O h i o
U n i v e r s i t y
Fall 2009
L i b r a r i e s
Dean Scott Seaman stands in the stairwell of Alden Library.
n the forty years since the Vernon R. Alden Library was dedicated, the print collections have grown six-fold to nearly three million volumes. Our journal subscriptions, government documents, manuscripts, rare books, and art and international collections have more than tripled. And, on the strength of those collections, Alden Library is now recognized as one of the top 100 research libraries in North America. It’s an extraordinary achievement on the part of several generations of librarians, faculty, administrators, and staff. But in those same forty years, libraries have undergone more change than in the past 400 years. We have moved from a print world in which information was scarce, highly organized, and tightly controlled to a networked world in which information is ubiquitous, highly disorganized, and widely available. Most scholarship is now “born digital,” and many faculty and students prefer using library materials electronically rather than print. Alden Library has thoroughly embraced information technologies. The library now owns hundreds of thousands of electronic resources that students, faculty, and staff can access from any place and at any time. Book collections remain important but electronic journals and online databases now comprise over half our acquisitions. Librarians still staff the reference desk but, increasingly, questions come electronically with nearly a quarter of our questions arriving by instant message. While quiet study spaces still remain in Alden Library, our most heavily used areas are those that integrate network access and collaborative workspace.
So, if you’ve ever wondered whether students still come to the library in this age of digital information, you can be assured that this is a very busy building. Alden Library averages nearly 6,400 entrances daily when the term is in session. That’s 1,700,000 entrances last year. In fact, library entrances have increased by 73% in just the last five years. If so many library resources are available electronically, why are students coming in ever greater numbers to Alden Library? Students are coming to the library because we offer technology-enabled work space, librarians who help find print and networked information, technical staff who can immediately troubleshoot computer problems, and even writing assistance. Ohio University students come to the library knowing that if they encounter a barrier, librarians can show them how to find an online resource or the right book. That our Learning Commons is open—and staffed—24 hours a day surprises some of our alumni, but late-night work is now a fact of student life and one of our peak usage times is 2:00 a.m. In fact, Alden Library remains one of the most used buildings on campus. And, not surprisingly, such growth has stretched this building’s structural and programmatic capacity to its limit. It’s an exciting problem to have. We are very proud to be celebrating our 40th anniversary and the rededication of this great library. Equally important, though, all of us in Alden Library look forward to evolving our services, growing our collections, and even remodeling parts of this building to meet the changing needs of Ohio University students, faculty, staff, and the Athens community. Alysia Burton
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From the Dean of the Libraries
Scott Seaman, Dean of Ohio University Libraries
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PG 3
TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
PG 6
PG 8
MY GENERATION
PG 10
YOU GOTTA HAVE FRIENDS
PG 14
PG 15
YOU MAKE THE DIFERENCE
PG 16
Credits Dean of Libraries: Scott Seaman Editors: Kate Mason, Assistant to the Dean Meredith Barnett, Student Assistant Design: Graphic Design: University Communications and Marketing Photography: Graduate Intern: Alysia Burton Student Assistant, Visual Resources: Sherry DiBari Contributing Writers: George Bain, Meredith Barnett, Kelly Broughton, Doug McCabe, and Doug Partusch. With special help from Marne Grinolds and Janet Polzer. With special help from Marne Grinolds, (Bill Kimok, Janet Polzer and Sherri Saines). About the cover: The image on the front cover is Dalton Dalton Associates’ original architect’s rendering of Ohio University’s Vernon R. Alden Library, which opened in 1969.
Ohio University is an affirmative action institution. ©2009 Ohio University. All rights reserved. UCM#0688-1.2M
The Times, They Are A Changin’ By Doug McCabe
P
erhaps the best way to describe
the beginning of the 1968-1969 academic year is as an autumn of wary anticipation. Our colleagues were immersed in planning and implementing the move of the entire library to its new location. Outside of Chubb Library and the yet-to-be-named new library building, though, plenty of other events were unfolding.
