LuCinda Smith loved to read and she loved to travel, but most of all she loved to instill others, especially children, with her own passion for literature.

Ms. Smith, who worked 42 years as a librarian for Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, died Sunday. She was 90. She was a resident of the Baptist Homes, Castle Shannon.

She retired as head librarian at the Brookline branch in 1978 and earlier had served as children's librarian at the Lawrenceville branch.

"She was very enthusiastic about children's books, and I was the children's librarian," said Anne New, who worked a year with Ms. Smith in Brookline.

"At all times, until the day she died, she was always interested in children and wanted quality programs for them," added New, now the library director at the Castle Shannon Community Library.

"She set a standard of quality in librarians so you gave the best to the children because books are so important to them. You wanted them to love them."

New said Ms. Smith encouraged creative programming in the children's department.

"It was fun," New said. "I enjoyed every minute of it. She allowed me to bring my talents as a storyteller and a folk singer into the programs."

Ms. Smith carried her enthusiasm for teaching children the joys of reading to the adults she served in Brookline.

"She liked to recommend things to people," said Sheila Jackson, a former clerk under Ms. Smith at the Brookline library. "She would spend a lot of time talking to people."

Ms. Smith's own tastes were eclectic, including literary books, especially classics, mysteries and romances, according to New and Jackson, now the director of main library redesign at the Carnegie Library in Oakland.

She traveled the world with fellow librarians during her annual four-week vacations and collected things she could display at the library and tie into available books, New said.

"It was just another way of sharing," she said. "She shared everything about herself with the community."

A lifelong member of the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, Ms. Smith got a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's degree from what is now Carnegie-Mellon University.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday in the Baptist Homes Chapel.