The Atrium

Inside Walker Library

With its expert staff, dynamic collections, and electronic resources, Walker Library is the University’s hub for study and research. But the library is also the place where students come to mix and mingle, learn, and discover new ways to work together. The library also has an active exhibit and event program. In partnership with various University departments, student organizations, and local groups, Walker Library displays collections and historical objects and hosts cultural events and concerts. Here's a look at recent news and events.

SO LONG, DEWEY

In a project that dates back decades, Walker Library recently began the arduous process of converting its collection from the Dewey Decimal system to the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system. It’s the preferred way of categorizing books for academic libraries, and it marked the first major project for the library’s new chair of Collection Development and Management, Susan Martin.

“LCC is a simpler system for folks to understand,” Martin said. “It’s a little more flexible, and it allows us to group things that make a little more sense together. It actually promotes browsing. Once you get that one item that you want to find, you’ll be able to go up there and see all the work that’s been done in that area. It’ll make things a little easier.”

“In talking to some of the longer-term folks who’ve been here for 20, 25, 30 years, this is something they were talking about doing when they came,” Martin revealed. “This is huge. It’s a big step for us, and it will bring us into alignment. We’re finally doing it!”

Students and other patrons of the library undoubtedly witnessed the transition in person over the course of the Spring 2021 semester as professional movers and librarians worked diligently on multiple floors to rearrange parts of the collection.

COLLECTION BREWING

In light of the growth of MTSU’s fermentation program, Walker Library has hopped into the brewing game as well. Special Collections, which houses some of the library’s rarest books, has begun building out its Fermenting, Distilling, and Brewing Collection.

“This will be a unique collection in Tennessee,” said Alan Boehm, the library’s special collections librarian. “It allows us to do outreach to breweries, distilleries, and winemaking operations in the region. There are approximately 60 wineries, 50 breweries, and 30 distilleries spread throughout Tennessee, with many of them focusing on small batches, and this is the kind of collection that could prove helpful to them. Moreover, there is also a lot of potential for research here that would certainly help our undergraduate and graduate students.”

The scope of the collection, which began as an idea when MTSU launched its Fermentation Science degree in 2017, has broadened from a narrow focus on wine after input from Susan Martin, Collection Development and Management chair, and Rachel Kirk, collection assessment librarian. The collection not only will encompass the science of fermenting, distilling, and brewing, but also the cultural and societal context of alcohol.

Among the more than 40 items collected so far are revenue stamps, 18th century publications, pamphlets decrying the ills of alcohol, and ledgers from moonshiners, including one from a 19th century Tennessee farmer. Among the most recent acquisitions is an 1809 handbook, The Practical Distiller.

For more information on the collection, reach out to Boehm at alan.boehm@mtsu.edu.

Information literacy grant celebration (l–r): librarian Ashley Shealy, recipients Rebecca Oldham and Claire Cook, and Dean Kathleen Schmand

WELL INFORMED

Championing information literacy is core to Walker Library’s User Services department, and the annual distribution of the Information Literacy Curriculum Integration Grant is something that has always excited Jason Vance, User Services’ interim chair.

“I think this grant program is one of the coolest things that we do,” Vance said. “Our librarians build a lot of relationships around campus, but this is where the deep connections between the library and faculty begin. These grants foster a thoughtful, deep, semester-long collaboration, and I think we’re getting a lot of bang for our buck out of this money.”

The program, which sets aside $1,000 awards to two faculty members at MTSU, was developed to help integrate information literacy skills and concepts into a new or existing course. The faculty members work extensively with a librarian to implement these changes over a year’s time.

“These efforts are teaching our students to be informed users of information,” Vance said. “This is critical in this time of fake news and misinformation. These are skills that are not just important in the classroom, but students can then turn around and use them in their real lives to be better informed citizens. It will help them use information effectively, efficiently, and responsibly.”

The grant process is competitive as faculty members are tasked with connecting their proposals to an information literacy framework laid out by the Association of College and Research Libraries. These proposals are then judged and ranked by a panel of librarians and faculty from across campus to determine the winners.