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We had already seen the Tet Offensive in
Black Panthers raised awareness and
Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther
incited reaction ∙ O’Bleness Memorial
King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, riots at the
Hospital was built ∙ Men’s Independent
Democratic Convention in Chicago, and
Association (MIA) hosted .25¢ movies
growing social tensions. What would the new
and raised racial tensions over the showing
year bring?
of “Zulu” ∙ American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) protested pay and working conditions ∙ Black Studies
Here’s a snapshot of the things and events that captivated us at Harvard on the Hocking in 1968-1969: Football team went 10-0, headed to Tangerine Bowl ∙ Marching 110 Marching Men performed “Soul
Institute promised ∙ Protests against
and Sunglasses” ∙ Students protested
ROTC ∙ Tuition increased again ∙ James
housing discrimination, dorm visitation
Brown and Led Zeppelin performed ∙
policies, and women’s hours ∙ College of
End of campus dress code ∙ Townies
Communication inaugurated, bringing
protested hippies sitting on the “war
Walter Cronkite to campus ∙ Students
monument” ∙ Groundbreaking to move
for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the
the Hocking River ∙ “GIK” graffiti
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chalked all over campus ∙ Alicia Woodson
frolics ∙ Draft resistance continued and
elected first black female president
first draft lottery began∙ “Showcase 69,”
of Student Government ∙ Harlem
Black art, calligraphy and architecture
Globetrotters vs. Vern Alden and Ohio
exhibits ∙ Drug busts and disturbing
coaches ∙ Women’s Liberation ∙ Krishna
the peace ∙ Track star Emmett Taylor
Consciousness introduced to campus ∙
named “All-American” and “Bobcat
Ohio University won the All-MAC title
of the Year” ∙ Another student killed by
∙ Senior class raised $64,000 to buy new
a train between South and East Greens ∙
books for library and started scholarship
Nuclear Physics Research department received accelerator with grant from the Atomic Energy Commission ∙ Neil Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crew prepare for their moon landing ∙ Vernon Alden retired as president and spoke at commencement.
E
ven though the atmosphere was
tense, nothing really got too out of hand and it seemed everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the end of the academic year rolled by. One thing was sure though— the times, they were a changin’.
fund ∙ Neo-Nazi, anti-Black handbill distributed ∙ “Albatross” student sculpture installed in front of Alden Library ∙ 3.2 beer ∙ Tickets handed out for jay-walking ∙ Student-run “Silt” humor magazine published ∙ Star tracking on Radar Hill ∙ Stroud’s Run & Burr Oak Photos for this story courtesy of the Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections
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Alysia Burton
Sentimental Journey
Ohio University’s 15th President Vernon Alden (left) participates in an interview with student Katie Ronske. She was interviewing him for Ohio University’s pubication of Outlook.
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In February 2009, Dr. Vernon Alden, Ohio University President from 1962 to 1969, spoke about the plans for construction of Alden Library. Here is an excerpt from that conversation.
hen I first came to Ohio University in the fall of 1961, we had Chubb Library, which I thought, even for the student body of 7,500 which we had then, was inadequate. Looking ahead at the demographics of the 1960s, we knew that our student population would at least double in just a number of years. With Chubb not being adequate for a student body of 8,000, what about a student body of 18,000? We also had extended our graduate programs, and we had more and more faculty research activity. So, with all of these things in mind, I chose to name only one building in
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my inaugural address. I stressed the need for a new library, and every capital appropriation request that we made to the legislative body, we put the library right at the top of the list. [However, every time it came up for consideration], it seemed to fall off the end of the table. The legislators would say to me, “Look, you already have a library,” and I tried to explain to them that our current building was not adequate and could not support the student body, [and that] we had the complications of graduate programs, research and so on.
Sentimental Journey
A group of students talk to Vernon and Marion Alden near the construction site of the new Alden Library.
At the time, the president pro tem of the Senate in Ohio was Stanley Meacham, and he lived in Nelsonville, Ohio and had a shoe store in downtown Athens. So once a week I would go down to Stanley’s shoe store and sit down with him and talk about our needs. And I would say to Stanley, “Now, in this appropriation we have coming up, I want you to help explain to your colleagues what I mean by the fact that Chubb Library is inadequate.” [Stanley helped us make our case at the state level], so I really credit Stanley with helping push that through. Also, Marty Hecht, our Administrative Vice President, spent a lot of time up in Columbus button-holing the legislators, talking about all of our needs, but specifically the library.
