Barbara Dodson Simmons Chambliss, a longtime staff member at the library who worked hard behind the scenes to help services flow smoothly, died on March 18 at the age of 82. She joined the College in 1983 and served a number of roles over the years, retiring in 2007 as library assistant for acquisitions.
Born Nov. 25, 1942 in Columbus to Frank and Roseanna Dodson, she attended Bishop Hartley High School and Holy Spirit for services.
Chambliss came to Kenyon in December 1983 to fill a position in book processing and repair in the technical services department of Chalmers Library. In addition to repairing damaged and well-used volumes, she handled books on the receiving end and materials being shipped to the bindery.
Later, Chambliss also found herself in the document-delivery business, and in 1995 she became a full-time interlibrary loan/document delivery assistant, getting materials from outside libraries for students and faculty and sharing the College’s materials with other libraries. Eventually, she took on a role helping to order books and other media for Kenyon’s collection.
When Chambliss was honored for 15 years of service, Oscar H. Will III P’00,’02, then-director of information access, wrote that she was invaluable as a jack-of-all-trades.
“Barb, who is known as the person who can process more journal-article requests in a day than should be humanly possible, while keeping tabs on the library photocopier, has loyally played a number of roles that have helped library services to flow smoothly over the years,” he wrote.
Karen Greever, collection development librarian, remembers Chambliss as a straight-shooter and hard worker. She recalls her former colleague’s love of Cleveland’s professional baseball team and her generosity in helping out.
“She was always willing to pitch in, even if it wasn’t something that was her area,” Greever said. “And she was the one person who knew how to work the fax machine, which could be temperamental in those days. I always threw myself on her mercy, and she was always very gracious in helping when I had trouble with it.”
Chambliss married Larry Simmons and had three children before later marrying Harold Chambliss. She is survived by children Chris Hawkins and Dirk Simmons, and siblings Annie Carnes, Robert and Frank. She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold, and son Scot Simmons.
No services are scheduled. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Mount Vernon.