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News

UH Libraries loses colleague, friend

by BLAKE WHITAKER
The Daily Cougar

Thousands of books are still available for checkout on the library shelves at UH, and dozens of study areas remain ready to serve students.

UH Libraries, however, began the new semester missing a much more vital asset: Audrey Taylor.

Taylor, who graduated from the University and served as a UH librarian for 35 years, died Nov. 29 of complications from cancer. The positive effect she had on the UH community as a student and a professional is nearly impossible to measure.

"To have somebody that's as beloved as she was, as well as respected, it's a tremendous loss to this library and to the campus," Dean of Libraries Dana Rooks said.

Early impact

Taylor began her career at the University in the late 1960s as a psychology and sociology student. Judy Myers, a 38-year veteran of UH Libraries, began working with her in 1969 when Taylor was a student employee in the cataloging department.

"Her whole adult life was related to UH," Myers, assistant to the dean of libraries, said. "And not just that she was there, but that she was an important part of the history of the University."

Though Taylor wasn't as involved in traditional civil rights activism as her friend and former roommate Lynn Eusan, Myers said it was the way she lived and the activities she was involved in as a student -- Taylor was the first black member of the Cougar Dolls, for instance -- that affected UH.

"Although she would not have said she was setting out to make the world a better place, she did. She did things that were important to build community and to live in a better place," Myers said. "That all contributed to the things that happened at the University in the late 60s, the sense of community that developed at that time. Racial lines were drawn a lot harder than they are now, but UH got past that, and that was largely because of people like Audrey and Lynn.

‘A remarkable individual'

Taylor returned to UH in the early 1970s as a librarian after earning a master's degree at The University of Texas. She worked in a variety of capacities during her career at the library, serving as director of library services for Distance Education before her death at age 58. 

Rooks said her warm personality endeared Taylor to her colleagues and helped new librarians feel at home.

"When she was training new reference librarians, she gave them confidence," Rooks, who has worked at UH for 28 years, said. "She wasn't an overpowering personality, but she had this charm and this grace, and you just felt confident in what she was telling you.

"She could really have that kind of influence on people, to guide them and give them advice, which they listened to. And non-judgmentally, in a way of encouraging them to aspire to something higher than they might have on their own."

Executive Associate to the President James Anderson, who began his career at UH 35 years ago as a professor in the College of Education, said no one can teach the kind of charisma and professional ability Taylor possessed.

"A library is a cornerstone to a university campus. … (Her) ability to understand what the library is about and be able to direct people, it's not written in any work manual," he said.

Taylor's impact extended far beyond campus boundaries. She was active in her field as one of the leaders of the Black Caucus of the American Libraries Association, in addition to serving on the board of the Houston Ski Jammers Ski Club and participating in the Sisters-in-Spirit Book Club.

"You don't find many people who touch as broad a constituency in their lives as Audrey did," Rooks said. "I know a lot of times when you lose somebody, people are always saying, ‘Oh, you know, they were such a wonderful person.' But I've never met anybody like Audrey. She was a remarkable individual, but unassuming.

"I think all of us would like to feel like we'd be as missed as she is."

Lasting honor

The library will celebrate Taylor's legacy by naming a new group study collaborative workroom in M.D. Anderson Library after her.

"She was so involved with the students and with educating the students from the library's perspective, (Taylor's family and UH Libraries) thought that would be the most fitting tribute," Rooks said.

For more information on making a donation to the workroom fund, e-mail Carolyn Meanley at cmeanley@uh.edu.

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