The Record

Contents

National Library Week 1998

Honored with the Faculty Library Award, given for exemplary support and use of the Libraries, was Richard G. Law, English and General Education. For the past several years Law has been working to develop a comprehensive general education program at WSU with the generous support of the WSU Foundation. The presentation of the award and a gift certificate was made during a reception which featured short speeches, the WSU Madrigal Singers, and refreshments. Law’s name will head the new winners’ plaque to be mounted in the Atrium, along with the now-filled original plaque which was begun in 1980.

On Monday, April 20, the Libraries, in conjunction with the Department of English, presented a poetry reading in the MASC reading room. Prof. Linda Kittell was instrumental in arranging for Gretchen Bataille, provost and academic vice president, Donald Bushaw, former vice provost and quondam Library director, and several other campus luminaries to read their favorite poems to the crowd.

Librarian Alice Spitzer made a tour of campus libraries, handing out certificates for ice cream at Ferdinand’s as a way of sharing our Library celebration with the campus at large. The Libraries also took the opportunity during the week to honor our staff and student workers with a lasagna luncheon, which this year drew a crowd of 150.

1998 Faculty/Staff Drive

On behalf of the Libraries we would like to thank all of you who participated in the drive. In July we hope to have an event by which we can show our appreciation. We would also like to thank Kimberly Graber, Lisa Day, and Kathie Meyer, who co- chair this drive for the Libraries. Each did yeoman’s work in getting the word out to all our employees.

WSU CALS

It begins with that dreaded four-letter word MOVE. The word was bandied about for a year prior to moving, so it was a running joke until it became evident that THEY were really serious about CALS moving during Christmas break 1997. We found ourselves scurrying to figure out what needed to come with us, what could be tossed (more nicely stated, "withdrawn") and what would be sent off to Cheney or Pullman. Although the thought of a move exhausted us (the wonders of imagery!) it also gave us a sense of freedom to determine what our new setting would look like.

The reference librarian and I became mad weeders. We could be heard tsking and exclaiming, I cannot believe we even own this--as though it were some personal affront to us. Never mind that I had to sneak into the lead tech’s office a few times to retrieve items that I had second thoughts about, particularly once I began determining which titles were seminal works for a potential program in Spokane. It became clear that the "cart before the horse" syndrome was coming to life at CALS.

Prior to Thanksgiving, EWU gave us 1,000+ "loaner" banker boxes for the collection. Between cardboard cuts and the boxes being smarter than we were at times, we managed to get all of them put together. Our library specialist had been through a couple of moves, so she became the de facto orchestrator of the move. Heck, what more could a managing librarian wish for! She became our own little Napoleon, but we needed someone like her to take charge, keep us motivated, and be smart--as much as possible--about this moving adventure. In a way, it was a lot like organizing a big rummage sale. We got everything packed, marked, separated out by destination; in short, we were ready to roll. The EWU carpenters took down the remainder of our shelving, the electricians "un-electrified" us, and the truckers started moving us out. The truckers should be given commendation medals for the number of things that couldn’t possibly go wrong, but did. The CALS staff worked feverishly and long hours. We found out what I had suspected all along: we could count on each other to get this job done; we were a darn fine team.

I handled the Peyton Building end of the move, and our library specialist handled the Phase I portion. Our tech lead kept the operations--such as they were--running and handled the patron front. The remainder of the staff hauled, unloaded, and took direction gracefully, and we got everything where it was supposed to be, and in some instances, where it wasn’t supposed to be. Our motto was that if anything could go wrong, it was going to, and we would just live with it. A case in point: the basement space which was supposed to be ready for us to move the circulating collection into was still unfinished and would remain that way for some time. But the circulating collection, which lined the walls in its 402 boxes, was at least accessible.

We learned that the impact of a move lives on for some time after it occurs. The upside is that where possible, you can make adjustments for those things that you had not accounted for. The downside is that some things you just have to live with; but then, the CALS staff prides itself on its flexibility. In the end, the biggest headache was figuring out which patron requests had been filled pre- and post-move. This was made more difficult by patrons who e-mailed their requests multiple times! We also had to explain repeatedly that we weren’t anything other than the library; not, for example, a bookstore, office, or computer lab.