So … we constructed the building, and thank goodness we added the additional wings [for more space]. But when we had the dedication of the library… I was just astonished when the chairman of the board, Fred Johnson, said the trustees had voted to name it the Vernon R. Alden Library… I try to be modest about it, but I thought that was exactly the right thing to do, because from the beginning of my administration, I had talked about the need for a new library… My son Jim, who turned fifty years old not long ago, was only ten years old then, and he kept running out of the [President’s] house every day after that, and looking at his father’s name on the side of the library. So he and the other children in the whole family were excited about that also.
Finally, about two and a half years before I ended up leaving the university… we did get the funds for building the library. And then the question was, where would we put it? We had to replace a couple of buildings and that was a bit Vernon and Marion Alden with children Robert, Ann, James and David.
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Photos on this page courtesy of the Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections
controversial, because we wanted the library to be in a central location. [We decided that it should be located] on Park Place, right behind Cutler Hall. [That would make it] within reach of the dormitories and faculty offices and so on, so that seemed to be an ideal choice.
Photos for this story courtesy of the Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections
1969: Two students move heavy boxes from Chubb Library to Alden Library.
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by meredith barnett
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n the winter of 1969, hundreds of books were checked out and returned to Ohio University’s library, housed in Chubb Hall. Over the next few weeks, those same books would find themselves carefully packed into boxes, slid down steep ramps and loaded onto tractor-trailers for their big move into the new Vernon R. Alden Library.
Librarian Katharin Foster pauses between packing and unpacking during the transition into Alden Library.
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t 17,500 students, the university had outgrown Chubb, which had housed the library since 1931. There wasn’t much room for students to study comfortably, and space for librarians to work was cramped. In the Government Documents department, librarians shared a single manual typewriter, explained Judy Daso, who had just started working in the department at the time and would eventually head it. Construction on the new $5.3 million library began in the spring of 1965, and the move to Alden commenced in the second week of February, 1969. But the move wasn’t going to be easy. An article in the Ohio Alumnus called the process of transporting thousands of books while keeping the library accessible for students “a librarian’s nightmare.” Thompson Little, Director of Libraries at the time, even asked
students in a Post article not to “sightsee” and get in the way of the hectic move. “Logistically, there wasn’t an easy way to do it,” says Athens County judge Robert Stewart, who helped with the move as a student employee. “It was awkward.” Stewart and his fellow student employees helped organize books section by section, sliding boxes from the windows of the upper floors on giant chutes and loading them into trucks waiting outside. Boxes were carefully unloaded from the back of the trucks to keep them in order in the new building. Stewart remembers working on the move for eight hours one Saturday, with students and faculty eagerly anticipating the new carpeted, air-conditioned building that promised plenty of study space. “You can imagine the excitement,” says Daso, who sneaked peeks into the new building just before it opened. “It was big and airy and just wonderful.” At seven stories high and as long as a football field, Alden Library finally opened on May 23, 1969, beginning a new chapter in Ohio University Libraries’ history.
1969: Tractor trailers hauled thousands of boxes to the new library.
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Photos by Alysia Burton By Kelly Broughton
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n some ways, today’s library users aren’t much different from those who first graced the doorways of Alden forty years ago. Students study, gather information, sleep, socialize and meet in the library. In other ways, though, things have drastically changed. More information than was imaginable in 1969 is now available at the touch of a button, assignments are increasingly given to groups rather than individuals, and the ways in which students prefer to study and learn have changed. In our mission to support and nourish those activities, Alden has changed, too.
MY GENERATION
Emily Agoston (left) and Adrianne Persichetti collaborate on English research in Cafe Bibliotech on the 2nd floor of Alden Library.
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Undergraduate student Eric Tubbs surfs the web while talking to friends on his cell phone.
If today’s student could walk into the Alden Library of forty years ago, they would notice the 1969 student using different tools, but for familiar reasons – studying, homework, and research. They would be using the photocopiers and the microform machines instead of computers and printers, reading the major newspapers on newsprint rather than on a monitor, and studying and working in relative quiet with no snacks or caffeine nearby. The occasional disruption would consist of a few students talking or a busy service desk.
Since then, libraries have made great strides in cooperatively purchasing and sharing materials and the Web has become ubiquitous. Students have changed and so have their assignments. The University Libraries now provides hundreds of thousands of electronically accessible articles, books, images and videos. Students can even get live help from a librarian or a writing tutor online. Many of the student’s tasks can now be accomplished anywhere he or she has access to the Internet. If students have their choice of information and when, where, and how they want to consume it, why do they increasingly choose to come to Alden Library? If you ask them, one answer comes up over and over: Alden provides the right atmosphere. Students tell us that even though they can accomplish many of their tasks in a residence hall or even a local
Undergraduate student Chong Wang (left) looks at a movie for ideas on a future project with Ph.D. student Victoria Wang while in the instructional lab on the 2nd floor in the Learning Commons.
