A Tribute to Jo Ann Bradley

As most of you know by now, our good friend and colleague Jo Ann Bradley will be retiring this month. This is sad news for us, but glad news for Jo Ann! After working at Chico State for 25 years, she is starting a new, exciting chapter in her life! 

Jo Ann began her career at IBM, where she worked for 8 years. She was hired at Chico State as a temporary clerical in the Library, but moved to ILL after one year, and worked her way up to become ILL Department Head. Switching from a corporate to an academic environment was a big adjustment, but she ended up loving the combination of people, technology, and books! 

Jo Ann is definitely a “people person,” so she enjoys the personal interaction with students, faculty and staff. She loves the “detective” aspect of ILL, and the feeling of accomplishment when she locates the exact material that a patron is searching for. Chico was often a test campus for the latest ILL technology, so Jo Ann was eager to learn how to use Pharos, Ariel, Clio and many of the other systems that have come and gone in the past 2 decades. 

One of the things that Jo Ann will miss the most is our I-SPIE Conferences, which she felt never lasted long enough. She loved meeting and sharing ideas with CSU ILL colleagues and has made many good friends over the years. 

Jo Ann has served on virtually every I-SPIE Committee during her career, including Chairing the Steering Committee and several Conference Planning Committees. She is especially proud of her work as Chair of our first online ILL Web Conference in 2012, which was a big success! 

As you might imagine, Jo Ann will not be lying around doing nothing once she retires! In January she’s heading for the Marshall Islands, where she’ll spend 2 weeks visiting her youngest son and family. Then in February, she’s off to Arizona for her oldest son’s wedding! 

Jo Ann is looking forward to spending more time dancing, her favorite hobby (especially contra and square dance events)! Other plans include traveling in the western U.S., hiking, kayaking, organizing 4 generations of family history memorabilia, and prioritizing a healthy lifestyle. 

We’ll miss Jo Ann’s bubbly personality, her positive attitude (“when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”), her generous and thoughtful nature and her willingness to step up and take on a challenge! We thank Jo Ann for maintaining the ILL Contact List, and for all of her contributions to the ILL profession! 

We wish Jo Ann lots of happiness and adventures in her retirement. ENJOY…...you deserve it!