STAFF

Coeditors Cy Dillon Ferrum College Virginia P.O. Box 1000 Ferrum, Virginia 24088 (540) 365-4428 [email protected] Libraries C. A. Gardner Hampton Public Library October/November/December, 2006, Vol. 52, No. 4 4207 Victoria Blvd. Hampton, Virginia 23669 (757) 727-1218 (757) 727-1151 (fax) COLUMNS [email protected] C. A. Gardner 2 Openers Ruth Arnold 3 President’s Column Editorial Board Lydia C. Williams Sara B. Bearss, Ed. 21 Virginia Reviews Longwood University Library Farmville, Virginia 23909 (434) 395-2432 [email protected] FEATURES Ed Lener College Librarian for the Sciences Danny Adams 5 Twisting Paths: An Interview Virginia Tech University Libraries with Mike Allen P.O. Box 90001 Blacksburg, Virginia 24062-9001 Edwin S. Clay III 10 They Don’t Look Like Me: Library (540) 231-9249 Multicultural Awareness and Issues [email protected] Ken Morrison 15 A History of the Lynchburg Public Library Karen Dillon Manager, Library Services Carilion Health System P.O. Box 13367 Roanoke, Virginia 24033 (540) 981-7258 (540) 981-8666 (fax) [email protected] Virginia Libraries is a quarterly journal published by the Virginia Library Association whose purpose is to develop, promote, and improve library and information services and the profes- Douglas Perry sion of librarianship in order to advance literacy and learning and to ensure access to infor- Director mation in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Hampton Public Library 4207 Victoria Blvd. The journal, distributed to the membership, is used as a vehicle for members to exchange Hampton, Virginia 23669 information, ideas, and solutions to mutual problems in professional articles on current top- (757) 727-1153 (extension 104) ics in the library and information field. Views expressed inVirginia Libraries are not necessarily (757) 727-1151 (fax) endorsed by the editors or editorial board. [email protected] The Virginia Library Association (VLA) holds the copyright on all articles published in Virginia Libraries whether the articles appear in print or electronic format. Material may be reproduced for informational, educational, or recreational purposes provided the source of Editor, Virginia Books the material is cited. The print version of Virginia Libraries is designed by Lamp-Post Publicity Sara B. Bearss in Meherrin, Virginia. The electronic version of Virginia Libraries is created by Virginia Tech’s Senior Editor, Dictionary of Virginia Biography Digital Library and Archives and is available at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib or as The Library of Virginia a link from the Virginia Library Association website (http://www.vla.org) and the Directory 800 E. Broad Street of Open Access Journals (http://www.doaj.org/). Virginia Libraries is indexed in Library Litera- Richmond, VA 23219-8000 ture, a database produced by the H.W. Wilson Company. [email protected] Items for publication and editorial inquiries should be addressed to the editors. Inquiries regarding membership, subscriptions, advertising, or claims should be directed to VLA, P.O. Box 8277, Norfolk, VA 23503-0277. All personnel happenings and announcements should On the cover: Mike Allen (page 5). be sent to the VLA Newsletter, Kevin Tapp, Box 7024 Radford University, Radford, VA 24142, Photo by Danny Adams. [email protected]. The guidelines for submissions to Virginia Libraries are found on page 4. PAGE  VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006

Openers

by C. A. Gardner

’ve lost count of the number find themselves relying heavily on provides a collaborative means for of times I’ve heard the argu- Internet searches during the course libraries to pool their resources in ments: “The library offers of a day, and computer users aren’t providing 24/7 virtual reference to Imore accurate and valuable infor- going to alter their behavior just all their patrons. Many libraries are mation than the Internet.” Or, “Ask because we tell them to. Let’s face working on digitization projects a librarian, not Google.” Librarians it: Internet search engines such as that will make out-of-copyright protest the prevalence of Internet Google have won this round. Per- holdings available to seekers re- searches over reference interviews haps it is time to spend our energy gardless of location or affiliation. with truisms such as “The Inter- finding ways to embrace the infor- Some libraries are making use of net contains a lot of inaccurate, blogs and RSS feeds to contact misleading, and incomplete infor- computer-savvy patrons about mation,” or “Top-ranked search current happenings, or providing engine results do not necessarily Let’s face it: online tutorials on a wide range of represent the best websites.” Internet search engines library and research topics. Reference librarians in particu- There are so many ways to use lar have expressed concern that such as Google information technology to our their staff and resources are being advantage — so many new ways underused while Internet searches have won this round. that we can step forward and pro- seem to rule the day, particularly vide the accurate, complete infor- among younger patrons. Stud- mation that we’ve complained the ies of Internet searching behavior mation revolution, rather than ex- Internet users are failing to obtain. have revealed that users are aware tolling what’s left by the wayside. Let’s be honest: at least some of our that their hits may not generate There are already several proj- protests stem from fear that com- the most complete or appropri- ects underway that take advantage puters will eventually put many of ate information, but that overall, of Internet use behavior to pro- us out of our jobs. But if we aggres- they are still satisfied with the re- vide traditional services in a new sively pursue new ways to engage sults — getting something usable in way. The Open WorldCat initiative our users in the style that they pre- a fraction of the time is preferred keeps getting stronger in its union fer, instead of continuing to spend to getting something great after with Google to provide users our time touting the admitted taking the trouble to call, let alone around the world with knowledge value of our traditional services, visit, a library and then hunt for, of their local library holdings with- we should find more need for our or wait while a librarian searches out requiring the hassle of locating services than ever. VL for, the results. regional libraries and searching The problem is, even librarians individual catalogs. QuestionPoint OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 

President’s Column

by Ruth Arnold

’ve come to that place in my highlights of my year. Imagine my work and the many phone calls term when as outgoing VLA surprise when, instead of meeting they had to make to line up speak- president I get to write my with an aide as expected, we were ers and sponsors. IYear in Review column. It’s my ushered into the office to meet I am pleased that we were able time to tout my achievements and with my congressman himself. to add some extra content to our exit in triumph. However, I realize Another high spot for me was VLA Council meetings. After a that what I really want to do with attending the VLA Paraprofes- discussion of membership issues, this space is thank all the people sional Forum Annual Conference. Second Vice President Libby Lewis who helped me during my presi- All VLA can be proud of our Para- agreed to chair an ad hoc commit- dential year. I know I am taking a professional Forum. Not only are tee on the subject. As with many risk naming names because I am they nationally recognized and VLA undertakings, this is one that sure that there will be some people award-winning, but they also put will cover more than one year. I fail to mention. I hope that, who- on a really good conference. I rec- On my personal checklist, I en- ever they are, they will also accept ommend it to all VLA members. joyed being VLA president. I would my apologies and my thanks. One of our goals was to improve recommend the position to others. Legislative activities, as usual, our website and add some online Although on occasion I felt over- were a main focus of the year. I services. Input from the task force whelmed with extra work, this was am grateful for the efforts of the chaired by Past President Sam Clay usually only in spurts, not continu- Legislative Committee, cochaired and many hours of work by Steve ously. I did learn something about by John Moorman and Jerry Mc­ Helm, our webmaster, allowed our myself and organization and time Kenna, and the work of Legislative executive director to be able to pro- management (more to accomplish Liaison Phil Abraham. Although cess credit card payments online, here, too). we advanced very little toward our both a cost- and time-saving mea- I would have liked to have more goal of full funding of state aid to sure. Online registration debuted opportunity to get to know individ- public libraries, we did manage in October, just in time for the fall ual members of the VLA Council. to stave off mandatory Internet conference. The revamped www. Maybe that can happen in the com- filtering for one more year, with vla.org is still in process, but we are ing year now that I am past presi- great assistance from Senator John very excited about its new look and dent. And of course I need to thank Chichester. Our biggest success the planned use of blogs to facili- the members of Executive Council: was with a bill that restored lan- tate more participation from the Sam Clay, Pat Howe, Lydia Wil- guage requiring certification to the membership. liams, Sue Burton, and Libby Lewis. code section on qualifications for A special thanks goes to Laura We have been a good team and I librarians and also with a bill con- Speer, who, in addition to her reg- have enjoyed our camaraderie. firming that libraries can pass their ular duties as chair of the Awards Last, but not least, I will always discarded materials to groups such Committee, took on the task of be grateful to Linda Hahne. As our as the Friends for resale. scheduling the VLA centennial executive director, she is the key- On the federal side, VLA had a exhibit, which is still available for stone of the Virginia Library Asso- significant presence at ALA Leg- display in your library. ciation. Her productivity and qual- islative Day in Washington, D.C. As I write this, our fall confer- ity of work never fail to amaze me. Our VLA cochairs, Jessica Schwab ence is just around the corner. I I wish her many more happy years and Lucinda Munger, had every- have no doubt that it will be suc- with VLA. thing very well organized for our cessful, but since I don’t want to So that was my year as VLA delegation, which included public jinx anything, I won’t brag. I do president. I think it was a pretty and academic librarians, as well as want to let Mary McMahon and good year, but I am very happy to two school librarians representing John Halliday, cochairs, and the have passed the gavel to my succes- VEMA. Attending ALA Legisla- Conference Committee know how sor. Good luck, Pat. May you have tive Day was certainly one of the much I appreciate all their hard a good year, too. VL PAGE  VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006

Guidelines for Submissions to Virginia Libraries

1. Virginia Libraries seeks to publish articles and re- whenever appropriate to accompany a manuscript. views of interest to the library community in Vir- Hard copy illustrations will be returned if requested ginia. Articles reporting research, library programs in advance. Digital images should have a resolution and events, and opinion pieces are all considered of at least 300 dpi. Authors are responsible for secur- for publication. Queries are encouraged. Brief an- ing legal permission to publish photographs and nouncements and press releases should be directed other illustrations. to the VLA Newsletter. 7. Each contributor should provide a brief sketch of 2. Please submit manuscripts via email as attachments professional accomplishments of no more than in Microsoft Word, rich text, or plain text format. fifty words that includes current title, affiliation, Articles should be double-spaced with any biblio- and email address. Unless specified otherwise, this graphic notes occurring at the end of the article. information will be shared with readers of Virginia Please avoid using the automatic note creation func- Libraries. Physical addresses should also be provided tion provided by some word processing programs. for the mailing of contributor’s copies. 3. Articles in Virginia Libraries conform to the latest 8. Articles should generally fall within the range of edition of the Chicago Manual of Style and Webster’s 750–3,000 words. Please query the editors before Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Ac- submitting any work of greater length. cepted articles are subject to editing for style and 9. Email manuscripts and queries to Cy Dillon, clarity. Authors will be consulted on points of fact. [email protected], and C. A. Gardner, cgardner@ 4. All articles submitted for consideration are reviewed hampton.gov. Please be sure to copy both editors. by the editors and may be refereed by the editorial 10. Virginia Libraries is published quarterly. The dead- board. Articles that are not selected for publication lines for submission are: December 15 for Number will be returned within three months. 1, January/February/March; March 15 for Number 2, 5. VLA holds the copyright on all articles published in April/May/June; June 15 for Number 3, July/August/ Virginia Libraries. Contributors of articles receive two September; and September 15 for Number 4, Octo- copies of the issue in which their work appears. ber/November/December. VL 6. Illustrations are encouraged and should be submitted

