Annotations.5.2.05

A nnotations C ENTRAL U NIVERSITY L IBRARIES AT S OUTHERN M ETHODIST U NIVERSITY • V OLUME VI, NUMBER 2, SPRING 2005 INSIDE Whither the Book? Prologue to a renovation: By Geoffrey C. Orsak, Dean of School of Engineering Architects’ drawings set stage Railroad3 artifacts Do you remember when you first heard the word? Here’s my story: for library transformation track Western I was attending an international academic meeting in 1990 in n extreme makeover is underway at Fondren Library, but expansion ~ Yosemite National Park. Because of untimely weather, the con- Aunlike the television show, it will take much longer than seven In the news ference’s hiking expedition was postponed. Fortunately, one of days to complete. the attendant luminaries Architects, library staff and board members, faculty, and stu- spontaneously organized dents are examining the first sets of architectural drawings and Mentor4 to future filmmakers a special session in which visualizing changes that will transform Fondren, Science and ~ Check it out he was going to “demo” Engineering, and DeGolyer libraries into a connected, cohesive ~ this new thing called the library quad. Remember the ladies World Wide Web. The “We are rethinking everything,” says Dean and Director of Cen- session was billed as a tral University Libraries Gillian McCombs. The new plans will make the library more of a central focus on From Hildegard5 to view into the future – a Madonna place full of new bold campus, says Michael Lusztig, assistant professor of political sci- ~ Tables of Content ideas. Yes, new was in and ence and chair of the Faculty Senate subcommittee on libraries. ~ Geoffrey Orsak “We have a get-in and get-out library now,” he says. Welcome New old was out. Friends Of course, once our popular culture got hold of the Internet, Students unanimously expressed their support for the project there was no end in sight to the wildly speculative proclama- in a resolution passed by the Student Senate last spring, 6 tions of its vast social and economic impact. Editorial boards stating their dissatisfaction with the condition of the Visit vaudeville of major newspapers library’s facilities. “A university’s central library, through ...you bibliophiles can now exhale, more than its sports facilities, its grounds, or its historic films were scrambling to ~ flora, is the true landmark by which the intellec- Faculty ensure their contin- the book does indeed appear tual heart of a university is often judged,” states Recognition Day ued relevance in this safe for our foreseeable future. new “information age.” the resolution. Wild eyed entrepreneurs even set out to sell dog food with the click “As a faculty member, I would like to see 7 the library as a place that is welcoming Silver celebration of a mouse. And the book, well there were countless obituaries ~ and comfortable for students,” says David Farmer leads penned in honor of this now seemingly passé romantic institution. Santa Fe and Steve Sverdlik, associate professor of phi- While engineers have been remarkably successful in bringing Taos tour losophy and a two-year member of ~ ever more power to the Internet, these past five years have shown In memoriam the library renovation planning that, with all due apologies to Alan Greenspan, there was indeed a committee. great deal of “irrational exuberance” to our early love affair with The heart of the University The 8 the Web. So, as it seems, you bibliophiles can now exhale, the Events and exhibits three main buildings that compose ~ book does indeed appear safe for our foreseeable future. Library directory Fondren Library Center will be con- Well, wait just a minute. As you may have recently heard, nected and resources will be organized Google just made public the secret details of “Project Ocean,” an to be more user- and staff-friendly. The ambitious effort to digitize millions of volumes of books from five Information Commons will be ex- of the world’s leading research libraries, including those of Har- panded and the Center for Teaching vard, Stanford, and Oxford. The sum total of most of human Excellence will be located near aca- thought is to go live and online within the coming years. While demic resources. continued on page 2 continued on page 2 1 A nnotations Prologue to a renovation continued from page 1 The Center for Teaching Excellence will be located near other academic resources, “a natural blend,” says Ron Wetherington, direc- Study ’round the clock Library planners are considering desig- tor, Center for Teaching Excellence. nating the entire first floor as a secure, 24-hour study area. Climate control A renovated HVAC system with humidity con- Historic inspiration In the 1940s and ‘50s the Stanley Marcus trols will preserve library resources and create a comfortable cli- Reading Room in DeGolyer Library was the primary study area for mate for library patrons. undergraduate students with