Elizabeth Ulrich

The children’s area in the Clear Lake City-County Freeman Branch is named “Betty’s Place” in honor of Elizabeth “Betty” Ulrich who was the founder and first librarian of the first public library in Clear Lake.

On November 1, 1964, the Clear Lake City Library was opened in one room of the Clear Lake Recreation Center. Approximately 1,000 books were acquired from the Houston Public Library and Betty Ulrich with her Master of Library Science degree from Columbia University volunteered her time to set up the library. She did everything from cataloging and processing the books to soliciting funds for the library from individuals and companies in the area. Betty became the first permanent full-time librarian in 1965 and stayed until 1967 when she accepted a librarian position at the Westwood Elementary School in Friendswood. From 1975-82 Betty taught school librarian certification courses at the University of Houston at Clear Lake and supervised intern librarians at various schools.

Betty has volunteered thousands of hours at the Freeman Branch Library and has done volunteer work at the Central Library of the Houston Public Library, the Evelyn Meador Branch, the library in the Webster Presbyterian Church and the pediatric library in Hermann Hospital. This is only a partial list of the libraries that Betty has supported over her lifetime. She has been listed in the World Who’s Who of Women, has been the recipient of the Siddie Joe Johnson Award from the Children’s Round Table of the Texas Library Association and was Outstanding Woman of the Year in 1980 of the Clear Lake Branch of the American Association of University Women.