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Twisting Paths: An Interview with Mike Allen

by Danny Adams

eading the work of Roanoke au- thor Mike Allen Ris like hiking off-trail on a mountainside at night: no straight way, places to trap or tumble you, and no way to see what is coming directly ahead — especial- ly if what is ahead sees you coming first. Allen is one of the fastest rising stars in the world of speculative poet- ry — “speculative” mean- ing science fiction, fan- tasy, horror, or occasion- ally any combination of the above — with over 160 poems and short stories in print and more on the

way in magazines rang- PHOTO BY DANNY ADAMS ing from the small press to heavy hitters in the field such as ions, which collected speculative accident. My interview with Allen Asimov’s Science Fiction. Speculative works by Virginia authors. More did not start with questions; he poetry itself is a rising star; while it recently, he coedited (with Bud and his wife Anita led me on a has been around for decades, only Webster) The Science Fiction Poetry three-mile, forest-enclosed hike recently has it seen an upsurge in Handbook by Suzette Haden Elgin; before we ate nearby at one of his popularity, thanks in no small part Allen also runs his own poetry to Allen himself. magazine, Mythic Delirium, along Allen has enjoyed a number of with a series of fantasy antholo- Danny Adams is the coauthor, with sci- paths of his own. His sizable bib- gies titled Mythic. (In the interest ence fiction veteran Philip José Farmer, liography includes four chapbooks: of disclosure, the author of this in- of the short novel The City Beyond Defacing the Moon and Other Poems terview has appeared in both.) In Play, forthcoming from PS Publishing, (DNA Publications), Petting the Time addition, Allen was the president and has over two dozen speculative Shark and Other Poems (DNA), Dis- of the Science Fiction Poetry Asso- ­poems published or forthcoming in turbing Muses (Prime Books, ISBN ciation (SFPA, www.sfpoetry.com) various magazines. He is the evening 0809556049), and, most recently, until September 2006 and helped services librarian for Ferrum College Strange Wisdoms of the Dead (Wild- bring that organization much more in Ferrum, Virginia, where he, his wife side Press, ISBN 0809556758). He is prominence than it had previously ­Laurie, and four very speculative cats also an editor; his first such job was enjoyed. live on a mountainside beside a dark the 1995 anthology New Domin- The hike metaphor above is no and thick forest. PAGE  VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006

favorite restaurants (barbecue). De- it won the Rhysling Award, the top You’re welcome! I suppose ciding that the restaurant was too award in speculative poetry. MA I should be a good author noisy for recording the interview, and tell you about Strange Wisdoms we sat on a walled set of stone steps Hello Mike, and thanks for of the Dead, which came out this that wound their way into another VL agreeing to do this interview past January. It’s a collection of grove behind the restaurant. for Virginia Libraries. So, what have ten years’ worth of my poetry and The poem below is an excellent you been up to recently? fiction. It’s kind of frightening to example of Allen’s work. In 2006, realize that I’ve been writing and publishing that long and people are maybe only now starting to hear about me — but at least they The Strip Search are hearing about me! I organized Strange Wisdoms into By Mike Allen four parts. One part is essentially meant to concentrate on horror The Gate said “Abandon All Hope.” poems. One part is meant to focus more on life secrets, life myster- I thought I’d tossed all my hope away, ies — the “strange wisdoms” of the but when I stepped through the Gate, it still pinged. title. One part is more science- One of the guards slithered out of its seat, ­fictional, and also more meditative. snarling as it drew forth a wand. And one part is collaborations; I C’mere, it hissed, collaborate with a lot of people. it seems you’re still holding out hope. It’s fun to collaborate and then include the results in my books. Its crusted hide was a Venus landscape up close. Strange Wisdoms contains “The It brushed that cold black wand all over my skin, Strip Search,” which at the time put it in places I don’t want to talk about. had not yet won the Rhysling. Snaggle fangs huffed in my face: Also, right now in conjunction Sir, step over here, please. with Prime Books I’m editing a se- ries called Mythic, which contains Then the strip search began. a lot of fantasy stories and poetry. My flesh rolled up & tossed aside for mushy sifting. It’s intended to be like a literary Bones X-rayed, stacked in narrow rows, marrow magazine, although they’re books. sucked out, tested, spit back in. Science fiction publications have They made me open mind, heart, soul, shook them out tended to steer clear of that mix, I like sacks of flour, panned the contents think in part because there’s this for every nugget of twinkling hope, glistening courage; assumption that readers aren’t applying lethal aerosol interested in poetry, which isn’t to any motion that could be ascribed to love or will necessarily true. There are people or malingering dreams — coming into the field now who sparing only a few squirming morsels are interested in seeing a publica- for later snacking. tion with more of a “litzine” mix: heavier on the poetry, treating the Once they were done poetry equally with stories, stories they made me pick up my own pieces that are themselves at times very (I did the best I could without a mirror), experimental and very poetic. Not then my guard kicked me out — that I have any problem with old- with a literal kick — fashioned, plot-driven storytelling sent me rolling down the path to my final destination. either, so I mix that in as well. It’ll be very interesting to see in the I’ll be honest with you, it’s no picnic here. next few years if this is something But, my friends, I still have hope. I do. that catches on and becomes more widespread, or something that I’m not going to tell you fades back into the woodwork. Or if where I hid it. it becomes one diverse thread that OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE  continues and continues, which little less small now; our member- Poetry in this day and age is how science fiction and fantasy ship just about doubled in the first MA can be seen as the higher ­really seem to work these days. year I was president, to about 170, mathematics of written language, and has stayed that way since. We exploring concepts, emotions, per- What do you tell people when put out our first trade paperback sonalities, or epiphanies, or simply VL they say to you, “I didn’t even books, reprinting and revising The experimenting in wordplay with- know there was such a thing as sci- Science Fiction Poetry Handbook by out the burden of story arithmetic, ence fiction poetry!” Suzette Haden Elgin, who founded plot, traditional character develop- The version of this I normally SFPA, and releasing The Alchemy ment, or the chapters of exposi- MA hear is, “I’ve never heard of of Stars, which for the first time tion required to set the stage for a a Science Fiction Poetry Associa- collected the Rhysling Award- science fiction or fantasy world. It tion,” to which, after two years in ­winning poems from 1978 to 2004 can cut to the chase, get right to charge, I developed a fairly well- in one volume, minus one piece we the heart of the matter, without rehearsed response: SFPA has been couldn’t get permission to reprint. going out of its way to include the around since 1978; we’re interested We also switched our annual formula elements of a “well-told in poetry that contains elements of story.” science fiction, fantasy, or horror; Little “short-short” or “flash we give out an award every year, fiction” stories used to be a fairly the Rhysling Award, that honors … let’s face it, most prominent part of science fiction the best of this type of poetry, and fantasy, but have fallen out selected by the full membership. readers want to be told of fashion. I believe that for better When trying to explain specula- traditional stories. or for worse, poetry now fills that tive poetry, I’ve found it’s best if I’m gap. Consider that several promi- in a workshop setting where I can nent venues for fantastic fiction in simply plop an example or series the short form, such as Asimov’s or of examples in front of the ques- Rhysling anthologies, which collect the online magazine Strange Hori- tioner and let the work speak for members’ nominees for the award, zons (www.strangehorizons.com), itself. Without those examples — I from chapbook format to a much routinely give space to poetry. like to use Joe Haldeman’s “Eigh- more professional trade paperback. Even such stolidly prose-dedicated teen Years Old, October Eleventh” We found a regular venue for pre- periodicals as Analog Science Fiction or John Grey’s “Explaining Fran- senting the award, at ReaderCon, a and Fact or Fantasy & Science Fic- kenstein to His Mother,” to name a convention in Boston that focuses tion sneak it in from time to time. couple1 — some people are just con- on books and fiction. We improved That said, what I’m giving you vinced that you can’t mix poetry and expanded our website (www. here is a gross oversimplification, and SF. Usually this show-and-tell sfpoetry.com). We for the first time as all poems tell stories in their process makes them believers. gathered as many of our newslet- own way, and prose can be written ter and magazine publications poetically; and let’s face it, most Along with the Rhysling since 1978 that we could find with readers want to be told traditional VL Award, what are some of the the goal of contributing them to a stories. There aren’t as many read- accomplishments you and SFPA library collection. And so on. Mind ers willing to engage in the fluid have enjoyed while you’ve been you, I can’t take credit for all this. and abstract challenges of poetry. president? Many volunteers have selflessly Yet that’s unfortunate, especially Gosh, where to begin? We’re donated time and effort to make these days, because, as with poetry MA a small group, but we’re a this happen, because we want to in general, speculative poetry has see speculative poetry taken seri- been moving toward transparency ously. The idea is that all this in its meaning. The casual reader 1 Both poems can be read in The activity attracts attention, draws who checks out the contents of a Alchemy of Stars: Rhysling Award in new members, and widens our current issue of Star*Line (the jour- Winners Showcase, edited by Roger audience. nal of SFPA), The Magazine of Specu- Dutcher and Mike Allen (Science lative Poetry, or my own Mythic Fiction Poetry Association, 2005; What do you think speculative Delirium will likely find that he or ISBN 0809511622). Haldeman’s VL poetry can accomplish, either she won’t have to struggle much to poem is also available online at his with language or for a reader, that understand the aim of any given official website: http://home.earth speculative prose can’t or would piece. link.net/~haldeman/poem1.html. have difficulty doing? PAGE  VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006