its high ceilings, oak-paneled walls, Room to grow A major portion of this library renovation is and bas relief ceiling sculptures depicting scenes from classic lit- expected to be complete when SMU celebrates its centennial in erature. Now reserved for scholars using special collections, the 2011, but the new space must include allowances for future collec- reading room again will become a student study area. tion growth, McCombs says. Print collections grow by an average Technology trends Online journals and digitized special collec- of 2 percent each year, and space must be available to accept new tions are only the beginning of changes that technology is bring- special collections, such as the 10,000-volume Stanley Marcus col- ing to academic libraries, says Carole Wedge, architect and lection recently acquired by DeGolyer Library, she says. president of Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott. The renova- McCombs welcomes input on library plans. To submit ideas on tion is designed to be flexible to accommodate changes required the library renovation, e-mail her at [email protected] or call by future developments in technology. her at 214-768-2400. New spaces The new library will include many “ambiences” for different users, McCombs says. A large, casual information com- A preliminary sketch of the library renovation depicts Fondren, mons and café will be a gathering place. Quiet, no-cell-phone zones Science and Engineering, and DeGolyer libraries as intercon- for study also are planned. Areas for group and solitary study, nected buildings. exhibits, and a media gallery are included in the preliminary design. Whither the Book? continued from page 1 and cataloging books and monographs. Great libraries like ours, there are still real engineering challenges to be faced, and real and the people that run and support them, serve to sift out the copyright issues to be resolved, the successful completion of Pro- chatter from higher thought and genuine scholarship. And if we ject Ocean will change both our notion and our use of libraries and include the anonymous experts hired by the publishing houses to books forever. review and edit new books together with the various faculty com- So to the question at hand – what is to become of “the library” mittees who assist with acquisition decisions - our great university and “the book” in this new era? libraries will continue to represent our highest standards in ideas, Simply put, why go to the expense of publishing and marketing opinion, culture, and reason. the great American novel or spending millions on building great So, yes – the typical “library” of the distant future may yet be and deep collections if it is just all going to be scanned in for the nothing more than a computer terminal in the hands of a user, but world to read (at a price yet to be determined)? the great library and the great book will always endure and will To me, libraries have always been about more than archiving always serve as our culture’s living repository of the best that the life of the mind has to offer. 2 A nnotations Railroad artifacts track Western expansion istorians have long portrayed the Southern Pacific Railroad Mexico, San Antonio, and Arizona with illustrations by widely- H as a steaming octopus that engulfed everything in its path. A known commercial and fine artists. new exhibit from DeGolyer Library’s vast railroad collection pres- “Railroads made travel possible for ordinary people,” Orsi ents another view of the legendary railroad. says. “Before railroads, travel was difficult and expensive. The “Southern Pacific Railroad: ‘The Road of a Thousand Southern Pacific was instrumental in promoting travel to places in Wonders’” borrows its title from the railroad’s 1910 the West such as Yosemite and Crater Lake national parks, as well travel slogan. Through one-of-a-kind photographs, rare as the Alamo and missions in San Antonio.” train models, travel posters, cookbooks, and brochures, Orsi has spent several weeks over the last two years conduct- the exhibit March 31 through June 10 explains the rail- ing research for his book at DeGolyer. “The Southern Pacific col- road’s role in the development of the American West. lection at DeGolyer is one of the best in the world,” Orsi says. “It The Southern Pacific Railroad in has a magnificent photograph collection of images that can’t be 1881 became the second transconti- found anywhere else.” nental railroad, the only U.S. rail- The exhibit includes historic photographs of station agents road built from the west to the east. and women telegraph operators, depots and snow sheds, train Routes ran from California to Ari- wrecks, locomotives such as the Daylight and Collis P. Hunting- zona, New Mexico, Texas, and ton, refrigerator and fruit Louisiana. cars, and scenes pho- “The Southern Pacific was tographed from trains.

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