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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClara Mounce "Life in Public Service" Transcription1. You served as the Community Librarian from 1978 to 2010. 1. Life in Public Service What led to your decision to enter public service? I am a people person - I worked on the Abilene Reporter News in Abilene, TX and being a newspaper reporter you have to love people. It was natural for me to go into librarianship. We lived in Rhode Island when my daughters were pre- teens. They had a horse to keep them busy while I earned by Masters in Library School - it worked out that I could go to school in the daytime and not neglect my motherly /wifely duties. How did you come to be in College Station? We were living in Naples, Italy when my daughter Jeane was accepted in all the universities she applied to and she chose Texas A &M in 1977. My husband was in the Navy and he extended his length of his tour of duty so our daughters could graduate from High School. We came back to Texas when my husband retired. We had assumed Jeane would be assigned to a campus dormitory but that was not the case. Since my husband was retired we elected to sublease an apartment and get Jeane off to a good start. Her social life had been in Italy as we lived there 7 years and found we liked the social life. It was very different. We were free to participate in the retirement activities. We heard Hazel Richardson on a local tv station invite listeners to come on down to downtown Bryan and find out what the library offered. We made a visit to Bryan Public Library and I asked if there was a subscribed to professional journals. The librarian took my name and went upstairs to find the professional collection magazines that I had inquired about. She asked me if I was interested in public libraries. I told her I was interested in jobs in the Washington DC area and that was why I wanted to look at the journals - -for employment possibilities. When I told her that I had a masters degree she got excited and told me there was an opening at the library and she invited me to the administrative offices where I was introduced to Mrs. Ricardson and Linda Pringle (who was being promoted to replace the City Librarian who was retiring. I was invited to talk about the job responsibilities and my work responsibilities. I have a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and that impressed them. I had worked in Boston interviewing elderly people about their health conditions and had been able to get some very suspicious people to finally open up. About 2 weeks later, I received a phone call from Linda Pringle, offering the position of Associate City Librarian — without a formal interview. I was asked to make out an application and take it to the Human Resources director. Within 3 months, I had been trained and knew my way around in the community. Have you always been interested in libraries and books? Nearly every Saturday of my life as a child in Coleman TX my mother took us to the library. You had to pay 35 cents a month to belong. That money was hard to scrape up as my father was out of work frequently and my mother ironed and was paid 15 cents an hour. We went to the grocery store pulling a little red wagon and there was room to put some books in the wagon after our visit to the library. Mrs. J.A.B. Miller, well known citizen of Coleman, TX ran the library. She paid for all the books and she watched what the children read. She kept me on Zane Grey until I was out of high school. Therefore, I think you can say I have always been interested in libraries and books. There is a saying that all politics is local. How would you characterize your relationship with elected officials in both cities? I am probably boasting but I believe I have been treated exceptionally well by my two Mayors and two City Councils and two City Managers. I have the reputation that you cannot tell me no. I succeeded in making the library system an outstanding unit that shows what two cities can do when motivated. I have had many interactions with elected officials and I have never caused an awkward situation for either city. The County? What part does local politics play in the Library Director's job? What advice would you offer today to young people aspiring to a job like yours? 2. Public service does not pay what the private sector offers. • How did you keep yourself and your employees motivated? While salary is a necessity, the motivation to do a good job it is also a necessity to find the library that fits you. I believe setting a good example helps keep employees motivated. Asking for personal opinions is a good management tool. You should know the people you are responsible for. What impact did it have on the Library System? t h i u! I'm not sure where this statement is going. Many shared services contracts between Bryan and College Station have lead to acrimony and law suits. The BCS libraries contract has not. Why is it different? I think our contract was well thought out and the average library user doesn't care who pays for the books and other stuff —they just want to read what they have requested. The contract was written with my participation and a CS attorney who just happened to have a Masters Degree in Librarianship —we had two grand city managers to work with and two councils which were in favor of opening a library in the city of College Station. To start out the library in a store front vacant building was agreeable to everyone. We outgrew the store front former Pizza Parlor. We got the issue put on the ballot but voters turned down building a new facility by 7 votes. A few years later however the same proposition on the ballot passed with flying colors. We revised the contract just before we opened the new College Station Library on March 12, 1998 —my birthday. We have only revised the contract two times since 1987 —so for 23 years the contract has weathered well. It has been proposed to revise it again this year, but I don't know the status of the revision. We have had smooth relationships between Bryan and College Station when it comes to the library system You bet! Every contact you make might come back in the form of a donation. You are active with the Friends of the Library and they know how to raise money. They work in the basement of the Clara B. Mounce Public Library sorting books that have been contributed by residents and the weeded books from the libraries. We could not provide the level of service without the financial support the Friends. Please tell us about the fire at the Bryan Library. I will never forget the emotions that I had the night of March 29, 1954 when the Bryan Fire Dept assistant chief called me in the wee of the morning to ask me to come with the keys. He couldn't tell me how extensive the fire was. If the fire had gone on another 10 minutes we would have lost everything he later told me. We lost the audio tapes and all the back magazines and of course