HomeMy WebLinkAboutClara Mounce Article
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' and selli <.. Cryan libraI)1
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By HUGH NATIONS
Staff Writer
~. Clara Mounce took a while to find
"her real calling, Once ,she did,
though, she settled in. wi~h all the
-gusto of Imelda Marcos in a shoe
':'store.
ell, ,~ounce is librarian for the ciW of
, ~:Bry.an. As such, she is also'librarian
-if0f, "College - Station and Brazos
"IC61mty.
-~ 'The effervescent librarian is a ,
~,smaJl-scale ,Renaissance woman,
:::with imerests ranging from competi-
,~tion horsemanship to languages. speaks and writes some Spanish.
,; She didn't start out to be a libra- Before going to Italy, she had
."rian. The West Texas native worked taken a masters degree in library sci-
~her way through Hardin-Simmons ence at the University of Rhode Is-
, University as' a proofreader on the land. Five years spent as a teacher
Abilene Reporter-News, where she and school librarian in Virginia pi-
-",went to work in 1948. After graduat- qued her interest in the field.
:Sing from Hardin-Simmons in 1952 Mounce joined the Bryan library in
"'with a bachelor degree in business 1978 as an associate librarian.
'''administration, she continued on the It was while she was stilI an associ-
newspaper until 1957. ate that a tall stranger visited the lib-
"";, That was the year that the-then raryto look over many of the library's
"Amara Coats married a young Navy local reference materials. He didn't
:a~iator named Claude Mounce. remain a stranger long; people sel-
l; Before Claude retired from the dom do around the affable Mounce.
. .Navy and joined the Texas A&M Always the saleswoman, she plug-
:'.University faculty, the couple spent ged Bryan-College Station through-
';'seven years in Naples, Italy. Clara out an afternoon of helping the visi-
-JlMounce speaks and wFites Italian. tor. The salesmanship,apparently was
-;'Because of her fluency in Italian, for effective. Just before he left Mounce
s~e taught ~ng~ish, ~s.a .I~~ed the visit?r w~~,.E:m~ ".~,
mencan"SJth r:
;,.$ .
The effervescent libra-
nan is a small-scale Re-
naissance woman, with
interests ranging from
competition horse-
manship to languages.
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mately accepted.
Mounce also apparently did an
effective job of selling h~rself. When
the head librarian ',s job opened up in-
1981, Clark appointed her to the posi-
tion.
The librapan can point to a record.
that indicates Clark made no mistake.'
In 1981 I' the lib~ had ohly' 17i
full-time employees' arid 'one pan-
time employee. Today, it has 1~.full,.
time employees, a gain of only J~r-
cent. '
At '(he same,'tifue, the library; hasl
"'Urn "t,"\-f - ~ _ ,-
had substantial'gllms iii'many areasfof'
service. The nunibC!hjf volumes.'has
risen 12 percent. Circulation is up ,.61
percl!nt. Reference qUest,iOt'iS{
answered have increased 77 peFC~nt..
Recognition of Mounce's aecom-j
plishments has not been cofifiiied to
Brazos County. She has beenl
appointed to a three-year term on the.
Library Systems Act Advisory Boar~
. , to the :Texas State Library and Arc-
hives Commission in Austin. She is'
also the current president of the T~xaJ
Municipal Library Directors Assoi
ciation.. I
One of the things MouncJ.iplans t9
do in the ne,ar futur~ j~t ~st~bl~shtll
closer workmg relatl<'lps.~lthJOCl
al school librari ce DiM
I 4- . 't.. ~, .........
sch<>?ls have; . . . .~~
,are 1 1-
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"1" 1{',' , ' .__'h'O . . . '..-.. ... ......._.~ iU.~^;J ?Iooa ~.uo dn.. ~)fr-~ T s~ums.
. clo;~r working rela~ions~ip between .t:brary can make sure all the materi~ls th~:nee;s. o~~oun~~t~.rs br~.iJlg the Vb-
local teachers and hbranans. are on hand when students come In, rary. She tnesto attr;tct + and hold
Previously, teachers would give-and more closely control the check- -.as J,mIq,y ohhemas P9ssible.;.
aSsignments that required library re- out period for the materials. "They are our future ,!sers," s~e I
,;~04~es."ilbe first students to get to Mounce, who lives in Millican, said. "And they are oUI;-luture t-a2l-
theflibt~rc:ffectively pre-empted all ra~ses Nubian dairy goats. She is an payers." . '. ", "'~
Ai" . 'terials .i!1 ~at s~bje~.t, m,-e~: ~questrian who has shown in hunter- Whether ,j.t'~ ,8, .;,PJ<? ;~ -t~ve ,.~1iy
a.' call tne ,hb ,( Jumper cla~se,s'. locally. She ~lays man' o~ . ~"wu.'" ;;Jt~,gel ~
et. y,~g. er- . ',' ...
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