The Woman Behind the Desk

Jordan Mayor ‘18

Almost every student makes a trip to the library during some part of their week.

Whether it be to socialize, get ahead on homework, or even do last minute printing, the library has become an epicenter for student life at Golda Och and serves students as much more than a library. While a trip to the library has become routine for many students, they often forget to think about the person behind the library, behind the desk.

The 2016-2017 school year marks librarian Mrs. Ulric’s fifteenth year at the school, but of course there was much more to her life before she joined the Golda Och community. Mrs. Ulric’s track to becoming a librarian began with her Masters Degree in Information Science, a degree in managing large amounts of information, from Pratt Institute.

From there she began her library career in a South Bronx branch of the New York Public Library. A pivotal and fundamental shift occurred in her life soon after when she was moved and assigned to the Children’s Room working with authors and educators. She had always wanted to work with kids and enjoys literature.

“I have always been fascinated with the idea that young minds are still growing,” Ulric said. This is what encouraged her to spend her days with students and has kept her fulfilled ever since.

Mrs. Ulric was unable to commit herself to the New York Public Library and the Children’s room though, as she soon arrived to an important realization.

“Originally, I wanted to work with underserved populations,” she said. This sentiment, however, slowly began to change.

“[People] sometimes overlook that there is a responsibility to also work with people who have advantages... Making a better world in both directions,” she said.

She feels the privileged are more likely to become future leaders and because of this she feels a moral obligation to do everything in her power to assure these future leaders are good people.

This is the reason Mrs. Ulric has been a librarian at Golda Och for 15 years. Beyond her motivation for being a librarian, she does accomplish and has accomplished much during her 15 years at the school. She organizes Picture Day, has led the Yearbook team numerous times, helps with school shows, serves as a part-time costume consultant and, most importantly, spearheaded the remodeling of the Bernard J. and Zelda Meislin Library.

“Don’t redo a library until you have spent a good amount of time in it,” she said.

She felt the previous library, built in 1991, was becoming obsolete and not serving its purpose to its utmost potential. With this, she set out to achieve a couple of goals.

First was to more efficiently use the space by putting the books against the walls surrounding the library. Following this was to make the room more flexible and modern by implementing easily movable furniture and adding more power cords. She believes both of these were accomplished and admits that a less intended, yet still important goal of creating a more social environment was fulfilled.

“The library has become slightly more social,” she chuckled and went on to say in good humor that sometimes people have some questionable conversations while forgetting she is present and “not just furniture.”