soot was everywhere. We boxed 10,000 books and took them to an air conditioned warehouse, where we stayed for 5 months while the library was being scrubbed and ozoned. I worked out of my car and the city rented me a telephone. I was at the library sitting in my car and we had a small office in the Municipal Building where. I did a budget from memory. The Friends raised almost $60,000 to add to the insurance —we spent close to $2,000,000 restoring the main library. I was the victim in the courtroom when they had the trial of the arsonist in Marlin. I was not allowed to sit in the courtroom. When I was on the stand my hands shook and I could hardly speak up. The librarian in Marlin said they were ready to throw the book at him. He was sentenced to 99 years in the state prison. We don't expect he will ever get out as this was not the first time he had committed arson. What about the College Station Library? What part did you play did you play in building that? I was a member of the committee and I worked with the architect over the use of the spaces for children and storytime and the layout of the interior. The library committee was confident that I knew what I was doing. My advice was listened to and the architect was easy to work with. I supervised the installation of all the shelving. I even participated with the vendor by hanging shelves and opening boxes. It took 3 days to do this. I stopped by several days of each week to see the progress. I even got down on the floor and hooked up the cat 5 cabling on one visit. I'm a hands -on sorta person. College Station recently passed a bond issue to expand its library—will Bryan expand its library? When do you think new facilities might be seen in each city? The expansion has been postponed at the Larry J. Ringer Library. We are not sure when the project will get started. It's all about the economy. Bryan has invested quite a bit to the Carnegie as maintaining an historical building is not easy and it costs a lot of money. The city of Bryan is remodeling the library. The first floor is nearly finished but the big part will be the rearrangement of the meeting room and the Young Adult, Mystery and Science Fiction collections have been relocated on the first floor. We proposed to the last city manager that we build a branch somewhere is the north west. We have a good location in downtown so we wouldn't be willing to enlarge unless the economy booms. I don't believe Bryan or College Station will try for another library. How ever the southern growth lends itself to think about a library in that end of the cityand Bryan has the west side to consider. I hope the library system will continue growing as our population is increasingly. There is increased use of alternative media in libraries —will books become No way! We just have to keep up with the way people feel about books. Some people never read. Even for pleasure. If the parents read their children are more apt to read than the child who hasn't been introduced to the joys of books. As a parent you have good vibes when your children want to discuss what they are reading. 9. Achievements: Please name three achievements you are proudest of the BCS Library System. What did you enjoy most/least about being Library System Director? Was it hard to make the transition to a more private life? Restoration of the Carnegie Library, the oldest Carnege buiding left in Texas. One of 11 existing. Development of the Bryan +College Station Public Library System My reputation as a person who cares about her job. What did you enjoy most /least about being Library System Director? I most enjoyed the prestige of the position and that I have had "bosses" who didn't try to tell me how to run the library system in my 31 years. I enjoy most /1 east -- I can't think of anything that doesn't sound like trivial stuff. I enjoyed coming to work and solving problems and helping people. I liked to diffuse the irate patron. Was it hard to make the transition to a more private life? The fact that I am still welcomed by the staff of all three libraries. We hired a new librarian who is very people oriented and who is making his own way down the line and who can impress people that he is not taking the place of Clara Mounce, but is working in successful ways. He has made a good impression on everyone he meets. I am involved with a collection of autographed childrens books that I will give to the Carnegie probably on my Birthday in 2011 lwill be 80 years old and I need to put some of my prized childrens books where they can be appreciated by everyone. I am organizing my files to be deposited in the Carnegie. I have not begun the task because I spend a lot of time taking care of my husband and doing things on the farm with the horses, dogs and cats. I've had to learn to do things that my husband used to do. I have a new ATV, a Ranger by Polaris, and I run around on our 30 acres with a bale of hay to feed the 4 horses I have. My daughter Jeane is a veterinarian but I do most of the feeding and take care of the dogs. I am not getting up at 5:30 in the morning and that's a real change. 10. Are there other questions you wished I'd asked you? Some questions about my professional activities could help qualify me as an active librarian. I am chairman of the Texas Library Association State Conference committee who organize the authors who come with their publishers to our state conference. I started organizing an arrangement in 1981 for librarians to line up for an autograph by famous authors like Tommie De Paola, Julie Andrews, Roxie Monroe, Kevin Henkes, Kathi Appelt, Rosemary Wells, Susan Jeffries, and many others. I am invited to dinners given by the publishers to sit next to famous authors. I am marking my 29th year to be chairman of this committee. At our conference in 2009, I was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award given to a librarian who had spent their career helping other libraries and increasing the use of the libraries. There were 7,000 librarians who attended this conference and it was so emotional I was speechless. And that's rare for me. It is the most prestigious award given to one librarian each year. It is kept secret so I was shocked. I also serve on Texas State Library TexTreasures committee and have served for 4 years. I served on the state's Library The Central Texas Library System honored me at a meeting with a plaque and 32 roses commending me for the work I have done in our CTLS area —there were At the city's retirement reception, my former city manager, Ernie Clark, said he had never known a librarian like Clara Mounce. He still calls me his favorite librarian. Steve Ogden had some very kind words about me. Mayor Coulee spoke after I had made remarks and he announced that the City Council had on their January agenda the action needed to rename the Bryan Public Library as the Clara B. Mounce Public Library, It is not difficult to make the transition to private life —you can sleep in if you like!