Tell me about the Rhysling as well, and what they’re doing I like to wear suspenders when I’m VL Award. is they’re exploring the writers’ dressed up for court. Suspenders The Rhysling Award rec- marketplace and discovering us. are built with metal in them, so I MA ognizes speculative poetry “Wow — there’s an association for was setting off the metal detector that is considered particularly people who like to write this sort of every time I came in. Some of the outstanding in a given year. The poetry. I thought it was just me!” guards got a little frustrated with award was created in 1978 by And I feel that’s a good measure of me and they started asking me, Suzette Haden Elgin, who founded SFPA’s success, because we’re doing “Why do you keep wearing those?” the Science Fiction Poetry Asso- a better job letting people know My reaction was, “Doesn’t it seem ciation the same year. She noticed we’re out there. a bit unfair that this heightened at conventions that there were Before my presidential term and probably justified — at least to people who wrote SF poetry, were some degree — paranoia about fel- interested in SF poetry, but didn’t low human beings trickles down seem to be talking to each other. to the point where I’m not free to It wasn’t that such an award had Suspenders are built choose how to dress the way I want never existed before, but this was with metal in them, to, because I’m upsetting these the most prominent such award to metal detectors?” be created, and it had the support so I was setting off So it’s because of this relatively of some major writers. The name trivial problem and my thoughts “Rhysling” comes from the Robert the metal detector about its larger implications that I Heinlein story “The Green Hills every time I came in. was suddenly struck with the idea of Earth,” which describes a star of the gate of Hell operating as a traveler — I believe he was an engi- metal detector. What would the neer — and a bard who was blinded gate of Hell detect? Well, it says in an accident. Suzette actually got began, we didn’t have a lot of adver- “Abandon All Hope,” so no doubt permission from Robert Heinlein tising out there. We had a website if you entered that gate and you to use the name. that wasn’t updated very often; had some hope they would search There are two Rhysling Awards: Star*Line wasn’t included in very you to find out where you were one for short poetry, less than many market listings; we weren’t keeping it. My mind jumped on forty-nine lines long under the doing any kind of public events that: I imagined what that sort of current guidelines, and one for like we do now. So we were just this metaphorical soul-searching — so long poetry, fifty lines or longer. big secret, which I felt needed to be to speak — would be like, and thus The Rhysling winners are reprinted changed. I didn’t think we were came the poem. most years in the Nebula Awards doing a lot to promote our award. anthology. This is a nice way for I feel like we’ve done a much better Was this the sort of work the field to acknowledge that these job of that now, and there’s a lot of VL where you dashed it out, poems are interesting enough as evidence that it’s working. loved it, and sent it out, or did it go pieces of writing that they deserve through five drafts? to be reprinted in such a presti- Tell me how you came to It actually sat in my note- gious venue. VL write your poem “The Strip MA book as an unfinished draft Search,” the piece that won the for a few weeks. Then I was getting Do you think the field overall 2006 Rhysling Award. ready to perform at No Shame The- VL these last few years has started “The Strip Search” began as ater, an improv theater in Roanoke, acknowledging poetry more? MA a kind of complaint. In my and I needed a piece but I didn’t I think so, actually. I think it day job I work as a courts reporter; have one ready. I flipped through MA comes in cycles. Right now I cover trials, lawsuits, all kinds of my notebook — I always carry some SFPA is probably the strongest it court cases. One of the side effects sort of notebook with me, since I has been in a long time, if not the of having this job is that every day never know when I might have strongest it has ever been. at least twice, and probably more some spare time when I can write There are a lot of young writers often on any given day, I have something down — and discovered joining the organization, partici- to walk through a metal detec- the remnants of that poem. So I pating in the field, who are com- tor — after 9/11 all sorts of govern- redrafted it and finished it specifi- ing to things from the fantasy side, ment institutions stepped up their cally to perform live. who grew up reading fantasy. This security, and this is as true for interest leads them to write poetry courthouses as anywhere else. Now OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 

You’ve done poetry as per- look at how the words are placed on to see more markets for it — small VL formance art quite a lot. Tell the page, and draw meaning from markets, but venues nonetheless. me what your ideal night reading that in addition to what the order But many of these have taken the a poem would entail: not just what of the words happens to be. With forefront in terms of publishing you’re doing, but perhaps audience a performance poem, I’m generally poetry that actually moves the reaction, even audience participa- thinking the same way as I might genre forward, pushes the bound- tion, if any. with a monologue. In fact most of aries. I mentioned earlier the trend I have never tried to write a my performances are more or less of new and young people coming MA poem specifically to invite monologues in that they’re meant in with a bent toward fantasy, and audience participation — that’s prob­ to be heard, not so much depen- I think what’s going to happen is ably something I ought to try. dant on how they look on the page we’re going to see more and more When I perform a poem I usu- fantasy poetry. This is true of the ally am hoping for some kind speculative field as a whole — fan- of audience reaction. “The Strip tasy writing is becoming more Search” is a lucky piece for a live … we might see the dominant. There are already rela- performance in that it’s funny; and field get really wild: tively new markets existing now when you have a funny piece (and that are all fantasy, and that wasn’t it actually is funny), people start bringing in the cowboy something you saw so much of reacting to it right away, so you before. know it’s working. With a more se- poets, the haiku poets … In terms of SFPA, I think the rious piece, it’s not so easy, because new leadership is going to contin- people stay quiet until the end ue the kinds of things I have been and then you know how well you but what they sound like, how the doing. And I know that it’s also did by how enthusiastically they message comes across. the intention of the new president, applaud. I have a few poems that Debbie Kolodji, to have SFPA reach I’ve written specifically to be per- Since a lot of people come at out to other poetry organizations, formed, but mostly they’ve been VL science fiction wanting to something that I didn’t consider written already and I experiment predict the future, this may be an myself particularly qualified to do. with them to see if they’ll work for inevitable question: where do you If she’s successful, and maybe even an audience or not. see speculative poetry going from can coordinate joint events, we And not all poems work for here? might see the field get really wild: an audience. A poem specifically I think so long as the inter- bringing in the cowboy poets, the aimed for the page assumes you’re MA est in the field of speculative haiku poets … they’ll discover us going to be able to spend some time poetry continues to grow the way and we’ll discover them! VL with it, take it in at your own pace, it has been, then we’ll continue PAGE 10 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006

They Don’t Look Like Me: Library Multicultural Awareness and Issues

by Edwin S. Clay III

(Adapted from a presentation at the Mont et al. continue, “Early expres- the American way of life.” As time 2006 Virginia Library Association’s sions of anti-foreignism and anti- went on and the social problems Paraprofessional Forum Conference.) ­Catholicism culminated in the mounted, many reformers focused formation of the American Party in on education as the key to solv- 1854. It was a political party whose ing and resolving the social pres- ne would be hard-pressed main goal was maintaining the sures brought about by immigrants to find a nation any- status quo and attempting to quell separated from society. There were O where on earth whose the social changes initiated by the active protests, as well as publi- population is more diverse in race, thousands of immigrants flocking cations — again, does this sound religion, and national origins than to America” (23). familiar? — fomenting public op- the United States. position to rights for immigrants. In an essay celebrating the Libraries in this period were American Library Association’s much more identified with educa- centennial in 1977, noted historian The new profession of tion than today. The new profes- John Hope Franklin examined the librarianship realized sion of librarianship realized it had impact of a pluralistic society on a responsibility to the immigrant library development. His thoughts it had a responsibility through its services. The library were summarized in Multicultural- was to become a community cul- ism in Libraries by Rosemary Ruhig to the immigrant tural center as well. Du Mont, Lois Buttlar, and Wil- through its services. Du Mont et al. quote Frederick liam Caynon (Westport: Green- M. Crunden, a well-respected li- wood Press, 1994). According to brarian whose article, “The Value Franklin, early views of Americans of a Free Library,” originally ap- included only those of European In the years following the Civil peared in Library Journal in March origins. With such a definition, War, the population of the U.S. 1890. Crunden describes the role three-quarters of a million blacks grew exponentially due to another of the library in helping to inte- already in the country were con- wave of immigration. As Du Mont grate immigrants into society: sidered ineligible to be American- et al. explain, this time immigrants The free library is the most prom- ized. There was no willingness to came from northern, southern, ising of all measures for social nurture educational and cultural and eastern Europe, as well as from integration because more than institutions that would serve all China and Japan. The population any other, it teaches and leads to people; indeed, the great influx of also became more urban. Cities immigrants in the 1820s and 1830s developed around the mill, the “raised suspicions and hostility factory, or the railroad. These cities Edwin S. Clay III has been the direc- among those of original American attracted thousands of immigrants tor of the twenty-one-branch Fairfax stock” (23). looking for work. County Public Library since 1982. FCPL Does this sound familiar? is the largest public library system in These new Americans were not the Washington, D.C., metropolitan Libraries Enter the Fray like those already in the coun- area, as well as the largest in the Com- try. They had different religious About this time, some individuals monwealth of Virginia. Clay is a past beliefs, were willing to work for began to notice that existing insti- president of the Virginia Library Asso- lower wages, and wanted to keep tutions were not helping to assist ciation and the Virginia Public Library their languages and traditions. Du the immigrant in “entering into Director’s Association. OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 11

Adaptive technologies make the pleasure of reading possible for many library users.

classes were held in the library. (My library system recently held an updated version of such citizen- ship classes and had to close regis- tration after one hundred joined!) Libraries in the 1920s contributed pamphlets written by library per- sonnel in native languages describ- ing community rules and laws, pre- vailing wages, cost of living, health codes, and other information. A strong theme in the history of the provision of services to im- self-help. Reading library books migrants is that the library would causes increased productivity of They hoped that help them assimilate into main- our mechanics and artisans, in stream society. Is this rationale the lessening of crime and dis- immigrants and poor still valid? Is assimilation the goal? order among us, in the influx of What is the rationale for the im- the most desirable class of citi- Americans alike could portance of multiculturalism? zens, the greater sobriety, indus- be transformed into try, morality and refinement Definitions: Assimilation throughout the community that enlightened, self- versus Coexistence must necessarily result (24). Librarians during this period ­supporting citizens. Perhaps we need to look at some were disturbed by the effects of city definitions before attempting to life on the population and wished answer that question. For Du Mont to share their knowledge and lize library services in centralized and the coauthors of Multicultural- middle class ideals with the un- locations. ism in Libraries, “Cultural diversity derprivileged, i.e., the immigrants. The initial emphasis of library refers to sensitive recognition of They hoped that immigrants and programs for immigrants in the existing cultural differences” (9). poor Americans alike could be 1920s was on the individual. The The authors go on to cite a work- transformed into enlightened, self- major goal was assimilation into ing definition developed by the ­supporting citizens. the American mainstream. Librar- National Coalition for Cultural In order to reach those who ies cooperated with day and eve- Pluralism described in Cultural Plu- would benefit from library servic- ning schools by furnishing books ralism in Education: A Mandate for es, the library itself was extended recommended by teachers. They Change edited by Madelon D. Stent, through the development of public aided interested students in their William R. Hazard, and Harry N. library branches, deposit stations, struggle with the English language Rivlin: and home libraries. Branches and by sponsoring English classes in Thus, it is a state of equal coex- other extension agencies were the library. istence in a mutually supportive viewed as a convenient method Libraries supplied books in na- relationship within the bound- for catering to special population tive languages, as well as transla- aries or framework of one nation groups, who would not likely uti- tions from English. Citizenship or people of diverse cultures with PAGE 12 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006

