Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter
ALL PARISH libraries are to close at 12 noon today as a mark of respect for the late Gloria Louise Clarke, retired senior director at Jamaica Library Service (JLS), who is being buried today.
"We are saddened. This is a person who served the library system for over 40 years. She mentored and moulded many in the profession. She retired in 2002, but even in retirement, Ms. Clarke was a fountain of wisdom, a guide," said Patricia Cuff, current JLS senior director.
A funeral service for Ms. Clarke, who died on May 22, is to be held at 2:00 p.m. at the Spanish Town Methodist Church, St. Catherine.
"She was just an excellent person in the field," Mrs. Cuff added.
POSITIONS
Ms. Clarke entered the library service in 1957 as a junior assistant. In the intervening years, she held several senior management positions, including librarian for Clarendon and Manchester and acting regional librarian for Region 4 (St. Ann); senior librarian at the Portland Parish Library (from 1968 to 1973), where she spearheaded its expansion and modernisation. She held a similar post in St. Catherine from 1973 to 1990. Between 1991 and her retirement in 2002, Ms. Clarke served as regional librarian for Kingston and St. Andrew and the JLS's senior director.
In a tribute to Ms. Clarke, published in The Sunday Gleaner, the JLS said it "acknowledges with gratitude her significant contribution to library develop-ment in Jamaica and is honoured to have benefited from her outstanding talent."