The 2021 recipients are Child Development and Family Studies faculty members Claire Cook and Rebecca Oldham. They will each be partnering with librarian Ashley Shealy on revising a class.

Previous recipients

2020 Christabel Devadoss (GEOG 2000), Chaney Mosley (AGRI 1000), Molly Taylor-Poleskey (HIST 2010)

2019 Natalie Hoskins (COMM 3750), Jane Lim (ECE 4370)

2018 John Maynor (PS 4930), Holly Hebert (LIBS 6000)

2017 Joan McRae (HUM 2610), Racha El-Kadiri (GEOL 4120)

2016 Mary Beth Asbury (ORCO 3750)

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE CENTENNIAL

“Battle for the Ballot: The Story of Women’s Suffrage in the United States” took center stage in the Walker Library’s first-floor exhibit space throughout 2020. Developed with the support of MTSU’s President’s Commission on the Status of Women, the American Association of University Women, and Albert Gore Research Center, the exhibit showcased the fight for women’s right to vote in the U.S.

The first display case captured the national narrative around women’s suffrage, while another panel and case featured the unique role that Tennessee played, becoming the 36th and final state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment.

The rest of the exhibit focused on the fight for voting rights for all Americans, which continues to this day, as well as the role that the League of Women Voters has played in Murfreesboro and that Delta Sigma Theta sorority played in the suffrage movement.

“I AM TRUE BLACK”

Black student movements featured extensively in Walker Library’s latest exhibit, “I Am True Black.” The first-floor display focused on the beginnings of Black student activism on campus, specifically on the efforts of Sylvester Brooks, who began the push to eliminate the University’s ties to Confederate imagery in the late 1960s.

Drawing its title from recent student movements on campus, the exhibit was produced in partnership with MTSU’s Albert Gore Research Center. It also was developed in conjunction with the Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center, Rutherford County Archives, and Linebaugh Public Library.

The exhibit featured panels detailing the start of MTSU’s first Black organizations, the fight against Forrest Hall and other Confederate symbols, and a timeline of Black history on campus.

In addition, display cases housed artifacts collected by the Gore Center over the years, including historic photos, newspaper clippings, and even a crushed tear gas canister that was launched in the direction of protestors near MTSU in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

Two additional cases focused on Black history in the Murfreesboro community and on the important role that MTSU student-athletes have played in the movement.

AUGMENTED HERSTORY

After some 2020 Women’s History Month plans were put aside due to the pandemic, the Walker Library Makerspace put together extensive programming in March 2021 with three interactive exhibits designed to showcase the role women played in history.

The first, “Breaking Boundaries in Science,” utilized an Oculus Go headset to feature some of history’s most influential scientists, Jane Goodall, Marie Curie, and Grace Hopper. A user could explore their laboratories and workspaces, examine authentically modeled artifacts of their lives, and discover the stories behind their research and achievements in immersive virtual reality.

Another, “Lessons in Herstory,” used augmented reality to showcase women who were behind some of the biggest moments in history but haven’t received the same level of acclaim. The app scanned a photo of a historical man, and then revealed a related story about a woman who has been omitted by many textbooks. Lastly, “Women of Influence” focused on some of the most influential women in history. Wood carvings made with the library's laser-etcher were displayed throughout the Makerspace.

STEADY SUPPORT

The writing is on the wall at the James E. Walker Library, and it pays tribute to a devoted supporter. Michael Humnicky, a former engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is the first donor to have a study room in the library named in his honor.

“I don’t do it to have the name on the wall,” Humnicky said. “I’m not super rich, but it’s meaningful to me to support it in a way that I can.”

For the past eight years, the 73-year-old retiree has given generous amounts of both books and money to the library, including donations to the David Robinson Student Award, the Library Enrichment Fund, and the Library Student Assistant Emergency Fund.

Although he once lived across the street from MTSU, he never taught or attended classes at the University. However, the more he visited the library, the more he fell in love with the institution.

“I just think libraries are very important for societies,” Humnicky said.