significantly different pat- Changing Strategies terns of belief, behavior, color, and in many cases In the best of all possible with different languages. worlds — and in the best To achieve cultural plural- library systems — there is ism, there must be unity the recognition that change with diversity. Each per- in the operational envi- son must be aware of ronment is a given. This and secure in his own change (or changes) are identity, and be willing anticipated and planned to extend to others the for. The changes — and the same respect and rights response to them — may that he expects to enjoy take the form of a library’s himself (9). budget, strategic plan, or Sounds a bit like a com- other such document. How bination of the golden rule many of you have such a (“each person must be aware plan or document in your of and … willing to extend library that addresses the to others the same respect issue(s) of multiculturalism? and rights that he expects to An initial and incredibly enjoy himself”) and a New important aspect of any Age philosophy (“there must library’s approach to be- be unity with diversity”). But coming responsive to mul- perhaps such a definition ticultural issues is that of that stresses coexistence is attitudes, knowledge, and more on target today. training. Obviously, these Here’s another set of defi- three components are staff- nitions from the fourth edi- centered. tion of the American Heritage Those interested in mul- Dictionary of the English Lan- A good library draws young people ticultural issues in libraries guage. According to this refer- into a rich learning environment. have suggested that a library ence, “multicultural” is defined as system should foster attitudes to- “1) of, relating to, or including sev- tion? “Melting pot” was one. Then ward multiculturalism that in- eral cultures” or “2) of, or relating something changed and “melting clude: to a social or educational theory pot” became “mosaic.” Has the 1. Committing to cultural diver- that encourages interest in many rationale for serving immigrants sity and working to achieve it. cultures within a society rather changed? Has our view of the new 2. Accepting that the “world has than in a mainstream culture.” American changed? changed” for the better. The phrase “cultural pluralism” is Well, something has changed — 3. Making judgments that are cen- defined as “a condition in which for there sure are a lot of library tered on the individual; caring many cultures coexist within a so- customers who don’t look like me. about what happens to each ciety and maintain their cultural Virginia’s population statistics cer- person as a result of culturally differences; also called multicultur- tainly support the fact that the face diverse experiences. alism.” Finally, “multiculturalism” of Virginians is changing. Accord- 4. Being aware of how background is defined as “the doctrine that ing to the Weldon Cooper Cen- and experiences form percep- several different cultures (rather ter at the University of Virginia, tions of cultural diversity; under- than one national culture) can co- even though the commonwealth standing clearly individual cul- exist peacefully and equitably in a remains a majority-white state, it tural assumptions and patterns single country.” Again, that word: has experienced high growth rates of behavior. “coexist.” in nonwhite and Hispanic popula- 5. Understanding other people’s How do these definitions, with tions. Virginia is far more diverse cultural assumptions and pat- their emphasis on coexistence, than it was even a few decades ago, terns of behavior regardless of square with the earlier rationale and projections call for this diver- their race or ethnic background; of assimilation? Do you remember sity to increase. appreciating perceived discom- some of the metaphors for assimila- forts and prejudices of minor- OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 13

ity toward majority and Another element that is majority toward minority. significant in a library’s ap- proach to multiculturalism A library should encourage is its collection. I believe a knowledge about multicultural library’s collection is its third issues that includes: most valuable asset behind 1. Responding to a wide its customer base and staff. diversity of cultural ex- In developing a collection periences. that responds to multicul- 2. Understanding the com- tural needs, a library system munity and the resourc- must determine the needs of es that can help in pro- its customers and then ac- moting cultural diversity quire appropriate resources. in library settings. It’s a challenging task that A library should offer training involves juggling the budget, that develops such skills as: Does this sound priorities, languages selected, 1. Ability to put a person at calculating? It should. and the difficulty of catalog- ease regardless of cultural ing materials in languages background. A better word, though, other than English. 2. Ability to be at ease in cul- Next, a library must look turally diverse situations. is strategic. at the services it offers. Do 3. Ability to deal with the the reference and informa- stress that develops with tion services meet the needs proactive behavior in a of a multicultural audience? culturally diverse library Does programming for both environment. children and adults respond Such attitudes, knowl- to these needs? Adult pro- edge, and skills are developed gramming can include Eng- through formal training op- lish conversation classes or portunities, our own personal Carefully trained staff put patrons at even more formal English experiences, and our backgrounds, ease in culturally diverse libraries. language classes. Are new Ameri- as well as other opportunities. But cans aware of the free Internet ac- it all begins with a staff’s commit- out this commitment, it will be cess that can allow them to keep in ment to a library system’s goal to difficult for a library to have a touch with their home countries? provide services that respond to successful program. It will also be Marketing these services is im- the unique needs of all. quite difficult to have a successful portant as well. Libraries must program without a plan or direc- decide how to reach their market. tion of some kind — a direction Does this mean publications in The Value of Self-Awareness that identifies the elements, enu- different languages? Should inter- There is an exercise often used in merates a response, and quantifies nal signs be in more than one lan- multicultural awareness training. what success looks like. guage? It asks individuals to stand up if Last, a library should consider they have certain characteristics how to evaluate its success. What A Successful Model in common. For example, all those criteria will determine if activi- who are the oldest in a family are Let’s begin with the internal issues ties to promote the collection and asked to stand. All those who are that have to be in place. The first services to new Americans are thirty and younger are asked to element to consider is the staff. ­working? stand. All those who are married I’ve discussed the need for appro- are asked to stand. This illustrates priate staff attitudes, knowledge, Potential Barriers how many different groups indi- and skills, but how can these be viduals may belong to and rein- achieved? Training, recruitment, It’s one thing to prepare a plan forces commonalities. scheduling, and the establishment and develop strategies. It is quite Self-awareness and acceptance of diversity committees can all another thing to actually imple- is the basis of an individual’s ap- impact staff awareness of multicul- ment the plan. There are many proach to multiculturalism. With- tural issues. potential barriers to implementing PAGE 14 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 a creative program. One area is li- A fourth potential barrier is Challenge or Opportunity? brary administration, where there the age-old problem that librar- may be resource shortages, a lack ies always confront — resources. Is multicultural awareness a chal- of multicultural staff, the inability How will a library system pay for lenge or an opportunity? I think to change strategies, local govern- the changes required by an appro- awareness is a positive challenge, ment demands (a significant issue), priate response to multicultural but that the responses provided or lack of understanding of differ- demands? If additional funds are by a library to this challenge offer ent cultural attitudes and beliefs. required, how can a library secure an opportunity. Being aware is A second area where barriers can them? There are a couple of strate- nice — responding proactively, ag- exist is the library staff, who may gies. First, make a budget case. Let gressively, and appropriately is have problems with the reassigning the powers that be know about the wonderful! The role of a library of staff roles; competing demands is to respond to its community of among various staff ethnic groups; users. Not some of its community resentment toward new cultural of users, but all of them. programs; or cultural differences, Ignore this changing I am a practicing cynic, but a clos- conflicts, and misunderstandings base at your own peril et idealist. So the cynic side of me among staff members. says that if for no other reason than A third, and surprising, area and be prepared enlightened self-interest, a library is the multicultural customers li- must be aware of and responsive to braries seek to serve. Often these to wither away. its customer base. (Remember, I be- customers lack knowledge of li- lieve the most important asset of a brary services because the public library is its customer base.) Ignore library is not a worldwide institu- changing face of your customers. this changing base at your own peril tion, because some immigrants Second, you can reprioritize, which and be prepared to wither away. would never give their names and means some things are added and My ideal self believes that be- addresses to a public institution, some things deleted. Third, secure coming a library responsive to or because of communication dif- outside funding through founda- multicultural needs continues the ficulties with administration and tions, grants, etc. My library sys- tradition of the library’s role in so- staff. In addition, time and energy tem has been able to partner with ciety and in the community as a constraints can limit visits to the ExxonMobil to buy children’s place where all can come to learn, library. Other problems include books in other languages, and two enjoy, and recreate. Simply recall the gap between what multicultur- ethnic communities — the Kore- the early history of the library: li- al customers need and available li- ans and Vietnamese — have raised braries have previously faced and brary services, cultural differences funds to purchase materials in met the challenge of responding to between customers and staff, and their native languages at library the new American successfully. cultural differences between vari- branches that serve their popula- Perhaps we just need to be re- ous potential customer groups. tions. minded of this. VL OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 15

A History of the Lynchburg Public Library

by Ken Morrison

n a chilly April after- noon in 1966, Lynch- burg’s leading citizens Oand hundreds of others gathered next to a bunting-and-balloon- draped building as the local high school band piped out the na- tional anthem and politicians talked the talk. The black high school’s concert band struck up a few tunes and the mayor cut the ribbon with oversized scissors. When it was over, the crowds pushed forward for the prize of the day — a public library card. In the next four hours, the new library’s users checked out 561 books. In those moments, in a scene replayed in many Southern towns, Lynch- burg’s racial divide began to close.1 Lynchburg this year celebrated its fortieth anniversary of that day, the beginning of its public library. In many ways the growth of the library has reflected the growth of the city. The library indeed had humble beginnings: eight thousand square feet on the third floor of a six-floor former warehouse that mostly housed the city’s maintenance de- Lynchburg’s ad hoc library committee worked against partment and was located behind segregationists to establish a true public library. the businesses facing the one-way Main Street. It was hard to find.2 homework assignments.3 It was Actually, efforts to start a public With room for seventy-five peo- quite a treat for those who’d had library in Lynchburg date back to ple, it was staffed by nine employ- almost nothing before. In its first 1822 when a literature and library ees, four of them professionally- eight months, the library circulat- company was incorporated by the trained librarians, including a part- ed 100,000 books.4 state legislature and fizzled.5 Other time reference librarian. But with a What took Lynchburg so long? efforts to start a public library start-up collection of 35,000 books, Neighboring Bedford has had a it didn’t take long before it was one library for more than a hundred of the big hits of the city, packed years, Roanoke and Charlottesville Ken Morrison is a reference librarian at on afternoons by youngsters doing for more than eighty. the Lynchburg Public Library. PAGE 16 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006

