Denise Thompson Retiring from MARCIVE

January 1, 2023

Many of our customers likely would have had at least minimal contact with Denise, who retired in December after 39 years with the company.

Her association with the company began in 1981 as a Computer Operator at Trinco which was a Trinity University-owned corporation providing computer services throughout Texas. MARCIVE was originally conceived as a cataloging service to meet the needs of the Trinity University Library, but as word spread to other libraries about the automated and economical services the MARCIVE project was providing Trinity’s library, other libraries were added. When Trinity University decided to close Trinco in 1981, Robert Fleming asked Jim Plaunt, Bill Terry, and Richard Smith to partner with him to purchase the rights to the MARCIVE project and start MARCIVE, Inc. Denise joined the small staff in 1983 as one of the support staff that was on board right at the beginning.

Taught largely by Jim Plaunt (who retired in 2014) the intricacies of the MARC format, she learned much of the customized programming that was the core of all of the company’s services. Over the years, she has worked as programmer and customer support in many areas including Brief Record Upgrade, GPO Services, Retrospective Conversion, Reclassification, and authority control. From the “olden days” of dealing with boxes of shelflist cards, wrangling label printers, mounting magnetic tapes to the age of the Internet and RDA Conversion, Denise was able to maneuver the myriad of changes that have taken place in the industry of library automation with finesse. Her vast mental storehouse of accumulated knowledge will be sorely missed by MARCIVE staff and our customers.
Denise plans to spend her retirement with her family and in particular her adored three grandchildren, watching her Dallas Cowboys, traveling, and learning to bake. We wish her the best in this next phase of her life.