As you said, jQuery requires that extra import. JQuery is a file full of Javascript functions. It is an extension of the javascript library and its functions are not loaded by most major browsers, you have to include the file. If you decide to continue purely in jQuery it would be good to note this and provide instructions in the event that jQuery is not loaded on their page. It's not wrong to require libraries to run things, but it is always polite to inform people on why something may not be working for them ;)
Including something like this might be a good idea.
function myFunctionWithJQuery() {
try {
jQuery;
} catch (e) {
document.getElementById('#example-info-section').innerHTML='You need to load jQuery!';
return;
}
// do something with jQuery
return;
}
I don't exactly understand what you are doing in detail but you could call this logic before your jQuery business comes into play.
EDIT: Corrected my silliness =)