The CCAS community was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Brenda Bickett, who served as Georgetown University’s Middle East Studies Librarian for many years and was a longtime friend of CCAS. A dedicated scholar of both the Middle East and library science, Brenda played a vital role in shaping the University’s collections and providing expert research assistance to generations of faculty and students.
Brenda first joined Georgetown University’s Lauinger Library in 1978 as the Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies Bibliographer. Over the decades, she expanded and enriched the library’s Arabic-language holdings, as well as its collections related to Arab, Islamic, and Turkish studies, ensuring that students and researchers had access to critical scholarship and primary resources. Brenda served as the area studies librarian for CCAS, as well as multiple other departments and programs at the University, including the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, the Eurasian Studies program at the Center for Russian, Eurasian & East European Studies, the Department of Arabic & Islamic Studies, the Department of French, and the Division of Eastern Mediterranean Languages. In these roles, she provided expert research services and reference support to students and faculty, managed library collections, and created special exhibitions, strengthening the university’s engagement with Middle Eastern and Francophone scholarship.
Beyond Georgetown, Brenda was an active member of the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA). She served as editor of MELA Notes from 1987 to 1991, as MELA Vice President and Program Chair in 1993-1994, and as a Member-at-Large for many years. She also contributed to MELA’s Committee on Iraqi Libraries, which coordinated responses to the destruction of libraries in Iraq following the 2003 war. In addition, she chaired the Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. Her personal research interests focused on the Arabian Gulf, particularly the Sultanate of Oman. From 1986 to 1987, she served as Monographic Acquisitions Librarian at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, further developing her knowledge and love of the region’s history and cultures.
Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Brenda studied at the University of Texas at Austin, earning a BA in French with a minor in government in 1973. She continued her studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she earned a Master of Arts in Library Science and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies. She began her career as a cataloger at the Cleveland Public Library in 1977, working in the J.G. White Collection of Folklore, Orientalia & Chess, before joining Georgetown the following year.
Brenda’s dedication and kindness, and her many contributions to Middle Eastern scholarship, left an enduring mark on CCAS, as well as the larger Georgetown community. We extend our sincere condolences to Brenda’s friends and loved ones.