Today’s attractive facilities reflect a city committed to libraries. failed over the years. It was nearly (whom the Jones Library sent to li- 150 years before Lynchburg joined Many of the books brary school). She later won renown the public library fraternity. as a Harlem Renaissance poet and All that time, Lynchburg was available to black children colleague of Paul Laurence Dunbar not without a library. and W. E. B. Du Bois. There is some The George M. Jones Memorial were threadbare, evidence that Spencer may have Library opened in 1908 through a out of date, or both. trained at the Jones Library, which $50,000 grant from Mary Frances would have made her the first Jones with the stipulation that the African-American to use the city’s library was “wholly for the use of library facilities. At Dunbar, she white people without respect for Miller Park, at the west side Fort furnished many of her own books religious distinction.”6 Although Early Building, and at Paul Lau- to the library and conducted regu- at the time of its founding in 1908 rence Dunbar High School. In lar library classes, giving blacks ac- Jones Memorial Library was trum- the 1920s, the library got its first cess to books they could not have peted as the second oldest “public” professional administrator, Maud easily obtained elsewhere.11 After library in Virginia, nonwhites and Campbell, who brought much- World War II, the entire contents nonresidents were not allowed to needed organization to the libraries of the Dunbar Library, including use it. Blacks were forbidden to as she wheeled among them with a books and furniture, were donated even enter the building. limousine and a hired chauffeur.9 by Jones Memorial Library to the Mary Frances Jones was the Dunbar’s library was Lynch- school system.12 widow of George Morgan Jones, a burg’s answer to providing library Lynchburg was not alone in pro- Civil War soldier/land developer/ services to the black community. viding few library services for its philanthropist who originally con- Owen Cardwell Jr., one of two black citizens. Public library facili- ceived the idea of a library but died black students to integrate the ties for blacks in the South before before the project was started.7 white E. C. Glass High in 1962, 1940–50 were extremely limited. Mary Frances Jones was eccentric, remembers the time well. Many of Most college libraries did not allow to say the least, arranging books in the books available to black chil- African-Americans to use their fa- the library by color and leaving a dren were threadbare, out of date, cilities.13 note on the door that the library or both. “It was a terrible time for Not much changed until the was closed when she needed to take the education of young black chil- influx of northern industry in the a social junket for the weekend.8 dren,” said Cardwell when he spoke early 1950s. Lynchburg’s prosper- Jones Memorial Library was so at the library’s fortieth anniversary ity had always been based on its heavily used that it started three celebration last April.10 one dominant industry. Tobacco branch libraries: at the midtown Basically one room, the Dunbar was first. Just before the Civil Aviary Building in what is now Library was run by Anne Spencer War, its tobacco factories made OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 17

“I am actually looking forward to doing research in the library.”

Circulation grew quickly during the early years.

Lynchburg’s per capita income the They jumped into civic leadership Memorial Library for some reading second wealthiest in the country.14 roles and effectively penetrated the materials for her students. She was Then came textiles and shoes. city’s closed society. They changed turned away.18 Lynchburg was always dominated the social, political, and cultural The Virginia State Library of- socially and politically by the fabric of the city dramatically. One fered its support to the commit- guardians of old money emanating of the results was the rebirth of tee through its Demonstration from the smokestacks along the the idea of a tax-supported public Library Program. This program James River’s Lower Basin.15 library open equally to all citizens was designed to encourage the Between 1930 and 1950, and funded adequately to meet the establishment of public libraries Lynchburg grew by 7,000 to a city needs of a growing community.17 where none existed, with localities of 47,000. In the mid-1950s, Bab- In 1961, an Interim Committee providing the building, shelving, cock & Wilcox, a nuclear power for Citywide Library Services was and furniture in exchange for a company, and General Electric, formed, comprised mostly of col- starter collection of 25,000 books the mobile radio manufacturer, lege and school librarians, both and assistance in managing the moved to Lynchburg, both looking black and white. Their task became library’s staff for up to two years.19 for expanded markets and cheaper focused when Mary Breazeale, a In Lynchburg, the state urged the labor.16 GE alone brought 600 member of the committee and a formation of a metropolitan library families to Lynchburg. Many of reference librarian at Randolph- that would include Amherst and the newcomers were young, highly Macon Woman’s College, took the Campbell counties, but both de- educated professionals recruited director of the R-MWC nursery cided to form their own libraries.20 from outside the city and state. school, a Chinese woman, to Jones Opposition from Jones Memo- PAGE 18 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006

Lynchburg Public Library has long been a focal point for sharing across cultures.

Below, Lyn Dodge has led the library since 1974.

rial Library came swiftly. Jose- phine Wingfield, head librarian at Jones at the time, said of the idea of a public library, “Lynchburg already has more library facilities than any city of its size.” She noted that Dunbar “has a fine library” and that there were libraries at two Negro elementary schools.21 The library committee’s other opponent was the city’s newspa- per, the Lynchburg News & Daily Advance, run for years by Carter Glass, who had led the move to disenfranchise blacks at the 1900 Democratic State Convention.22 His newspaper had a powerful hold on the white community. Dr. Hey- wood Robinson, longtime pastor of Diamond Hill Baptist Church, said, “The newspaper was against free death notices for whites, but ther King Jr. spoke before a mixed everything that a black kid want- not for blacks (the policy wasn’t crowd at E. C. Glass High School in ed. Many white people were afraid changed until 1972). Photos of 1962, newspaper accounts stressed of it. The paper got its power from black brides were rejected and his link to communist organiza- being the voice of the commu- photographers were advised not to tions. There were cracks in the nity and that’s what’s so frighten- include black and white athletes in newspaper’s hard line, though, and ing about it.” The newspaper ran the same photo. When Martin Lu- it finally collapsed with the civil OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 19 rights movement in the mid-1960s or sixth speaker, a councilman after a group of black youngsters under public pressure from the threw up his hands and said, “Give showed up one day to swim.31 same group of citizens who formed those people what they want.” The Opening the library to people of the backbone of efforts to start a vote to support the demonstration all races was simply one barrier public library.23 library was unanimous. Even the that came down. In 1964, the Friends of the News & Advance finally waved the The city took over operation of Lynchburg Public Library formed white flag. An editorial stated, “The the demonstration library in July to spearhead efforts to encourage Friends of the Lynchburg Public Li- 1967. Jane Black became the first the city council to take advantage brary are about to remedy the city’s library director hired by the city in of the demonstration library op- grave cultural deficiency…. It is ex- 1968. She was succeeded by the cur- portunity. At the time, the Friends traordinary that Lynchburg does rent library director, Lynn Dodge, of the Library may have been the not have a free public library.”28 in 1974. Space quickly became the only such group in the country library’s biggest problem. The city without a library. The Lynchburg had provided funds for the library City Council said it would not to expand upward to the next floor back a public library unless it was Opening the library at its Main Street site. Children’s shown that there was sufficient to people of all races services, cataloging, and magazine public support.24 storage were moved into the reno- The Friends went to work. Their was simply one barrier vated 8,000-square-foot space. But theme was “A Library to Serve All soon that was not enough.32 Citizens.” Lynchburg was said to be that came down. The library’s master plan, de- the only city of its size in the coun- veloped in 1977, called for a more try without a true public library.25 centrally-located main library and A grassroots campaign involv- David Rowland, a thirty-five- branch libraries in the Boonsboro, ing numerous civic clubs and led year-old West Virginian, was the Timberlake, and downtown areas. by the Lynchburg Jr. Woman’s city’s first library director and pre- Only part of the wish list was ful- Club saturated the city with flyers sided over that festive occasion of filled. In 1981, the city council, and launched a door-to-door mem- April 16, 1966.29 As it turned out, after hearing a demand for a big- bership drive. More than 5,000 the library’s opening was one of a ger main library during the 1980 citizens paid the $1 dues. One vol- series of coming-of-age events for council election, voted two million unteer said, “A lot of them would the city, all springing from that tax dollars to transform the former invite us in and try to feed us. The cauldron of the turbulent sixties. Sears retail store in the Pittman struggle wasn’t getting in the door In short order, Lynchburg’s pub- Plaza shopping center into the but getting back out.”26 lic schools and three area colleges city’s central library.33 With 36,000 The first Friends of the Library were integrated. For the first time, square feet, it was more than twice Board of Directors was a true a black doctor could practice at the the size of the original library. The cross section of the community, local hospital (Dr. Walter Johnson new library opened in 1984, and representing “old” Lynchburg, its later became known as Arthur almost immediately the number of newcomers, the African-American Ashe’s first tennis coach). The busi- patrons and circulations doubled. community, and the business ness community also opened its A downtown branch library fol- community, with J. Burton Linker doors: Leggett’s department store lowed three years later.34 Jr. of General Electric as its first became the first retail business to In 1985, the Lynchburg Bar As- president. The Friends published hire black salespeople.30 sociation had asked the library their own newspaper. In an edito- It was not an easy fight. The to take over its law library. In rial, Linker stated his case: “What hospital opened its doors to blacks 1987, the law library and the new we are losing beyond money and primarily because it was threat- downtown branch combined and losing irretrievably cannot be ened with losing its Medicare opened in 1987 in the lower level counted or measured: knowledge, benefits. There were several other of City Hall. At the time it opened, pleasure, opportunity and future flashpoints: a sit-down at the- Pat the branch library was called “the excellence.”27 terson’s Drug Store whites-only 7-11 of libraries,” designed for In March 1965, thirteen promi- lunch counter saw six local college quick stops by downtown workers nent business and civic leaders (all students arrested. The S&W Caf- to check out a bestseller, get a pa- male) spoke before the city coun- eteria reopened to all citizens after perback, or read a magazine.35 cil in a coordinated series of argu- a small incident there. The munici- The law library is supported by a ments for the library. After the fifth pal pools were closed and filled in $4 fee assessed in civil court cases, PAGE 20 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 bringing in $55,000 annually. In cords, it has moved to audiobooks, 10 Ron Brown, “Celebrating a Mar- addition to serving the legal com- videos, CDs, DVDs, and MP3s. The velous Growth,” Lynchburg News & munity, the law library provides Friends also sponsor Lynchburg Advance, April 8, 2006, sec. B; and citizens with help in writing wills, Reads, a community-wide reading Lynchburg News & Advance, “Library filing for divorce, etc. Inmates at program that has brought authors a Good Reflection of City’s Growth,” April 16, 2006, sec. C. nearby Blue Ridge Regional Jail James McBride, David Baldacci, 11 J. Lee Greene, Time’s Unfading send written requests for legal in- Orson Scott Card, and Sharyn Mc- Garden: Anne Spencer’s Life and Poetry formation, and a legal bibliographic Crumb to Lynchburg. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univer- 36 instruction class is taught there. Nearly 150 people use the li- sity Press, 1977), 83-87. Also in 1987, Jones Memorial Li- brary’s public Internet computers 12 Doyle, 15. brary moved from its deteriorating daily. More than 6,000 have at- 13 Greene, 88. 1908 Rivermont Avenue building tended free computer classes in the 14 Steven Elliott Tripp, Yankee Town, to the Sears library building’s sec- Gates PC Lab. Through its summer Southern City (New York: New York ond floor. Its primary focus today reading and numerous other pro- University Press, 1977), 8-11. 15 is on genealogy and local history grams that foster a love of reading, James Elson, Lynchburg, Virginia: research. Its genealogical collec- the youth services department has The First Two Hundred Years, 1786-1986 (Lynchburg: Warwick House, 2004), tion is regarded as one of the best brought in new young readers for 389-400; and Darrell Laurant, A City 37 in the state. generations. The library’s outreach Unto Itself: Lynchburg, Virginia, in the In 1991, the Dr. Martin Luther program helps many seniors who 20th Century (Lynchburg: News & Daily King Jr. Center for Human Rights cannot come to the library. Advance, 1997), 94-111. opened at the Lynchburg Public Li- All this in just forty years. The 16 Laurant, City Unto Itself, 94-111. brary, resolving a fifteen-year strug- next forty should be just as amaz- 17 Doyle, 16. gle to honor the civil rights leader. ing. 18 Ibid. Ironies of ironies, this struggle had 19 Lynchburg News, “Library Open- ing Set in February,” January 13, 1966, included one proposal to rename Notes the Lynchburg Public Library the sec. B. 1 20 Martin Luther King Jr. Public Li- Ann Frye, “Combined Library Ser- Doyle, 16. 21 Lynchburg News, “Jones Memo- brary. After a firestorm of opposi- vice Proposed, Lynchburg News & Daily Advance, April 17, 1966, sec. C. rial Librarian Blasts New Library Idea,” tion, the concept for the MLK Cen- 2 Pat Doyle, “The Lynchburg Public May 2, 1961. ter for Human Rights was born. Library Celebrates Its Fortieth Birth- 22 Darrell Laurant, “Newspapers Designed as a living, educational day,” Lynch’s Ferry, Fall-Winter 2005-6, Treated Blacks with Disdain,” Lynchburg memorial to King, the Dr. Martin 17. News & Daily Advance, September 9, Luther King Jr. Lynchburg Com- 3 Lynchburg News & Advance, “Li- 1990, sec. A. munity Council was established by brary Opening Set in February,” Janu- 23 Elson, 410-422. the Lynchburg City Council. The ary 13, 1966, sec. B. 24 Doyle, 16-17. group relies solely on donations 4 Gene Hansley, “Library Big Hit,” 25 Lynchburg Public Library Newsletter, and grants to provide annul ex- Lynchburg News, November 20, 1966, “Library History,” November/Decem- hibits on local, state, and national sec. D. ber 2004. 5 26 Doyle, 17. civil and human rights issues.38 Doyle, 15. 6 Jeni Sandberg, “Mrs. George M. 27 Ibid. Forty years is but a speck in the Jones and Her Monumental Reality,” 28 Doyle, 18. history of librarianship in Virginia, Lynch’s Ferry, Spring/Summer 1994, 36- 29 Frye. but changes since that first day in 39. 30 Laurant, City Unto Itself. 1966 have been enormous. Today’s 7 Cynthia T. Pegram, “Jones Me- 31 Elson, 410-422. Lynchburg Public Library has more morial: An Open Book of History,” 32 Doyle, 18. than 29,000 borrowers, averages Lynchburg News & Daily Advance, Octo- 33 Ibid. 800 visitors a day, and checks out ber 9, 1982, sec. C. 34 Marie Gresock-Elium, “Reading more than 500,000 items a year. A 8 Darrell Laurant, “Keeping up with Up: Plaza Proved Boon for City’s Li- volunteer program established by the Joneses,” Lynchburg News & Daily brary,” Lynchburg News, July 8, 1986, the Friends of the Library numbers Advance, September 21, 2003, sec. B; sec. B; and Molly Roper Jenkins, “Li- brary Offers Volumes,” Lynchburg News more than 100 volunteers who in and The Jones Memorial Library Report, “A Man and His Dream,” 2003, 1. & Daily Advance, February 25, 1996, 2006 provided almost 3,200 hours 9 Faye Campbell Read Kaynor, “A sec. B. of service. The Friends also raised Most Progressive Woman: Lynchburg’s 35 Doyle, 18. money to allow the library to con- Librarian Maud Campbell,” Randolph- 36 Ibid. tinue its journey into new formats. Macon Woman’s College Alumnae Bulle- 37 Laurant, “Keeping Up.” 1 From 33 ⁄3 phonographs and re- tin, December 1986, 16-20. 38 Doyle, 19. VL OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 21

