Judy Ryen will retire as Business Manager of the Rye Free Reading Room on February 10. That will be 29 years just about to the day from when she started working there.
By Bill Lawyer
Judy Ryen will retire as Business Manager of the Rye Free Reading Room on February 10. That will be 29 years just about to the day from when she started working there.
While she may be coming back for a few hours of work a week on a part-time basis, Judy’s departure represents a major changing of the guard.
Through the course of those 29 years she has seen dramatic changes at the library in both its services to the public and the carrying out of operations.
“When I started back in 1985, the library only used computers for word processing and handling bookkeeping,” Judy recalls. “All the library materials were recorded in the old-fashioned card catalogues that used to take up so much space on the main floor.”
She also notes that there’s a certain irony in the fact that she’s worked at the library for so many years. She first learned of the opening of a clerk position from a friend, who saw the job description posted at the Midland School library.
Judy decided to give the job a try, as she was very much in need of part-time work to help support her family. But she thought to herself that she wouldn’t last long, because, as she puts it, “I imagined library work would be extremely dull.”
Fortunately for her, and for all the people who patronize the library, within a few weeks she had completely changed her opinion of what library work was like.
“We have had so much fun,” she recalls. While her original job as clerk primarily involved checking out materials, she found herself getting involved with all sorts of other projects – from helping with displays, organizing special events, and helping with fund-raising. She particularly enjoyed working in the children’s library.
Judy had no special library training. In fact, working in the library was only her second job (not counting part-time after-school work at the Grant’s store in New Rochelle, where she grew up).
She and her husband Bob met — at the College Diner in New Rochelle — after she had finished high school and was doing clerical work at the AT&T office in White Plains. They were married in 1961 and she continued working for a while until her first child was born. Ten years and six children later, she went back to the work force.
Judy says that working part-time at the library was great, as her home was just a few minutes away, so she could easily keep track of her children.
Unfortunately, within a year of her starting work she developed the debilitating Guillain–Barré syndrome. Her case was so serious that she was hospitalized for a week and it was more than five months before she could return to work.
Because of her medical expenses and need for more income, in 1986 she began looking for full-time work to get medical benefits. Fortunately, she was hired as a full-time clerk.
Then, in late 1990, the library’s business manager resigned. Then library director Mary Brown asked Judy if she would be willing to combine part-time clerking with part-time business management.
Judy had been doing the bookkeeping and tax reports for her husband, who was self-employed. She felt confident that she could handle the library’s challenges.
Within a short time the “computerization” of local libraries came on the scene, and Judy found herself being a full-time business manager.
The conversion to barcoded recordkeeping and the establishment of a countywide library loan system meant the end of some jobs and the creation of others.
Through it all, Judy was able to rise to the challenges while keeping a calm and cheerful disposition. She says that the only negative part of her job is that “sometimes I’ve had to lose vacation days so I can get things done.”
Managing Librarian Maria Lagonia, who has known Judy for 18 years, says:
“Working with Judy is such a pleasure because no matter how many times I ask her to explain something to me, she is ever-patient and kind and always finds a way to make me laugh. She touched every bit of her work with her keen and pithy sense of humor and in this way has helped the staff and the library weather the many changes we’ve been through.”
As the date of her retirement draws near, Judy is grateful that her successor, Cindy Hewitt, has already been hired. Hewitt, a Rye resident, has been working part-time as Judy’s assistant since 2012.
The two women agree that the preparations for the “changing of the guard” have been going smoothly. Nevertheless, they know that at certain times of the year “things get a little hectic” and Judy will be available to help out as needed.
So what will she do in retirement? “Nothing,” she jokes. But adds, in all seriousness, that she’s looking forward to relaxing and working on some home improvement projects, and spending time with her children and 12 grandchildren.
