Library Champion Dies at 69

By Staff -- School Library Journal, 12/1/2004

Sally Magnuson, who spent more than 30 years helping a small school in Illinois with no library turn into a reading haven with a 2,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art media center, died recently at the age of 69 after battling cancer for a year.

When Magnuson moved from Minnesota to Lombard, IL, in the late 1960s, she was appalled that her daughter Nancy's school, Butterfield Elementary, had no library and that its students had no access to library books. So shortly after becoming a teacher's assistant at the school, Magnuson convinced the principal to set up a small library in one of the classrooms with books donated from individual teachers.

Magnuson's small collection continued to grow over the years, and the district gave her a library budget in 1972. When a referendum was passed in 1998 to upgrade Butterfield, Magnuson received more money to transform her library into a full-service media center, complete with computer, and audiovideo resources. Magnuson continued to run it as a librarian assistant until her death.