Virginia Reviews

Reviews prepared by staff members of the Library of Virginia Sara B. Bearss, Editor

A. Roger Ekirch. At Day’s fort, as did outside lanterns, and in- Close: Night in Times Past. door candles, oil lamps, and slivers New York: W. W. Norton of burning candlewood. Thieves & Company, 2005. xxxii and burglars were discouraged, + 447 pp. ISBN 0-393-05089-0. while domestic life thrived after $25.95 (hardcover). ISBN 0- sunset, when darkness for many 393-32901-1. $16.95 (softcover). persons meant a surcease from At Day’s Close explores “the his- labor and families gathered around tory of nighttime in Western soci- … night has always … open hearths and chimney fire- ety before the advent of the Indus- places. For many, this was a time, trial Revolution.” It is a highly orig- held terrors for too, for solitude and prayer. Indi- inal account of a topic on which humankind … viduals ventured out, of course, on little formal study has been done. one errand or another, navigating The physical territory taken on by EKIRCH REVIEW the hazardous and blackened land- the author is impressive, embracing scape to visit neighbors or conduct most of western Europe, from Scan- business. Later, in the eighteenth dinavia to the Mediterranean Sea. ed time, these fears have found ex- century, urban areas began in At Day’s Close delves most deeply pression in our literature, often in small ways to make public spaces into the study of nighttime in the fantastic fashion. The author liber- accessible after nightfall. Gradually British Isles while also incorporat- ally quotes from these rich sources. night became a time of liberation, ing materials from early North For the Greeks, nighttime was the when the social constraints gov- America and eastern Europe. The domain of demons. Biblical writ- erning daytime behavior yielded timeframe is equally expansive, ers frequently distinguished be- to more adventurous pursuits. ranging from the later Middle Ages tween darkness that deceived, and With artificial light came the op- to the early nineteenth century, light, which brought forth clarity portunity to rest and enjoy social but focusing most closely on the and truth, the preeminent expres- pastimes such as playing cards, eat- period from 1500 to 1750. Each of sion of which is found in the Gos- ing, drinking, and, for some, read- the book’s twelve chapters is, in its pel of John the Apostle, in which ing and enjoying music. Diarists way, a nocturnal journey into the Jesus declares: “I am the light of frequently recorded such activities, mystery of darkness, how human the world.” For the superstitious, staying up until after midnight beings regarded it, and how they night was the province of ghosts, in the privacy of their homes or functioned within its confines. werewolves, goblins, and witches, at inns and taverns. Lower orders As A. Roger Ekirch observes at creatures that took on convincing gathered at the public alehouse. the outset, night has always held form in folklore. Evil men also were Members of the aristocracy had terrors for humankind, beginning abroad during the sunless hours. the resources to indulge in lavish with our earliest ancestors who Both the religious and the secular nighttime pursuits such as balls, could not be certain that the hours spheres protected the community operas, concerts, and masquerades of blindness, when a veil was cast by regulating human behavior in with little regard for the inconve- over the very real dangers of the the hours after sundown through natural world, would be dispelled curfews, patrolling watchmen, and by the rising sun. Symbolic of the sentinels in church watchtowers. Sara B. Bearss is senior editor of the unknown, night preyed on the The use of fire as a wedge against Dictionary of Virginia Biography, pub- imagination. From earliest record- the darkness brought some com- lished by the Library of Virginia. PAGE 22 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 niences that nighttime customar- for all intents and purposes, been settlement focused on present-day ily imposed on other folk. eliminated. The potential conse- Canada, where John Cabot and Night also provided a seduc- quences, not only for humankind, Martin Frobisher had searched in tive curtain behind which pas- but also for the natural world, and vain for a Northwest Passage. In sion bloomed in the darkness like especially for that nocturnal world 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, armed a nocturnal flower. Maidens and that flourishes in the darkness, are with a patent from Queen Eliza- gallants rendezvoused in country sobering. beth, arrived in Newfoundland lanes and lay together in church- A finalist in the nonfiction cat- with more than two hundred men yards and cemeteries. Aristocrats egory of the annual Library of Vir- and laid claim to the area, despite and wealthy men of business ginia Literary Awards scheduled the presence of thirty-six fishing mingled in the streets with trades- vessels from other European na- men, pursuing prostitutes down tions. This attempt at settlement London streets. To a surprising de- … the most logical failed almost immediately, but it gree, the wives of prominent men inspired Sir Walter Ralegh — Gil- were able to escape the constraints explanation, he asserts, bert’s half-brother and a regular imposed on them and seek similar at the queen’s court — to pursue entertainments, venturing forth in is that they moved the endeavor elsewhere in North search of illicit affairs. Clergymen, to territory occupied America. too, succumbed to the temptations Ralegh planned his expedition of dissolute nightlife, and youths, by the Croatoans … amid a rapidly shifting political their ardor mixed with intoxicants, landscape. A Spanish rise to domi- joined in jealous, and sometimes LOKER REVIEW nance, fueled by treasure the Cath- fatal, frays. olic nation routinely shipped home Gas lighting in the nineteenth from the West Indies, coincided century invested nighttime streets for October 2006, this fascinating with the aftermath of the Refor- with the safety formerly reserved and beautifully written narrative mation and destabilized interna- for daytime and dramatically ex- should find a special place on the tional relations in western Europe. tended daylight activities late into Virginia bookshelf. England, without a large navy, night. As labor and recreation ex- — reviewed by Donald W. Gunter, employed private ships and sea- tended into the later hours, the pri- Assistant Editor, Dictionary of Vir- men to conduct its foreign policy, vacy and quiet traditionally found ginia Biography which often amounted to a system during darkness diminished. With of legalized piracy in which Eng- greater activity came increased lishmen robbed Spanish vessels of crime and greater police presence. Aleck Loker. Walter Ralegh’s their riches. These raids were quite The social oversight common dur- Virginia: Roanoke Island lucrative for ship owners, captains, ing daylight hours began to rule and the Lost Colony. Wil­ and crew members, as the crown nighttime hours as well. With the liamsburg, Va.: Solitude took only twenty percent of the advent of electric lighting, night Press, 2006. iv + 165 pp. ISBN 1- yield. Mariners therefore found has gradually yielded much of its 928874-08-8. $16.95. (softcover). privateering expeditions more domain, eclipsed by the glare of During the first half of the six- rewarding than the prospect of artificial illumination. teenth century, seafaring repre- shuttling settlers and supplies to Of particular interest is Ekirch’s sentatives of Portugal, Spain, and North America; this enticement, examination of preindustrial so- France vied for geopolitical supe- coupled with the growing threat ciety’s segmented sleep patterns, riority by establishing outposts in of the Spanish Armada, meant that when it was commonplace for the Americas. As explorers claimed colonization was not a priority as persons to sleep for several hours territory for their monarchs, ad- Ralegh sought to fulfill the patent and then rise in the dark to visit vanced their religious interests, he received in 1584. neighbors, smoke, indulge in love- and extracted valuable commodi- After hearing positive reports making, or write in their diaries or ties, conflict frequently erupted. about Roanoke Island from a re- journals for an hour or so before Piracy flourished on the seas. It is connaissance party, Ralegh dis- returning to bed to finish their in this context, Aleck Loker con- patched five ships to the coast of sleep. He speculates on how the tends, that England’s first, unsuc- present-day North Carolina in natural rhythms of sleep have been cessful attempts at “New World” 1585. The colony’s roughly one altered and raises the disquieting colonization must be understood. hundred men, under the leader- specter of a time when night has, England’s earliest efforts at ship of governor Ralph Lane, were OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 23 to secure the area, conduct agricul- ship, the work is a useful synthe- for many years. Not a traditional tural experiments, explore the re- sis that offers little in the way of biography, his volume focuses gion, and gather marketable goods. reinterpretation. Serious students sharply on essential features of Early clashes with nearby tribes of of the era will be familiar with the Washington’s mind and character Native Americans created ongoing story presented here, but Walter that made him into the man that tension, and distractions in Eu- Ralegh’s Virginia is a solid introduc- he became. The author draws on a rope prevented the arrival of sup- tion to the topic for the general large body of scholarly analysis of ply ships and additional colonists. reader. Though the book contains Washington’s life and career, but About a year after their arrival, the a list of endnotes, the absence of he bases his own particularly well- Englishmen abandoned the settle- numbered notation within the text informed analysis on a close read- ment. Not to be denied, Ralegh ing of Washington’s own writings recruited another group of settlers and on what his contemporaries in hopes of establishing a new out- Henriques makes said about him and how he inter- post, this time on the Chesapeake acted with them. Bay. Led by the weak-willed John a persuasive case Washington had a limited for- White, this group — which includ- mal education, but he had a formi- ed women and children — found that Washington was dable mind and was very well-read itself at the mercy of a domineer- not a man of deep and informed about military and ing ship’s captain whose preoccu- political affairs. He had a passion pation with privateering led him religious faith… for order and system and efficiency, to drop them off in the summer and he was a man of honor and in- of 1587 at Roanoke rather than at HENRIQUES REVIEW tegrity and of ambition for honor- their intended destination. able fame. He was the sum of those Because the 115 colonists were parts, and he put all of them into not where they were supposed to makes consulting them a cumber- everything that he did, including be, White returned to England to some process. being head of a family, general of report their location. War with — reviewed by Jennifer R. Loux, an army, manager of a plantation, Spain, and an unfortunate en- Research Associate, Dictionary of master of slaves, and president of counter with French pirates, kept Virginia Biography the United States. Washington White in England for more than was a man of almost mythic status two years. His 1590 expedition en- even during his lifetime, but he countered an abandoned Roanoke Peter R. Henriques. Realis- was not the man of the myths that Island. The only clue to the settlers’ tic Visionary: A Portrait of later writers constructed. fate was the name of a local Indian George Washington. Char- Those who engage in hero wor- tribe, Croatoan, carved into a post, lottesville and London: ship may find themselves uncom- unaccompanied by the agreed-on University of Virginia Press, 2006. fortable with Peter R. Henriques’s symbol for distress. Foul weather, xv + 256 pp. ISBN 0-8139-2547-9. discussion of Washington’s owner- along with yet another impatient $26.95 (hardcover). ship of slaves and of his slow and ship’s captain, cut short the search The ten interrelated essays in possibly incomplete conversion for further evidence. Loker lists this volume provide one of the best to antislavery views. In what will several theories about the cause of and one of the most sensitively in- probably prove a controversial the settlers’ disappearance — Span- formed discussions of important chapter on Washington’s religious ish raiders captured them; Indians aspects of George Washington’s beliefs, Henriques makes a persua- killed them; illness or natural di- character and personality. The sive case that Washington was not saster struck — but the most logical essays treat Washington’s evolu- a man of deep religious faith or explanation, he asserts, is that they tion into a successful military and even a devout Christian, as those moved to territory occupied by the political leader, his relationships terms are generally understood Croatoans and eventually blended with his wife and family, his rela- these days. with various local tribes. tionships with Thomas Jefferson Washington was a man of his Loker, now retired after a ca- and Alexander Hamilton, and his times, and he should be understood reer with the United States Navy, attitudes and beliefs about religion as a man of the Enlightenment, has provided a broad overview of and slavery. not as a twentieth- or twenty-first- Ralegh’s efforts to establish a colo- The author is a retired professor century man or a man who stood ny in Roanoke. Based on primary of history at George Mason Univer- outside of time and historical sources and on previous scholar- sity and has studied Washington change. Henriques’s Realistic Vi- PAGE 24 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 sionary succeeds in portraying and Their happiness was marred by the the president’s widow. The book evaluating Washington in precisely deaths of their first two children, closes with a chapter that reiterates the right context. but the youngest two outlived their the facts of Martha’s life while ex- — reviewed by Brent Tarter, Editor, father. As a widow, Martha took up ploring some of her ideologies, in- Dictionary of Virginia Biography the management of her husband’s cluding her beliefs on slavery. Mar- estate instead of turning it over tha Washington: An American Life is to a male family member. With an excellent choice for any reader Patricia Brady. Martha the considerable fortune she con- interested in the Washingtons or Washington: An American trolled, Martha had much freedom the lives of the upper class at the Life. New York: Penguin in her choice of a new husband, in- end of the colonial period. Group, 2005. 