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coffee shop, there are too many distractions there. Anyone who’s visited Alden Library during the peak hours of the quarter may be amazed at this reasoning. The Library is packed, and it can be hard to find a corner of true quiet. Students seem to be doing everything at once. They have their earbuds in their ears, and books and computers and cell phones all close by, if not all in use. How can there be fewer distractions here? The students say that it’s all about the intent. Everyone is here to study, learn and accomplish their projects. Their iPods and cell phones are not distractions. After all, they’ve been attached to these things for
MY GENERATION 12
years, much like my glasses are attached to me. I could get by, but I’d feel a little naked without them. The way students study and interact with information has changed, and the Libraries have worked hard to offer much of what they need in one place. In order to do this, we have increased collaborations with units around campus to offer complementary student support services in Alden, such as the Office of Information Technology, the Academic Advancement Center, and the Center for Writing Excellence. Students want and need access to a wide variety
Rachel Newsom, Laine Adams, Sam Atkins, Ashley Nicholson and Ashley Garner huddle in the Learning Commons to create a presentation for a training and development class.
Keda Che works on calculus homework on the 7th floor of Alden Library.
Stephen Helmick relaxes with a newspaper in Alden Library’s Learning Commons.
of tools and information, expert help, and creature comforts. In Alden, not only can students use computers and printers, they also have access to electronically equipped study rooms where they can practice group presentations or work collectively; as well as, use cameras, scanners and other special hardware and software to create multimedia. They even have access to technical assistance, tutors, coffee, pastries, and of course, books. They also know that
research help and writing and math tutors are nearby. One of the driving notions about successful learning atmospheres is immersion – being absorbed. By identifying and providing the materials, tools, and expert assistance, along with enough comfort to make the stay well worth the trip, we’ll continue to keep the Vernon R. Alden Library the heart of Ohio University.
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Ya Gotta Have Friends T
he Friends of the Libraries of Ohio University was formally organized with the approval of then Director of Libraries, Dr. Hwa-Wei Lee, on April 7, 1979. It was the same day that the Libraries celebrated the acquisition of its one-millionth volume. The major impetus for creating the organization came from a group of true friends—faculty, staff, and community members devoted to the Libraries’ betterment, in spite of the university’s difficult financial straits of the 1970s. That day was truly an auspicious one for the Libraries. Once started, the group began to create its own history. Book sales, publication of the earlier versions of Gatherings, and an annual gift to the Libraries soon became traditional activities. During the 20 years I served as Executive Secretary, these and other activities, such as the annual Friends of the Libraries Student Scholarships, became very much a part of my own life. Of the annual gifts, the money given for the
Alysia Burton
By George W. Bain
George Bain and Catherine Brown share a laugh during he Friends of the Libraries Annual meeting.
Friends of the Libraries’ Group Study Room in the Learning Commons is probably the most significant. And looking back today, probably the most interesting was the Libraries’ first CD-burner unit given in 1994, which, if you can believe it now, cost $5,000! It is interesting that Ohio University Libraries are celebrating the acquisition of their three-millionth volume in the same year that the Friends organization turns thirty. What lies ahead? The challenge for the Friends continues to be to provide support for the Libraries’ collections, programs, and staff. In my many years of working with the group, the Friends have tried reaching out to the Libraries’ broad user community and have had the good fortune of forming many allies among the faculty, staff, students, and alumni. May this mutual friendship continue, and may the Libraries become more robust because of the interest and the support of its Friends.
George Bain served as Executive Secretary to the Friends of the Libraries from 1987 to 2007.
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A
s the new Director of Development for University Libraries I would like to take the opportunity to tell you a little bit about myself. Although I’m a native Cincinnatian, I have spent most of my adult life in Athens, Ohio. I came to the University as a freshman way back when and fell in love with the campus and the town of Athens.
