Virginia Lacy Jones (June 25, 1912 – December 3, 1984) was an American librarian who throughout her 50-year career in the field pushed for the integration of public and academic libraries. She was one of the first African Americans to earn a PhD in Library Science and became dean of Atlanta University's School of Library Sciences.
Early life Virginia Lacy was born to Edward and Ellen Lacy in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 25, 1912. She spent much of her childhood in Clarksburg, West Virginia. She recalled that growing up her family was "poor, hardworking, proud, and ambitious." She said that books and reading were always a part of her home life. She and her mother made frequent trips to the public library in Clarksburg, which was not segregated. In 1927, Jones moved to St. Louis, Missouri to live with an aunt and uncle. The move could have facilitated the path to a virtually expense-free college education through the Harris Teachers College as she desperately wanted to further her education, but her family was not able to afford it. She entered Sumner High School, where her uncle taught, and completed her final two years of school in 1929. It was while in high school that Jones realized the possibility that librarianship would be a part of her future. It was an experience at the St. Louis Public Library that inspired her most. She was researching information for her church's citywide essay contest on "The Values of Attending Sunday School" when she encountered a friendly reference librarian. She remembers that after telling this librarian what she was looking for, the librarian showed her how to use the periodical indexes. Jones recalls, "This experience was a thrilling one for me, and my imagination ran wild at the magic of the St. Louis Public Library, a great storehouse of information, ideas, and inspiration. I thought that to be a librarian like that reference librarian who helped me in the St. Louis Public Library would be the greatest thing in the world."
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