276 pp. ISBN- cluding whether to have one at all. — reviewed by Maria Kimberly, 13: 978-0-670-03430-4. $24.95 Therefore, she was free to marry Project Editor (hardcover). ISBN-13: 978-0-143- George Washington for love. 03713-2. $15.00 (softcover). Martha Dandridge Custis Wash- Jean B. Lee, ed. Experienc- ington is immediately familiar to ing Mount Vernon: Eyewit- most readers as the wife of George … teenaged Martha ness Accounts, 1784–1865. Washington, but people rarely was able to change the Charlottesville and Lon- imagine her beyond her role as the don: University of Virginia Press, aged original First Lady. Martha’s mind of the seventy- 2006. xvii + 227 pp. ISBN 0-8139- own destruction of her correspon- 2514-2. $45.00 (hardcover). ISBN dence is the foremost reason be- year-old John Custis. 0-8139-2525-0. $19.95 (softcover). hind the obscurity of her private Even before the death of George BRADY REVIEW life. Using published editions of Washington, his Mount Vernon Martha’s surviving correspondence became a place of pilgrimage. as well as mentions of her in other While the general was alive, visi- people’s mail, newspapers, and a From the beginning of their tors came to meet the great man; variety of other primary sources, marriage, the Washingtons led a after his death, they came to visit Patricia Brady describes Martha very busy life, which Brady chroni- his grave, walk through the house as an intelligent, strong woman cles in an engaging narrative: their and grounds, and recall Washing- with a panache for sparkling con- love for Mount Vernon, the planta- ton’s many significant contribu- versation. Martha Washington: An tion they would always call home; tions to the founding of the na- American Life places this dynamic the births and deaths as well as tion. In 1860, the Mount Vernon woman in the society of Revolu- comings and goings of many fam- Ladies’ Association of the Union tionary America. ily members crossing four genera- purchased the house and grounds Martha Dandridge was the first tions; the moves of the family to from members of the Washington child of many born in a middling- be with George during the winter family to preserve the site for fu- to-wealthy colonial family. She encampments of the Revolution- ture generations of visitors. It was helped her mother with the young- ary War; and the eight long years the first such historic preservation er children and other household of his presidency in New York and project in the country. duties; studied basic reading, writ- Philadelphia, when both dreamed These forty or more excerpts ing, and arithmetic; and learned of their retirement to Mount Ver- from visitors’ accounts plus a few social deportment. At seventeen, non. Brady emphasizes the love be- documents composed by residents Martha caught the eye of Daniel tween the couple and repeats how at Mount Vernon present the va- Parke Custis, a man of the highest they detested being apart. She dis- riety of reactions that the visitors class of the colonial elite. Daniel’s cusses their disappointment in not experienced. All venerated Wash- father opposed the match, loudly having children of their own and ington for his military and politi- and in public. In a private meeting, their informal adoption of two of cal achievements, and many com- however, teenaged Martha was able Martha’s grandchildren. mented on his exemplary family to change the mind of the seventy- Brady depicts the president as life, but some also expressed admi- year-old John Custis. a family man and shows how he ration for his mansion house and Martha was happy in her mar- struggled, with Martha’s help, to his plantation management. As the riage to Daniel, a man twenty balance governmental, public, and nineteenth century progressed, a years her senior, and they quickly private duties. Included is Martha’s larger number of visitors comment- settled into a fashionable lifestyle. sadder, more private existence as ed on the presence of slavery at the OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 25 founding father’s home, reflecting rallied supporters to push for pas- amendments to the states for their the increasingly sensitive role of sage of the document as it stood. consideration. the South’s peculiar institution in His struggles to secure passage cul- Another potential showdown national sensibilities and politics. minated in Virginia’s ratification loomed in Virginia, where Patrick The editor has selected excerpts convention, where the soft-spoken Henry waited in the General As- that cover more than eighty years political theorist barely achieved sembly. Henry and his supporters, and come from famous men and his native state’s acceptance of the including Virginia’s two senators, women and from ordinary citizens. Constitution over the formidable did not think that the proposed She judiciously introduces each opposition of Patrick Henry. amendments went far enough in one but without more commentary Madison learned how fierce protecting rights. The political than is necessary to allow the visi- Henry’s opposition remained when landscape was shifting in Virginia, tors to speak for themselves. the latter thwarted Madison’s elec- however. Political maneuvering — reviewed by Brent Tarter, Editor, tion to the United States Senate between the opposing sides pro- Dictionary of Virginia Biography longed the debate over the new amendments until 1791, when the … the soft-spoken Virginia legislature finally accepted Richard Labunski. James them. With Virginia’s approval, the Madison and the Struggle political theorist first ten amendments — the Bill of for the Bill of Rights. Oxford Rights — were added to the United and New York: Oxford barely achieved his States Constitution. University Press, 2006. xii + 336 native state’s acceptance James Madison and the Struggle pp. ISBN 0-19-518105-0; ISBN-13: for the Bill of Rights chronicles Mad- 978-0-19-518105-0. $28.00 (hard- of the Constitution … ison’s epic fight not only for the cover). Constitution, but also for the Bill The story of James Madison as LABUNSKI REVIEW of Rights, which Americans now Father of the Constitution is an consider the essential statement of oft-told tale and has been recount- their liberties. In the face of stout ed ad nauseam in period histories and then oversaw the establish- resistance both at the state and the and “Little Jemmy” biographies. A ment of Virginia’s congressional national levels, Madison consis- reader must wonder if an original districts and placed Madison in a tently labored for a more perfect work could spring from this well- tough one. Madison overcame his Union. In Labunski’s volume, the worn ground. To his credit, Richard strong dislike of active campaign- diminutive Madison emerges as a Labunski has written a book with a ing and defeated his good friend giant. fresh angle, James Madison and the James Monroe to serve in the first — reviewed by Trenton E. Hizer, Struggle for the Bill of Rights. Other session of the United States House ­Senior Finding Aids Archivist works mention the passage of the of Representatives. Bill of Rights within the larger con- The events of the state ratifica- text of ratifying the Constitution tion convention and his race for Tom Lee. The Tennessee- and forming the federal govern- Congress convinced Madison that Virginia Tri-Cities: Urbani­ ment. Labunski focuses on the Bill amending the Constitution with zation in Appalachia, 1900– of Rights itself. a bill of rights was necessary. In 1950. Knoxville: Univer- Labunski recounts how Madison Congress, he introduced such a sity of Tennessee Press, 2005. xvi originally opposed a proposal made bill, only to discover opposition + 342 pp. ISBN 1-57233-334-0. at the 1787 constitutional conven- from Anti-Federalists who hoped $42.00 (hardcover). tion that would have included a bill for a second convention to radical- Anchored by Johnson City, of rights as part of the country’s ly alter the Constitution, and also Kingsport, and Bristol, Tennessee, new governing document. Even from his supposed allies, Federal- and Bristol, Virginia, the Appala- after some delegates refused to sign ist congressmen who contended chian valley region of northeast- the Constitution without a bill of that there was more important ern Tennessee and southwestern rights, Madison contended that work to be done in establishing the Virginia supports a population of such amendments were unneces- new federal government. Madison more than half a million people. sary. During the ensuing state rati- skillfully negotiated, brokered, and Such an urbanized, not to mention fication debates, critics decried the compromised to achieve the neces- industrialized, reality confounds lack of protection of rights in the sary two-thirds vote in both hous- southern Appalachian stereotypes Constitution, but Madison actively es of Congress to pass the proposed of rural hollers and small coal- PAGE 26 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 company towns. Tom Lee’s careful acerbated by New Deal programs, a $100,000 donation from philan- analysis of the emergence of this heightened the region’s economic thropist John D. Rockefeller Sr., the urban realm highlights the canny imbalances and left it vulnerable Curry Memorial School of Educa- town leaders and impersonal struc- to cyclical shocks. Business leaders, tion was founded to train teachers tural forces that opened the region in short, chose an understandable and administrators, support and up to business and transformed it path to industrial development, conduct education research, and from a predominantly agricultural but one that was bound to bring work with educational institutions to an industrial economy. diminishing returns. statewide. Eleanor Vernon Wilson, Town growth and economic Lee’s economic history of the an associate professor and alum- diversification followed a pattern Tri-Cities balances the impressive na, traces the development of the shared by much of the South. As accomplishments of the region’s Curry School of Education as it has in other areas, the construction of fulfilled these goals through the railroads linked the region to new twentieth century. markets, fueling economic growth Named for southern educa- and emboldening town elites to … the reliance on tional reformer Jabez Lamar Mon- exercise greater control over their low-wage, low-skill roe Curry, the school had its roots hinterlands. Appalachia, of course, in the university’s nineteenth- had much sought-after natural manufacturing locked ­century summer teacher programs, resources, and initially railroads which had been organized after stimulated largely extractive en- the Tri-Cities into a the establishment of a state pub- deavors. Towns such as Bristol and persistent game lic school system required better Johnson City took advantage of teacher training. During the Curry their prominence along rail-lines of catch-up. School’s first year, two professors and became key transportation taught courses such as History of and processing centers. As the LEE REVIEW Education and Principles of Educa- growth potential of extractive in- tion to seven undergraduates and dustries began to wither, however, four graduate students. A $40,000 business leaders worked to attract movers and shakers with a sober- donation from the Peabody Educa- manufacturers. Low-wage workers ing analysis of the inadequacies tion Fund helped finance the con- became their chief selling point. of an economic philosophy that struction of a building, and in 1914 Instead of extracting coal and tim- privileges low wages. It should Peabody Hall was completed. ber from the highland areas, town become the standard account of In 1920 the program became a elites now extracted workers, who, urban development in southern degree-granting department with- finding semi-subsistence agricul- Appalachia. in the university. John L. Mana- ture increasingly nonviable, wel- — reviewed by William Bland han was appointed the first dean comed the opportunity and excite- Whitley, Editorial Research Fellow, of the renamed Curry Memorial ment found in the city. Northern Dictionary of Virginia Biography Department of Education. During and European industrialists also his twenty-nine-year tenure, he liked what they saw. Textile and put the school on firm ground as chemical plants soon dominated Eleanor Vernon Wilson. enrollment increased and the cur- the area’s economy. The Curry School of Educa- riculum was augmented. Manahan Yet, as Lee documents, the reli- tion at the University of Vir- also established working relation- ance on low-wage, low-skill manu- ginia, 1905–2005: Preparing ships with school superintendents facturing locked the Tri-Cities Men and Women for Leadership in and the state board of education, into a persistent game of catch-up. Scientific Educational Work. Char- fostered teacher training based on Lacking sufficient capital for the lottesville: University of Virginia scientific methods, worked to im- creation of value-added, less labor- Press, distributed for the Curry prove access for women in gradu- ­intensive enterprises, the urban School of Education Founda- ate programs, and expanded the elite continued to attract certain tion, 2006. viii + 150 pp. ISBN 0- department’s Bureau of Appoint- kinds of factories but could not 9776312-0-6. $29.95 (hardcover). ments, which assisted students in prepare the area for the challenges Soon after Edwin Anderson Al- securing teaching positions. associated with post-industrializa- derman was inaugurated as the Through chronological chap- tion. The elite’s neglect of rural first president of the University of ters, Wilson describes how each of areas (other than as a source of Virginia in 1905, he sought to es- Manahan’s successors has contrib- low-wage workers), a neglect ex- tablish a school of education. With uted to the Curry School’s growth. OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 27

