Obituary

Thomas P. Turner, metadata librarian who helped develop the Cornell Library digital collections and services, died March 22 in Ithaca. He was 35. The cause of death was complications from malignant melanoma.

In January Turner was nominated for the 2003 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship. Janet McCue, director of Cornell's Albert R. Mann Library, who submitted the nomination, wrote: "Tom has been particularly successful at applying technological solutions to current needs, at bridging the gap between public and technical services, and at taking a leadership role in digital library development."

Turner founded the Cornell Library system's metadata working group, which focuses on making digital resources available to library users. He also served as an adviser on the committee for the development of a central repository for digital image collections and as a committee member on the digital-preservation working group.

He presented much of his technical work at conferences around the world. In 2001 he gave a presentation at the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo. Last year he presented technical information for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome.

Turner, who grew up in Totowa, N.J., earned his bachelor's degree in English language and literature from the Catholic University of America in 1989. He earned his master's degrees in English and library science from the University of Michigan in 1995.

From 1993 to 1995 Turner was a library associate at the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan. He came to Cornell in 1995, working as a public services librarian at Mann Library. He was promoted to metadata librarian in 1997 and, in this post, helped to develop many of the library's digital collections and services.

Turner is survived by Martin Heggestad, his partner of 11 years, and by his parents, John and Deborah Turner.

A celebration of his life is planned for Saturday, April 5, at 2 p.m. in the Princeton Room of the Statler Hotel on campus. Turner requested that donations to honor him be sent to Mann Library.