FRIENDS TRENDS S P R I N G 2 0 11 Newsletter of the Friends of the University Libraries
J.A. Jance: Reflections on Libraries, Friends, and Opportunities Adapted from blog post, “Alumna of the Year, the Rest of the Story.” Reprinted with permission.
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udy Jance has been a friend of libraries all her life – from her ny public library in Bisbee, studying in the UA Old Main library and the children’s book collec on in the UA College of Educa on, to her affilia on with the Friends of the University Libraries – Jance has always believed that libraries “are windows on the past and doorways to the future.” Academic libraries, in par cular, have a special significance. According to Jance, the University Libraries offer an introspec ve quality: “They are there to go beyond what’s offered in the classroom. They open the door to self-study.” In December 2010 Jance joined an elite group of honorees when she received the Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Arizona. Jance credits the Friends of the University Libraries for bringing her back into the Wildcat community. On the occasion of her award, and in apprecia on of her contribu ons to the FOL, Jance shares her story about libraries, community, and friendship: “I’ll admit right now that for years I walked around bearing a grudge against the University of Arizona, my alma mater, because I wasn’t allowed into the Crea ve Wri ng program as an undergraduate back in 1964. That situa on didn’t improve when, some me in the eigh es, my inquiry about possibly teaching a course in Crea ve Wri ng at
the University of Arizona was met with derision by the then current program director. He told me in no uncertain terms, “Oh, we don’t do ANYTHING with genre fic on here. We only do LITERARY fic on!” Which, once again, pre y much le me on the outside looking in. A er that, for a me, the grudge got even worse. That’s when I wrote Hour of the Hunter. But over me, I wondered what I would do if the UA ever no ced that I was not only wri ng books but having them published as well. In the early nine es, I received a call from the Friends of the University Libraries asking if I would speak at their annual spring luncheon. One thing I learned while teaching on the Tohono O’odham Reserva on is this: Yes is be er than no. Always. So I asked when and the next thing you knew was speaking at the luncheon in Tucson. While at the luncheon I learned that two people in the group who were inveterate mystery readers, former University of Arizona President, John Schaefer, and the Dean of the Libraries, Carla Stoffle, had decided it was me to create a special collec on at the University Libraries called the Women Mystery Writers Collec on which focuses on female American writers of contemporary mystery fic on. Think of this as genre fic on ge ng the green light and an official stamp of approval at the UA. (con nued on page 11)
New Exhibit Commemorating the Life & Legacy of Stewart Lee Udall – page 4