Lindley J. Stiles (1949–1955) devel- mote research, and support edu- The Virginia Genealogical Soci- oped the first graduate degree pro- cational institutions and organiza- ety also continues the valuable grams and supervised the organi- tions across the commonwealth. series Cavaliers and Pioneers: zation of the Bureau of Educational —reviewed by John G. Deal, Assis- Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents Research, designed to conduct and tant Editor, Dictionary of Virginia and Grants with the publication promote educational research. Biography of Volume 8, covering the years Ralph W. Cherry (1956–1968) di- 1779–1782 and edited by Dennis rected the introduction of a special Ray Hudgins (Richmond: Virginia Virginia Bookends education program and accredita- Genealogical Society, 2005. xxxii tion by the National Council for Genealogists and those study- + 412 pp. ISBN 1-888192-14-3. Accreditation of Teacher Education, ing local history eagerly look $30.00). This volume abstracts as well as assisted in school integra- forward to the appearance of ad- Grant Books A through F and tion throughout the state. Freder- ditional volumes in Wesley E. Pip- includes an introduction that ick R. Cyphert (1968–1974) tripled penger’s Index to Virginia Estates, reprints the legislation enacting the size of the faculty, and Richard 1800–1865. This series, begun in the Land Office. Three more vol- M. Brandt (1974–1984) helped cre- 2001, attempts the monumental umes are projected to complete the ate the Curry School Foundation. task of indexing all items recorded abstracting through June 1786. During the term of James M. Coo- in city or county will books dur- per (1984–1994), students could ing the first two-thirds of the History enthusiasts who pre- begin earning a bachelor’s degree nineteenth century. Volume 6 fer to make their road trips and a master’s degree in teaching (Richmond: Virginia Genealogical with guidebooks in hand will in five years (now the standard Society, 2005. xxiii + 572 pp. ISBN enjoy Randell Jones’s In the Foot- preparatory degree for educators). 1-888192-35-6. $40.00) covers the steps of Daniel Boone (Winston- Since 1995, David W. Breneman counties of Augusta and Rock- Salem, N.C.: John F. Blair, Pub- has maintained the growth of the ingham and the city of Staunton. lisher, 2005. xxviii + 244 pp. ISBN Curry School, which has become Volume 7 (Richmond: Virginia 0-89587-308-7. $14.95 [softcover]). predominantly a graduate-degree Genealogical Society, 2006. xxix The author provides an entertain- institution with an enrollment of + 674 pp. ISBN 1-888192-36-4. ing guide to eighty-five sites associ- more than 1,200 students. $40.00) covers Amelia, Brunswick, ated with the famous explorer and Wilson contextualizes the evo- Cumberland, Goochland, Lunen- his family in Florida, Kentucky, lution of the school with larger burg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, state and national issues such as Powhatan, and Prince Edward North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylva- teacher training methods, racial Counties. Organized alphabeti- nia, Tennessee, Virginia, and West integration of public educational cally, each one-line entry includes Virginia. Jones offers detailed driv- institutions, and the full entrance the personal name, city or county, ing instructions for getting to the of women into academia. The au- type of account (will, inventory, sites, but the three sketchy state- thor also illustrates how the Curry sale, trust account, license, guard- level maps are inadequate for help- School of Education begins its next ian or executor’s bond, power of at- ing travelers find their way. hundred years still striving to pre- torney), year, and source citation. — bookend notes prepared by Sara pare educators, conduct and pro- B. Bearss VL PAGE 28 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006