莱恩先生曾任英国国家图书馆的馆长，90年代初到中国国家图书馆来访的时候，我也参加了接待。

退居二线以后，他担任英国国家图书馆主办的杂志《亚历山大》(Alexandria)的主编。该杂志主要讨论各国国家图书馆的建设问题。

我于2002年向《亚历山大》投稿，与他通信若干次。他在给我的信中提出了细致的修改意见，特别是润色了英语的文字。我问他我的英语是不是不太好，他说他看过很多国家的图书馆员的投稿，我的文字算很不错的了；特别是有一些东欧和南欧国家的投稿，文字很不通顺的。他的话给我很大的鼓励。作为一个非英语国家图书馆作者，能得到母语编辑的指正，那是很幸运的事情。

我第二次投稿《亚历山大》杂志的时候，是在2006年。当时主编刚换人，大概他身体已经不太行了。

莱恩先生的好老头形象，我至今还记得。

It is with deep sadness that we have to announce that Dr Maurice B Line FCLIP passed away during the weekend of 18/19 September 2010. Maurice had been ill for some time.

Maurice Line was a towering figure in the library and information profession, nationally and internationally, in the second half of the 20^thcentury.

Maurice had a long and important association with the British Library and he made a major contribution to its development as a leading international research library during its formative years. As Librarian at the University of Bathhe had directed a study into the scope for automated data processing in the new British Library.  He was Librarian of the National Central Library (NCL) from 1971-1973 and a member of the British Library Organizing Committee which undertook a range of other preparatory and planning work for the UK’s new national library which was to start operating in July 1973.  He joined the British Library in 1973, when the NCL was incorporated into the BL, as Deputy Director-General of the Lending Division. He became Director General in 1974, a post he held until 1985.  From 1985 until his retirement in 1988 he was Director General, Science Technology and Industry.  

For
the next 12 years Maurice worked as a consultant specializing in the management
of change, and advising organizations in many parts of the world. He carried
out over 50 consultancies in 16 different countries and visited more than 40
countries in a professional context. He was Professor Associate at Sheffield University's
Department of Information Science, and External Professor at Loughborough University's
Department of Information and Library Studies.

Maurice had a broad range of professional interests and his publications literally ran into the hundreds. Some of his titles – for example On the construction and care of white elephants (on catalogues), How golden is your retriever?, Ignoring the user: how, when and why, The bonfire of the author’s vanity – underline both his humour, and also his predisposition to challenge professional orthodoxy. He was editor of Interlending and Document Supplyand Alexandria, the journal concerned with national libraries, their roles and functions and international issue, and it is perhaps in this domain that Maurice had the most profound influence and exerted such thought and professional leadership.

Maurice will be sadly missed by the profession.

At the time of writing, the funeral arrangements were not known. The British Library plans to arrange a celebration of Maurice Line’s life and extraordinary professional contribution and details will be announced in due course.

The British Library,  24 September 2010