In the 1950s and 1960s, Moyra McAllister attended primary and secondary school in Derry, Northern Ireland. In her later years at secondary school, she was recognised as a prodigious talent in science and mathematics, so much so that her teachers thought her exceptional ability would be wasted at the girl's school, and it was decided she should attend the boy's secondary school where she would be the only female student. It must have been character building! She went on to study chemistry and librarianship at Queen's University in Belfast after which she travelled to Canada with her new husband and lifetime partner Trevor McAllister. She joined the staff of the National Science Library of Canada, and so began her exceptional career as a professional librarian.
Moyra was one of few librarians who could genuinely claim to have worked in almost every function and every type of library. She had experience in national, school, technical, public, special, law and parliamentary libraries. She had also worked in cataloguing and acquisitions, as a readers’ advisor, as reference librarian, reader education and library manager. But experience is only one aspect. Moyra had extensive general knowledge, she was incredibly well read, she always had a book in her hand, she embraced new technology and had the rigorous thought processes to understand it. She was inventive and tenacious. When it came to reference work, she was the best. She knew the value of an extensive network and while she never seemed to work at it, she made friends easily, she helped people, and she shared her abilities and knowledge freely.
Moyra joined the Library Association of Australia in 1975 and it was not long before she was committed and involved. Her participation culminated in 2001–2003 when she served on the ALIA Board of Directors, but along the way she was a great contributor.
She served as Chair of the ALIA Purchasing and Consortia Reference Group and as a member of the Copyright and Intellectual Property Working Group. At the Victorian level, Moyra was President of the ALIA Special Libraries Section and Convenor of the ALIA Victorian Branch Mentoring Scheme. Moyra's commitment to sharing her knowledge made her a great mentor. She mentored a generation of young librarians and was committed to breaking the cycle of no experience no work, no work no experience. In 2004 she was elected a Fellow of the Library and Information Association of Australia.
Moyra was recruited to the Monash University Hargarve Library from the Dandenong Valley Regional Library Service in 1979. The Hargrave Library was the university physical sciences and engineering library and Moyra's scientific education equipped her admirably for reference work there. It was the dawn of online literature searching and Moyra was a great pioneer. Chemical Abstracts, Science Citation Index and other sources were newly available online, but they were not user friendly and the words seamless and intuitive did not apply. Moyra mastered the technology quickly and promoted these services to the academic staff. It was a revolution. This experience equipped her well for the Telecom Engineering Library but it was not long before another challenge beckoned.
Moyra was appointed Deputy at the Victorian Parliamentary Library in 1986 and while working there, the opportunity arose for a six-month secondment to the parliamentary library in Darwin. Moyra was always up for a change. She re-energised the library and showed the staff what they could achieve. This also meant extending her network which was maintained along with great affection for Darwin.
Moyra was headhunted from the Victorian Parliamentary Library to be Library Manager for Blake and Riggall, which together with Dawson Waldron in Sydney, was to become the law firm Blake, Dawson and Waldron. Moyra managed libraries in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra with many offices and affiliates overseas. She blended these branches into an integrated library system and the library was elevated to the Knowledge Team reporting to the IT Director. She built a great reputation and was trusted, and maybe a little feared by the lawyers and technology people alike.
When Moyra retired in 2004 she was not lost to the profession. As an avid reader, Moyra was an enthusiastic member of the Melbourne Athenaeum Library which allowed her to pursue her long-time interest in crime fiction. She asked if she could do voluntary work there and was accepted. Moyra was happy to help in any way, but the Athenaeum was implementing a new library management system and soon Moyra was an integral part of the team. She had the happy knack of making herself indispensable.
She was also an enthusiastic volunteer at the Brotherhood of St Laurence working in the library and on other projects. And she found time to advocate for refugees, lobbying the government, fund raising and even supporting a refugee family and making them part of her family.
Moyra did not aspire to high office, her credo was people and service, she was an exemplary practitioner and was esteemed by her colleagues. It was fitting that Melbourne Athenaeum Library should be packed with family, friends and colleagues for her memorial service.