Anita R. Schiller

January 23, 2021

SAN DIEGO — Anita R. Schiller, 94, passed away January 23, 2021, of COVID-19 at UCSD Thornton Hospital. Beloved mother of sons Dan (Susan Davis) and Zach (Gail Long), grandmother of Lucy and Ethan, stepgrandmother of Kimberly (Jeff ) and step-greatgranddaughters Mirabel and Justine, friend to so many.

Determined, brave, radical, concerned for others, generous and always ready to laugh, Anita was a librarian with a discerning social vision. Her research was among the first to demonstrate wholesale discrimination against the women librarians who made up most of the profession - and she organized and advocated to end that. She warned early and often of the perils of the private takeover of public information, and of the growing misuses of

information technology for profit-making over public ends.

She moved to UCSD in 1970, where she worked as a reference librarian, social sciences bibliographer and data services librarian. For her achievements, the American Library Association awarded her its highest honor - life member. But most of all, she was always there for us. A public remembrance will be held at a later date.

Memorial donations may be made to Free Government Information, an organization she helped conceive, which embodies Anita’s abiding commitment to the fundamental democratic idea that government information should be public and free to all members of society. Donations may be made to www.freegovinfo.info at: Paypal.me/jamesjacobs