{"id":338268,"date":"2010-02-18T17:27:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T21:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:law.nd.edu,2005:News\/14714"},"modified":"2010-02-18T17:35:38","modified_gmt":"2010-02-18T21:35:38","slug":"library-profile-barb-ritty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/338268","title":{"rendered":"Library Profile: Barb Ritty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Barbara Barb Ritty, born in Cleveland, Ohio came to the Kresge Law Library in 1985 after working three years at the Hesburgh Library. Roger Jacobs was named Director in June of 1985 and hired Barb that November. As Barb reminisces, the Technical Services\u2019 staff was very small and there was a great deal of camaraderie. Among them were Jim Gates (former Head of Tech Services, now Director of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York), Nan Moegerle (Head of Cataloging), Barb Ritty (Cataloging Assistant), Esther Batten (in charge of loose-leafing), and Phyllis Strom (Bookkeeper). When Barb started, the original law building was undergoing its third renovation, which involved the addition of the East Reading Room and the demolition of the outer wall. As Barb described it, \u201cMy desk was located across from Jim Gates. Only thick plastic sheeting separated us from the opening and the elements. Those were the days when the collection was arranged by broad subject categories and we had only one OCLC<\/span> terminal, which was chained to a column. I worked at that terminal for hours wearing my coat, hat, and gloves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today with the new renovations, Barb is experiencing a whole new set of adjustments to temporary quarters. Her desk is now located near the entrance to the library under a stairwell. A humorous sign identifies her area: \u201cBarb (Harriet Potter) Ritty —the lady who works under the stairs.\u201d When asked how she feels about her new space, she said with a smile, \u201cIt\u2019s almost as bad as it was coming in [to Kresge], because I fear they\u2019ll have me out the door, yet.\u201d This will be Barb\u2019s 24th year working in Tech Services at Kresge. She was hired as a Cataloging assistant and has been involved in several major library innovations including reorganizing the collection by call number order, closing out the card catalog for an online system, inventory of the library\u2019s entire collection, and more. Today, Barb is the Cataloging Coordinator and Unit Supervisor and her main responsibilities include original and copy cataloging (microform, monographic serials, audio, and video) and various database maintenance projects.<\/p>\n

Since she is detail-oriented, problem solving is one of her main assets. On the personal level, when Barb was asked how she would describe herself, she answered with one word: \u201cComplicated.\u201d You may find her to be of strong character, whimsical, a dreamer, deep, persevering, conscientious, loyal, and dedicated. She named her father as her greatest influence, saying he encouraged her to \u201cdo my best in all things.\u201d As a child she \u201cwanted to grow up to be an elevator operator for Bonwit Teller and be impressive.\u201d Her working years began when she was 14 with various part time jobs. She delivered papers for a local Czech newspaper, stuffed envelopes for a local printing office, and later helped with their bookkeeping.<\/p>\n

Barb was the first person in her family to graduate from college, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Ursuline College in Cleveland Heights, Ohio with a double major in English and Drama along with earning a Secondary Education Teaching Certificate. While pursuing her studies, Barb also worked for the telephone company as a long distance and information operator. When asked, \u201cIf you could be or do anything else- what would it be?\u201d Barb readily replied, \u201cI would like to act on a Broadway Stage. I really wanted to go to acting school!\u201d In response to being asked if she agreed or disagreed with Anne Frank, that \u201cIn spite of everything, people are basically good,\u201d Barb\u2019s answer was immediate and intense. \u201cI agree, because I played her part in my senior year of High School at the Lakewood Civic Theater in front of 2,000 people. I am like her: I give people the benefit of the doubt and if more people believed that way, there would be less struggles and war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barb\u2019s hobbies and interests include: reading biographies, fiction, and mystery novels; filling out The New York Times crossword puzzles in ink; and theatre. She is devoted to her four grandchildren and drives back and forth so often from Indianapolis and Cleveland to see them, that she says, \u201cI think I\u2019m going to ask my kids to put a steering wheel on top of my tombstone.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Susan Hamilton<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barb Ritty, born in Cleveland, Ohio came to the Kresge Law Library in 1985 after working three years at the Hesburgh Library. Roger Jacobs was named Director in June of 1985 and hired Barb that November. As Barb reminisces, the Technical Services\u2019 staff was very small and there was a great deal of camaraderie. Among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}