Perhaps it was that same atmosphere that appealed to me when I first set foot on the College Green in the spring of my senior year in high school. I graduated from Ohio University four years later with a degree in communications and spent a number of years working in commercial radio. I later took a position at Ohio as a radio producer for WOUB Radio and TV. My long-time interest in history led to my involvement with two award-winning radio documentary series, African American History Retold and America’s Women, A Legacy of Change. After a ten-year term as Director of Marketing and Development for WOUB Radio and TV, I decided to leave Ohio University in 2005 to become the new Director of Advancement for WOSU Public Media at Ohio State University. While I was working in Columbus through the week, though, my family remained in Athens. The youngest of my three daughters, Kiki, is a student at Ohio University, and my wife, Kathy, also works at
Sherry DiBari
Although I grew up in the suburbs, I came by my love of small towns naturally. My mother was from the small Kentucky town of Barbourville, and I spent many happy summer days visiting relatives there and enjoying the small town atmosphere.
Doug Partusch, Director of Development at Alden Library.
the University with HeartWorks, the cardiac rehab program associated with WellWorks. After a couple of years of burning rubber up Route 33, I began to realize that my collegial affinity remained with the green and white of Ohio. When I learned that there was an opportunity in development at the University Libraries, I was immediately interested. It just seemed like a good fit for me, and I’ve always felt that the Libraries play an important role in supporting the academic mission of Ohio University. As I’ve gotten to know the people that work here, I don’t think I’ve ever met a more dedicated group of folks. When not working, I enjoy spending time with my family, friends, a couple of dogs, and two old cars that take more time than they’re worth—the cars, that is.
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erhaps Dr. Vernon Alden said it best when he stated in his 1962 inaugural address: “A great library is at the heart of any great university.� In that address, he stressed the need for a new library on campus. His vision and commitment of improving the library facilities here at Ohio University set the tone for forty years of innovation and progress.
Betty Hollow researches historic homes in Athens in the Reading Room of the Mahn Center.
The libraries of today are positive agents for change, and academic libraries have made substantial progress in adapting to everchanging information delivery modes. The way students study and learn has indeed changed dramatically in the years since the library was dedicated. However, the need for academic libraries to provide expert
Difference YOU MAKE THE
By Doug Partusch
Photos by Alicia Burton
The past connects with the present as Holly Markins examines the historical resourcesd of the Mahn Center.
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services, research assistance, and access to unique collections remains the same. Kevin Fox is one student that experienced all the Libraries have to offer first hand. As a graduate student at Ohio University, Kevin wrote a term paper about “free speech zones” and the associated history on the Athens campus. The documents to which he was given access in the Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections provided the raw material that he needed to define his search.
Kevin successfully completed his thesis and is now doing doctoral work at the University of North Carolina.
How is work like Kevin’s made possible? That’s easy. Our many individual and private donors have provided the financial support needed to make Alden Library a truly special resource to generations of students. Significant dollars are contributed every year by people from every walk of life who want to encourage academic excellence at Ohio University—people like Bob and Jean Mahn, who made sure that their love “I cast a wide net, of books would live which was great,” on in the form of Kevin said. “I’d never the Mahn Center done that kind of for Archives and work before. I was Special Collections. there at least three Through their days a week, maybe generosity, the Mahn four. I spent well over Center is the principle 100 hours working on repository for rare it. Basically, it started materials, like those as a term paper and used in Kevin’s thesis, turned into a that support the master’s thesis.” education, research, and creative mission Books featuring Victorian trade bindings from the He did find it hard, of Ohio University. Juvenile Collection of the Mahn Center. though, to synthesize information because he was finding so much Now more than ever, every gift, no matter in the archives. That’s where University the amount, makes a difference. Whether Archivist, Bill Kimok, came to the rescue. you are able to make a $30 annual Friends of the Libraries gift or establish a $25,000 “My rapport with Bill really lent to what I acquisitions endowment, your support is was able to accomplish,” said Kevin. greatly needed and appreciated. If you would like more information about how Bill was able to help Kevin provide focus to you can support the University Libraries, his project. From his work with Bill, Kevin please contact me at 740-593-2683. You realized, “Archives are about more than just can also make a secure gift online at www. books—they are also about the people you ohio.edu/give. Thank you and happy 40th, interact with and their knowledge.” Alden Library!
740.593.2702
Contact Information Gatherings is a publication of the Friends of the Libraries of Ohio University. For more information, please contact: Kate Mason, 512 Alden Library, Athens, Ohio 45701
October 3, 2009
6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
University Libraries