Retiring staff: Judy Rollins says farewell

By Hadley Montgomery

Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of sewanee.edu

In April, the University Library will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. Judy Rollins, a native to Sewanee, has been present for 30 of these glorious 50 years. Rollins grew up in Sewanee and assumed her first librarian job in 1968, until she got married and moved to Atlanta in 1971. But of course, like all Sewanee people, she was back on the mountain by 1978 working part time in the secretarial pool and the Admissions Office. In the early eighties, Rollins paired with a psychologist to create the first University Counseling Services and by February of 1985, she was back in the Library. Rollins is the administrative assistant to the head of the Library Information Technology Services, who is also the head librarian. Rollins has “seen a lot of change and worked for four University Librarians, and the biggest change is the technology.” She remembers when everything for the library was manual and they processed books with typing cards, while using card catalogs.

There is always new technology surfacing, but some things have remained constant in the library, like the furniture in the staff lounge. March 10 is Rollins’ official retirement date from the University. In all the jobs she has had here, she has learned a lot from each person, but the most influential was Nan Thomas. Thomas was Rollins’ mentor in the secretarial pool and gave her the best advice and training of anyone. Because of Thomas, Rollins learned how to efficiently manage an office. Like Thomas, Rollins has had many student assistants work for her over the years that she has mentored. Rollins is and forever will be part of the Sewanee Community.