Member A-LIRT:  Meet Judy Clarence!

Currently Judy serves on the LIRT PR/Membership Committee. Part of her responsibilities for this committee is serving as co-editor of this column, Member A-LIRT. Working with her is pure delight.  Her active involvement within LIRT is a testament to her interest in LIRT’s mission and her own hard work and her dedication.  In addition to working on the PR/Membership Committee, Judy also served on the LIRT Newsletter Committee, later chairing that committee for two years while serving as Editor of the LIRT Newsletter and a member of the Steering committee. 

Judy works tirelessly behind the scenes. She is the pair of hands that is always there to help. Her willingness to volunteer and her responsible attitude towards getting a job done makes her indispensable.  In the words of Isadore Mudge, Judy can always put ‘the right information in the right hands in the right format at the right time.’ Judy is resourceful, knowledgeable and skilled. These are the same strengths she brings to her instruction work at California State University at Hayward.  On a daily basis, Judy is the Music Librarian and is a member of the Instructional and Interpretive Services (I & IS) department. During 1998-99 I & IS has been busy implementing Information Competency on the CSU-Hayward campus by teaching required, one-unit, for-credit courses, each linked to a subject-based General Education “cluster,” to all incoming freshmen.  Putting together a weekly class for 25+ students each quarter has been a challenge and a delight for all the I & IS librarians.  Judy has particularly enjoyed working with the Introduction to Asian Thought cluster, which has given her an opportunity to incorporate her interest in and understanding of Asian religion and philosophy into her professional work.  Judy served as the Head of the Morrison Library, University of California-Berkeley, from 1976 through 1984, and served as the Instructional Librarian and Head of Reference for the Graduate Theological Union Library, Berkeley, from 1984 until her appointment at CSU-Hayward.  She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980 from John F. Kennedy University and an MLIS in 1982 from the University of California-Berkeley. 

Working with LIRT is not Judy’s only passion.  Judy is active in state, regional and special library associations within California. Her leadership capacities have earned her positions in the Music Library Association, North California chapter, California Academic and Research Libraries (CARL) and the California Library Association.  A published poet herself, in her spare time, she reviews poetry for Library Journal.  Judy is also a performing musician who sings with the Baroque Choral Guild in Berkeley and plays violin in the Berkeley Community Orchestra. She shares her household with her husband and daughter, seven (!) cats and three (!) dogs, and enjoys frequent visits with her son, daughter-in-law and two young grandsons.

Judy’s quiet nature is underscored by her passion for libraries, instruction and service.  Judy is approachable, open and friendly.  She can be either team captain or strong team player.  Her talents for people and information make her that rare professional who makes everything look easy.  Library professionals like Judy Clarence are testimonies to all that is good about our profession and the LIRT organization.

Judy, keep up the good work!

Marcia King-Blandford is Reference Librarian at the The University of Toledo’s Carlson Library.