Here we are, five months later, pretty well settled, even in the basement. While our spaces are not exactly convenient, our location is ideal. We see many more students, and we’re part of the Spokane campus, instead of being isolated from it. We like being here, and our faculty and students like having us here. Just wait until we tell them that we’re moving again! In December 2000 (Christmas again) CALS will move into the upper floor of the Eastern Regional Archives Building into a space that is being created for us. Now if we can just remember our history, maybe this move will be less like a Laurel and Hardy movie.

Repeat Offender

The timeline goes like this: Blumberg was arrested in 1990 after two decades of rare book thievery. He was found guilty and sentenced to 71 months in prison, a $200,000 fine, and three years probation. Released after serving four-and-a-half years in December 1995, he was sentenced to eight months imprisonment on March 18, 1997 for probation violation, was released again in November 1997, and was arrested for third-degree burglary in Des Moines, Iowa, in December 1997.

He was found guilty by jury trial, and as of this writing is awaiting sentencing. Police found Blumberg and an accomplice fleeing a vacant apartment building on December 10, 1997. Evidently, Blumberg has an affection for all things Victorian, not just books, and this episode was an attempt to steal brass door knobs, ceiling light fixtures, and decorative wood moldings from the abandoned building.

In his book, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, Nicholas R. Basbanes notes that Blumberg was stealing from old buildings even in his "glory days." His motive is debatable. In an interview with Blumberg prior to this most recent conviction, Basbanes says, "I asked Blumberg if that is what he really thought he was doing, rescuing these things. 'Yes, in all of it I was doing that--not only the books, but the doorknobs and the windows, the old house...yes, I believe I was. Well, maybe that's a rationalization on my part. I was sort of, okay, let's put it this way: they were sort of on an interlibrary loan to me. That's what I figure. I don't know if that's how they would consider it, but that's the way I look at it. Because I always intended to give everything back. I don't regret putting the collection together, but I regret my inconsideration of others. So in that respect, I wouldn’t do it again.' "

The Gladys Doy Archerd Shell Collection

Mrs. Archerd began collecting on the Olympic Peninsula as a young girl and continued into her 80th year. She amassed thousands of shells, including hundreds of rare and beautiful specimens, mostly from the Pacific Rim. The shells range in size from the barely visible to specimens of over 14 inches.

Mrs. Archerd was born in Washington and spent the latter part of her life in Berkeley, California. Over the years she became a recognized authority on the taxonomy of shell- bearing marine life and occasionally was able to make corrections in academic collections she visited.

Burton Vaughan is an environmental scientist retired from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and an adjunct faculty member at WSU Tri-Cities. He was one of the first advocates of moving the Hanford Technical Library to the Tri-Cities campus and served as chair of the Design Steering Committee for the Consolidated Information Center.

Artis Vaughan is a recognized graphic artist with a master’s degree in art from WSU, which she earned through a special distance education arrangement, making her one of WSU’s first distance learning students.

Westin Papers Come to MASC

The Libraries views this addition as an integral component of its long-range plan to become the Pacific Northwest regional repository of hospitality industry records. Matuozzi noted, "The Westin Hotel archive is an excellent ‘magnet’ collection for such an undertaking. Success breeds success, and we hope that future prospective corporate donors will give serious consideration to donating their own non-active (historical) records to our archive."

The collection received its beginning through the efforts of retired vice president of Westin, J. William Keithan, who organized the papers. The library continues to receive materials on a quarterly basis from the corporation. As Internet access to information increases, users of the Westin Hotel archive will actively seek to use these resources for a variety of purposes.

MASC plans to mount a major exhibit of the Westin Papers this fall in conjunction with the Burtenshaw Lectures Series, hosted by the Hotel and Restaurant Administration (HRA) Program’s annual conference. HRA director Terry Umbreit, who helped secure the papers from the Westin Corporation, noted that the "collection is a gold mine for understanding the growth of the hospitality industry."

The Libraries are honored that the Westin Corporation has placed its materials in MASC. We look forward to the archive growing in the years to come.