Judy Bausch Retires as Librarian at Yerkes Observatory
by Brenda Corbin
Judy Lola Bausch retired as Librarian at Yerkes Observatory at the end of June, having spent 35 years in this position. Starting at Yerkes in 1972, Judy joined SLA and PAM soon after and was active in the Division for many years. She held the following offices in PAM: moderator of the Astronomy Workshop (later called Astronomy Roundtable) in 1980; Chair of PAM 1983-84 (under her maiden name of Judy Lola); PAM Bulletin Editor 1984 – 1989; and Chair of Nominating Committee, 1993-94.
In addition to taking care of the Library at Yerkes for 35 years, she also was in charge of the archives. She made finding aids and indexes which helped researchers using original materials at Yerkes. You can read more about Judy’s career of 45(!) years associated with the Univ. of Chicago Libraries at: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/staffweb/calendars/newsletter/2004/jun/v2n5.pdf
One of her outstanding contributions was the publication of the Union List of Astronomy Serials (ULAS) which she edited. The first edition was published by SLA/PAM in 1983, and a second edition appeared in 1994. Although several libraries contributed their holdings to the first edition and others joined in adding their holdings to the 2nd edition, assembling this information for publication was clearly a labor of love on Judy’s part. She spent an enormous amount of time getting the bibliographical citations as correct as possible, not an easy task when dealing with some very obscure observatory publications. This very useful list is now found online at the Space Telescope Science Institute Library site: ttp://sesame.stsci.edu/lib/union.html . Many astronomical researchers and librarians searching for those very obscure references to observatory publications continue to be grateful for Judy’s efforts on ULAS. Another publication Judy prepared was The Sky and Telescope Cumulative Index vol. 1-70 which was published in 1988 by Sky and Telescope Corp. Practically all astronomy libraries hold both these publications.
Judy says “My retirement plans will be to do some travel, gardening, volunteer work, and enjoying my new little red pickup truck!” The truck replaces a bright yellow VW Bug convertible. Part of her volunteer work will be at Yerkes helping with the educational out-reach program. We wish Judy well in her retirement and thank her for her 35 years of service and contributions to the world of astronomy librarianship.
