TR V52n1and2 Spring-Fall 1993.Pdf (3.860Mb)

Sprfng/Fall 1993 Volume 52 Numbers 1 and 2 e ReCOl}~ A Newsletter • Friends of the Library • Washington State University N ew Addition to the Family of Libraries From what was described in August 1990 at the ground-breaking ceremo nies for the new Holland Library addition as "the largest and deepest hole the campus has ever seen" has arisen a distinctive, new libraly build ing. The hole is no longer a hole. In its place is a new addition to the Pullman campus library scene. The five-stOlY structure has a total gross floor space of 290,000 square feet. Approximately 200,000 (gross), 140,000 (net) will be for libraly use (the three upper levels), with the two lower levels being used for parking. The roof plaza, a landscaped outdoor public area, provides a striking view to the north, Kamiak Butte and the Palouse. Bookstacks are being erected, and furniture installation will begin soon. Occupancy will take place early in May. About half of the collection currently housed in Holland will be moved into the addition. Nearly all of the services currently offered in Hol land will move into the new facility. Dedication of the new $37 million structure has been set for the after noon of Friday, August 26 of 1994. The Friends of the LibralY will be provided with more detailed infor mation later in the year. Photos by Randall E. Hamm. A Plea for Preservation: Beginning with the Past The sometimes slow, sometimes rapid, but always inevitable deterio ration of the collections in the librar ies at Washington State University is not a problem faced only by our selves. Recent survey results in the United States and abroad indicate that 80 percent of the books in re search collections in this country are printed on self-destructive acid pa per; 30 percent are regarded as be yond redemption. Germany and Switzerland have about the same proportion of deterioration. Sweden and England report somewhat lower rates. In some countries-Italy and Spain, for example-the extent ofthe problem has not been well assessed.* It is perhaps useful to remind ourselves that books as information carriers were always subject to natu ral and forcible destruction. Natural The successful efforts ofour conser deterioration-fading inks, disinte vator have made these four books grating bindings, foxing, cockling, or accessible to readers once again. crumbling paper-is largely depen dent on the material used. The tech nological marvel of the 19th century which brought forth cheap, mass produced, highly acid paper increased the access to the intellectual content of the printed book, but at a price. with acid-retaining paper produced Machine-produced paper, unfortu in the 19th and 20th centuries, three nately, bears the seeds of its own methods of preservation appear to destruction. As a result, both the be possible: mass deacidification, film artistic value and the stability of the ing, and machine-readable digitizing artifacrual carrier-the book or the (full text storage). All methods and manuscript-have been decreased. procedures are costly. To the internal dangers must be A long-time friend of the WSU added the external ones which we all Libraries, who chooses to remain know: dampness, excessive heat, anonymous, has made a commit environmental pollution, vermin, fire, ment of $6,000 for the year 1994 to earthquakes, and other devastating assist with the preservation of books catastrophes. Use itself can damage and manuscripts and other rare and books and other library materials, if unique materials. Her commitment too careless or casual, at the reader's for the new year follows her dona desk or the photocopier. nizations to finding ways to preserve tion of $3,000 made in 1993 for the The choices facing a growing num the information created in the past same purpose. ber of libraries, archives, museums, which is in danger of being lost come What does this mean to us in the historical societies, and similar orga down to two, essentially: preserva libraries and to the world of scholar tion of the original, or transfer to ship generally at WSU? Does it mean another medium, e.g., film or an that we can expect this concerned • The Commission on Preservation electronic medium. Some books and and generous donor will continue and Access. Preserving the Intellec documents must be preserved in origi supporting our preservation efforts tual Heritage: A Report ofthe Bellagio nal form because they have scholarly incrementally and bring her level of Conference, June 7-10, 1993. Octo value as objects as well as for the support to $12,000 in 1995? Probably ber 1993. information they contain. For books not. What it does mean is that while The construction ofprotective enclo sures, such as the drop-front clamshell box shown here, is sometimes part of the preservation procedure. the need for the preservation and most grateful. Her commitments have stmction burning in our stacks. You conservation of our resources is ever permitted and will permit us to buy can help by deSignating your dona present and, in fact, is