ACORN Chronicle PUBLISHED BY THE JEAN AND ALEXANDER HEARD LIBRARY • VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY • F ALL 2011 Alexander donation a ‘national treasure’ for library Special Collections welcomes Sen. Alexander’s donation of papers V A N D ne of Vanderbilt’s most well- E R B I L T known graduates, U.S. Sen. U N I V E Lamar Alexander (BA’62) and R S I T Y O S his wife, Honey Alexander, have made one P E C I A L of the most important donations in the C O L L Jean and Alexander Heard Library’s histo - E C T I O N ry by giving their pre-Senate papers to S Special Collections. The collection contains a wealth of his - torical documents from Alexander’s political campaigns, his two terms as governor, Honey Alexander’s roles as wife, mother, first lady and advocate for family causes, along with the senator’s correspondence with close friend and author Alex Haley. Papers from Alexander’s tenure as president of the University of Tennessee and U.S. sec - retary of education are also included. “Honey and I felt that the archives (above) Nissan CEO Marvin Runyon and Lamar Alexander shake hands as the first Sentra rolls should reflect the voices of the countless off the production line in March 1985. Alexander was instrumental in drawing both Japanese Tennesseans who have worked with us to manufacturing and the auto industry to Tennessee. (top of page) As Tennessee’s governor, Lamar raise educational standards, attract indus - Alexander addresses the crowd at his inauguration in January 1983. 2 R U S T Y R U S S E L L V A N D E R B I L T U N I V E R S I T Y S P E C I A L C O L L E C T I O N Sen. Alexander (left) and Chancellor Nicholas S S. Zeppos share a light moment at the Sen. Alexander relaxes on a porch swing in Henning, Tenn., with author Alex Haley. It was here September opening of the exhibit. that Haley first heard the stories that led to his book Roots . try and build confidence among the state’s ate papers reflect the challenges that and new questions about matters of great V A residents,” Alexander said. “To support Republicans across the country faced dur - significance,” said Carolyn Dever, dean of N D E R B this, Vanderbilt’s libraries have already ing the 1980s along with the opportunities the College of Arts and Science. I L T U N I begun an oral history project recording the in education and business development “Sen. Alexander’s unique set of experi - V E R S I T stories of those who played major roles.” that he and other state leaders identified ences as governor, U.S. secretary of educa - Y S P E C The collection speaks richly of Alexan - and moved forward. tion, university president and presidential I A L C O der’s two terms as governor, which began “An archive of papers such as Senator candidate comprise an archive that will be L L E C T I in 1979 when America was still pulling Alexander’s enables Vanderbilt students a national treasure mined by scholars for O N S itself out of the Watergate quagmire and and faculty to conduct original research— generations,” said Connie Vinita Dowell, struggling to regain confidence in its to reveal nuances and details hidden in th e dean of libraries. “This is clearly one of political leadership. Alexander’s pre-Sen - historical record, producing new insights Vanderbilt’s most important collections.” R U S T Y R U “Come on along! Lamar Alexander’s S S E L L Journey as Governor,” opened in September in the Central Library’s newly renovated galleries. It will be on display through August 12, 2012. Included in the exhibit are photos and memorabilia highlighting Alexander’s 1,000-mile walk across Tennessee, instrumental in his election success, his historic early swearing-in as gover - nor which brought a halt to outgoing Gov. Ray Blanton’s pardoning of con - victed murderers, and Alexander’s education innovations. A special high - light is the successful Homecoming ’86 celebration, co-chaired by Alex Haley and Minnie Pearl, which pro - vided Tennesseans an opportunity to rediscover their past and identify the uniqueness of their communities. His piano performances with Tennessee Sen. Alexander demonstrates an interactive display for (counterclockwise from bottom left) Memphis symphonies and on the Grand Ole attorney and former Alexander state commissioner Lewis Donelson, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean Opry are also featured. and Alexander’s Deputy Chief of Staff and State Director Patrick Jaynes at the exhibit opening. 3 G OING BEYOND GOOGLE Instructional librarians teach students, faculty how to find information they need ibraries are places of research and learning, even teach full courses—and the libraries now pro - but teaching is also a core function of a vide special classrooms geared toward teaching. L library. As information resources grow, the “I always see myself as a teacher,” says Lee Ann task of sifting through academic databases to find Lannom, librarian at Peabody Library. “Not always in the best information becomes more difficult. Librari - a traditional sense, but always as a teacher.” By teach - ans throughout the Jean and Alexander Heard ing a research session for a course, she helps students Libraries specialize in research instruction—some learn to master the library, familiarizing them with available databases, their specialties and how to J O H N search in them. R U S S E Lannom is well-suited to her role. “I love the hunt L L for information,” she says. “I like to look for that nee - dle in a haystack.” New teaching spaces in the Central Library—part of the recent $6 million renovation—offer librarians and professors the opportunity to meld the library into the classroom. Two dedicated classrooms were added during the renovation on the fourth and eighth floors, and a new conference room is prioritized for instructional use. About 70 sessions have already been held in the new classrooms. “Classrooms were a key part of my goals with the renovation,” says Dean of Libraries Connie Vinita Dowell, “Teaching is one of the most important things we do.” “We’ve had so much positive feedback on the new classrooms,” says Melinda Brown, instruction coordi - nator for the libraries. In the new fourth-floor space, desks are easily moved into clusters for group projects or set in traditional rows for lectures. Dual screens and a document camera make it easy to conduct critical examinations of rare source documents. Comfortable chairs, loaner laptops and wireless access allow stu - dents real-time opportunities to practice research methods using the library’s more than 300 electronic databases. Library specialists also write Web-based library guides, or “Libguides,” that direct students to course- or topic-specific resources, services and more. Kitty Porter has seen a lot of changes in her decades-long career as a librarian. “People didn’t used to do their own searches,” she recalls. “The librarians did the searches for them.” Today, she teaches a popular course for both undergraduate and graduate students focused on the nuances of searching the vast amount of chemical literature available through the Science and Engineering Library and how to best use it. Instructional librarians Lee Ann Lannom (left) and Kitty Porter in the Central “It’s important to know where to look and how to Library’s fourth-floor classroom. look,” she says. “We can help with that.” 4 RESEARCH PROJECTS OPEN DOORS FOR STUDENT INTERNS very day, Vanderbilt students head into the opened up bigger doors for him—helping to research university’s libraries to conduct research a book for then-Gov. Phil Bredesen. Etoward their degrees. For some of these stu - Cayer was working as a research coach for under - dents, the chance to do research in the library opens graduate students in Owen’s summer Accelerator doors for their careers. program while working toward his MBA in health That doesn’t surprise Carolyn Dever, dean of the care there. “I helped the students learn to find infor - College of Arts and Science. “Students benefit from mation quickly and effectively, and also learn to look their work in the library just as they do from work in at it with a critical eye,” he said. any other laboratory on our campus: to lay their His success as a research coach led to an opportu - hands on materials, to explore and investigate, gives nity to work as a researcher on Bredesen’s book about them a chance to advance their learning experien - health care. Fresh Medicine: How to Fix Reform and tially,” she said. Build a Sustainable Health Care System was released in J O the fall of 2010 as a response to the landmark health H N R U S care bill that Congress passed earlier that year. S E L L “This project took what I was learning in my MBA program and combined it with research at a very high level,” Cayer said. “The team would meet weekly to go over everyone’s research, and then we’d go out and do more research. We were focusing on the implications of the new health care policy.” He credits his work as a research coach at Owen’s Walker Library for giving him the ability and oppor - tunity to work on the Bredesen assignment. “Any - thing I know about research I know because of the folks at the Walker Library,” he says.