It has been 35 years since Adele Krusz began working at the UMD Library as a student employee in the serials bindery department. Her first day was January 4, 1972, and her last will be Monday, October 1, 2007.
A retirement party for Adele is planned for Wednesday, September 26, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Library fourth floor rotunda reading room. The entire campus as well as friends from the community are invited. A wine and appetizer reception and a program at 2:30 will honor Adele’s devoted career at UMD.
Things were different in the Library back in 1972. Adele remembers working without computers, when students and other library users collected information with pencils and paper, when the card catalog was the heart of the library, and when checkouts were accomplished by mechanically imprinting cards and filing them. When she started working, the old library facility had been recently expanded (in 1968), but the Annex had not even been constructed yet.
As a student, Adele sampled many subjects in the “open university� system then available. She was interested in English, philosophy, as well as Russian studies, but she knew that most of all she loved books, and after meeting her husband, Dan, in July 1974, she decided to stay in Duluth and pursue her career right here at the UMD Library. Adele was hired full time after receiving her undergraduate degree in English and later became manager of the bindery department and enjoyed her job there for many years.
Computers began to be used in libraries, and Adele was one of the first to make use of the new technology in her work downloading records through a modem telephone connection from OCLC (Online Computer Library Center).
She and Dan traveled to Europe and Egypt in 1981, and returned to Europe frequently after 1991, expanding their horizons through travel and study. Adele started taking advantage of the educational opportunities for staff through the Regents’ Scholarship program, first studying music and then discovering her love of languages.
In 1994, while attending a Minnesota Libraries Association annual meeting, she learned of the University of Wisconsin’s distance program for its master’s in library science degree, and she decided to enroll.
After receiving her MLS, she became a member of the UMD Library management team in 1997 as head of Circulation Services, overseeing the interlibrary loan, reserve, distance education, and circulation functions.
She says that circulation and libraries have become very different through the years. “We have become a very complex institution. I think that we do so much more than anybody ever sees.� She cited the intricacies of interlibrary loan and keeping up with the constant changes in data management systems as examples of the work that goes on behind the scenes.
She has a quote from John Wesley on her personal web page that has helped to keep her motivated: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.�
She has tried to remember that it isn’t the business that’s most important, but “the people reporting to you and the people on the other side of the counter.�
Her plans for retirement include getting back to the things that she loves about living in the country—being in the woods, gardening, cooking, reading, and just sitting by the fire on a winter’s day.
She has been an active volunteer through the Friends of the Duluth Public Library and plans to look for more opportunities to give of herself. “There is a lot you can do in a city the size of Duluth, which has limited resources and relies so much on volunteerism,� she says.
Her advice to others is to “find a way to include the things that are important in your life. Remember that this is the only time we’ve got, and retire early if you can!�
Submitted by Bill