growing, our supplies and retain the services ofour tions to the Friends of the LibralY for ability to fund such a program by conservator-a highly qualified preservation purposes, or by making means of state allocations alone is worker with, unfortunately, only tem a special contribution to assist with becoming increasingly more diffi poraly-employee status-for another our conservation efforts. Remember cult, if not impossible. year. Her commitment alone, how that preservation means access to Our anonymous donor has rec ever, is not enough. recorded knowledge. Without the ognized our plight and has chosen The libraries need the concern and one we cannot have the other to help us in a velY concrete and commitment of others to help bring without preservation we cannot have tangible manner, for which we are under control the slow fires of de- access. Congressional Papers at WSU Ceremonies in Manuscripts, Archives of papers of all six representatives and Special Collections (MASC) , in were on display in MASC in October. Holland Library in October, marked These collections contain the per the donation by former United States sonal letters, diaries, office corre Congressman Sid Morrison of his spondence, scrapbooks, photo personal Congressional papers to graphs, oral histories, and other his the University. torical materials that supplement and Morrison, now Secretary ofTrans enrich the official records of House porration in Governor Lowry's ad committees in the National Archives ministration, graduated from WSU in in Washington, D.C., and the vast 1954 with a degree in horticulture. Former congressman Sid Morrison official printed record of acts of Con After serving 14 years in the Wash and Nancy Baker, director oflibrar gress, hearings, debates, investiga ington State Senate and House of ies. tions, and other Congressional activi Representatives, he was elected to ties. The collections reveal not only the 97th Congress in 1980 and repre the legislative work of Congress, but sented the Fourrh District for 12 60 years of history. The collections of also provide insights into the lives years. Congressional papers include those and careers of the representatives With the addition of Morrison's of Mike McCormack, another WSU themselves. papers 050 archival boxes), Wash alumnus 0970-1980); Catherine May Remarks delivered by President ington State University Libraries now Bedell, the first woman representa Samuel Smith, Director of Libraries holds the papers ofsix eastern Wash tive from Washington 0959-1969); Nancy Baker, and Professor (of his ington congressmen and women Hal Holmes 0943-1958); Walt Horan tOIY) David Stratton emphasized the whose service to their constituents in 0943-1965); and Knute Hill 0933 importance of such records for stu the Fourth and Fifth Districts spans 1943), Selections from the collections dents, faculty, and researchers. "With out such records there can be no accurate history of the first branch of government and those representing Honoring a Commitment to WSU us," Smith said. "The importance of the preservation and accessibility of The reading-research began his teaching career at WSC in such records is obvious: we can all room in Manuscripts, 1952. He helped to reshape the math benefit from the remarkable story Archives and Special curriculum in the 1960s and more these records provide, the story of Collections' suite in recently played a key role in the representative government under the the new library addi University's initiatives on general edu Constitution of the United States." tion will be named cation reform. Following the ceremony, Morrison , for Professor Donald Named vice-provost for instruc met with students and faculty from ,~ Bushaw, who retired tion in 1986, he was described by Political Science. The day's activities Donald Bushaw in August after serv Provost Tom George as "probably concluded with a dinner in the ing Washington State our strongest voice at the University evening which included an address Uni versity for 41 for promotion ofexcellence in teach by Thomas Mann, who holds the years as a member of the faculty and ing." Described by others as WSU's Averell Harriman Chair at the academic administration. 20th-century renaissance man, Brookings Institution in Washington, Actually, Bushaw's association with Bushaw is well-known to library per D.C. the University spanned halfa century, sonnel, having served as acting direc beginning in 194.3 when he enrolled tor of libraries on two occasions, as a freshman at the State College of once in 1984-85 and again in 1989 Washington. A mathematician, he 90. Notable Gifts and Acquisitions Media Materials Services (formerly enth Seal, documentaries such as Diseases ofHorses & Cattle, a scarce Instructional Media Services) recently Northwest Visionaries, a poltrait of work printed in both English and obtained more than 1,000 16mm films Northwest artists, and The lVobblies, German in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from the King County Public Library a documentalY about the I.W.W.

Load more