[Conntech] About Jan Gluz

[Christine Bradley]

This past weekend we lost one of the good ones. Jan Gluz wasn't a librarian,
and some of you may not have known her, but, for over twenty five years, Jan
was someone on whom so many of us in Connecticut's libraryland knew we could
always depend.

Jan started at the old film co-op in Seymour. (Yes, there was a time before
Blu Ray and Hi Def. Before even VHS, there were 16mm films in big cans and
libraries shared them.) Then there came (and went!) the CLSUs, and Jan went
to Hamden for two decades with SCLC, which is where I suspect she developed
her signature phrase, "I'll give it a shot!" When CLC appeared from the
merger of the CLSUs, Jan gave the job of office manager/bookkeeper a really
good shot. 

In Jan's office at CLC in Middletown sits a Mac, a PC, and a typewriter, and
Jan used them all. (Although she never refused to give any new technology a
shot, Jan knew enough not to go unarmed into the night!) She did betray her
conservative Midwestern roots by voting Democratic, but Jan was always an
old-school money manager, keeping the books and the money safe from the
big-spenders like yours truly. People who did business with SCLC and CLC
during the Jan years always got paid on time, could always count on their
paperwork being correct, and had their inquiries answered not only
competently and completely, but friendly-like. 

Jan had edited SCLC's newsletter for years, and so quality control for
CONNtext also fell to her. Giving it a shot wasn't just about technology.
The office iPod? She listened to all of it--Wilco, Citizen Cope, The
Killers. (Although sometimes when it was just Jan and I in the office, we'd
let that showtune playlist rip!) And our CLC Stairway to Heaven? Even this
past year when climbing it was so difficult for her, Jan just hauled herself
up and never once asked me what I was thinking when I acquired a second
floor office without an elevator. Just about the only thing that Jan didn't
give a shot (or rather a second shot) were the phonies. She could spot 'em,
and she couldn't abide 'em. 

You know how times like these bring out the death platitudes in us all-the
stuff about living each day to its fullest, and promising to smell the
roses? I think when someone you love dies, you don't learn how to live
better. You just miss them. 

For so many of you who will also miss Jan, there will be a memorial service
tomorrow. Information is available at:
http://www.bcbailey.com/sitemaker/sites/bcbail0/obit.cgi?user=janet-gluz#

Jan is survived, not only by all of us at CLC, but by her son David Gluz of
44 Osborn Road, Apt. E3 in Naugatuck 06770.


Christine Bradley, Executive Director
Connecticut Library Consortium
234 Court Street
Middletown, Connecticut 06457
Phone: 860-344-8777 ext. 103
Fax: 860-344-9199
cbradley at ctlibrarians.org
www.ctlibrarians.org

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