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Calgary Library names branch after Judith Umbach

Although the gift is promised in her will, the Calgary Public Library isn't waiting to give one Calgarian her just reward.

Judith Umbach, who sat on the Library board for 12 years — eight as the chair — and now sits on the board of the Calgary Library Foundation, willed seven-figures to the system and now has a library branch named after her.

"We call Judith a best friend of the Library," said Paul McIntyre Royston, President & CEO of the Calgary Public Library Foundation in a press release.

"Calgary and the Library are part of her DNA — she grew up in Calgary, spending her free time at the Library. As an adult, Judith has taken up the Foundation's bold, audacious vision to transform Calgary Public Library into the best library in the world for Calgarians."

As part of a grand re-opening of the Thorn-Hill branch, the location was renamed the Judith Umbach Library.

Beyond the name, the 7,697 square-foot branch now also boasts a more open interior, a colourful children's area and a new laptop loan program that will "at first augment and then replace, the fixed work stations."