janet Crayne, passed away on 21 November, after a brave battle with cancer. She died peacefully in her home, surrounded by friends.

Janet joined the U-M Library in October, 1993 as the South Slavic bibliographer, Slavic original cataloger, and supervisor of Slavic technical services. In 2003, she became the Head of the Slavic and East European Division, and with time added Eurasia and Modern Greek to her expanding job title and liaison areas. 

Janet was an internationally recognized expert in her field, especially in the area of Slavic bibliography and Slavic electronic resources, but also referred to as one of top American specialists on the Balkans. She was a giant of inter-institutional and international collaboration that bore fruit in the form of restored Balkan collections previously ravaged by war, preservation of innumerable rare materials, or electronic access to materials available only in print at single locations. Appointed to a number of leadership positions in Slavic-related organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies or the International Congress of Slavic Librarians, Janet worked tirelessly to advance the library profession in her subject areas and foster collaboration across institutions and nations These efforts often intersected with her humanitarian work, especially in support of the recovery programs after the Balkan Wars of the 1990s.

As a colleague, Janet was wonderfully generous and caring, enthusiastic and dedicated 200%. She was a fabulous mentor and supervisor, who quickly discovered individual talents and knew how to inspire their development. She instilled a spirit of teamwork, mutual respect and open communication. She retired from the Library in March 2019. Last year, Brendan Nieubuurt published a tribute to Janet and her distinguished career at U-M for a special "Great Collectors" edition of our field's journal, Slavic & East European Information Resources. 

You can read Janet’s obituary here.