Thank you Janet

by Susan Kruse

There are people you meet in life who have a profound impact on you, even though they may not know it, nor be someone you even know well.

For me, one such person was Janet Brisland. She was a Development Manager on the Library of Birmingham project with responsibility for Services for Children, Young People and Families and Events Programming. Prior to her work on Library of Birmingham she had worked for many years in many different library settings; including reference, local studies, community and university libraries.

I met Janet in March 2011 when I first approached the library with an idea for a celebratory art project. From the very first, Janet was enthusiastic and encouraging about The Library of Lost Books. When I proposed that I use discarded books to create the project she reacted with vision, instantly seeing the positive use that could be made of them.

I think that anyone working with Janet would recognise the up-beat, can-do response she gave to the project as a hallmark of her general cheerful, warm and positive demeanour. I certainly was spurred on by her enthusiasm; in fact I’d go so far as to say that without Janet’s encouragement the project would never even have got started. So thank you Janet, you’re a star!

Janet Brisland passed away after a sudden, short illness on November 1st 2012.