Spring 2001 Newsletter
7TH Annual Author Dinner Success
The attendance was so great at the Annual Friends of the Library
Author Dinner on April 10th that the dinner was moved to
a larger room for the first time in seven years. The highlight of the
Friends year, this event continues to bring together supporters of the
Library while it honors distinguished authors.
Dr. Carl Boyd of the Old Dominion History Department received the
Friends Outstanding Achievement Award. As the Louis I. Jaffé
Professor of the College of Arts and Letters and an Eminent Scholar,
Dr. Boyd was recognized for his achievements in scholarship, publishing
and education.
The Friends also welcomed the return of two members and the addition
of four new individuals to serve on the Board of the Friends of the
Library. Elected during the business portion of the dinner were returning
Board members Bette Browning and Lucille Garner. Also joining the Board
for three year terms are ODU alumna Christy Jaap, Campus Director of
the Cooper Career Institute who also teaches a freshman composition
class at ODU; Usman Qureshi, a member of the Economics Department from
1959-1987 and former chair of the department, he also was the founder
of the Economics Club of Hampton Roads; Mable Smith, an associate professor
in the ODU School of Nursing who also holds a law degree, she recently
completed an internship in the office of the President; and Bonnie Simon,
the student Board member, who is a full-time manager of a real estate
title agency while also pursuing a degree in history with a minor in
creative writing at Old Dominion.
At the conclusion of the dinner portion of the evening President
of the Friends Martha Rollins read a literary tour de force proclamation
honoring President James Koch and Donna Koch for their service to the
Friends of the Library over the years.
The guest speaker for the evening, Professor Larry J. Sabato, the
Director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Governmental Studies,
captivated the audience with an informative and entertaining talk on
the 2000 Presidential Election, while frequently noting the importance
of the library and the Friends of the Library in the community. He also
answered audience questions ranging from Virginia politics to individual
responsibility in politics with political acumen and good humor. A homecoming
for Dr. Sabato, he was accompanied to the dinner by his mother and long-time
family friends.
The Book Guys at Old Dominion
One of the very first things Allan Stypeck did when he arrived
to co-host The Book Guys was to buy a Friends of the Library
T-shirt! Not only that, he immediately put it on and wore it the rest
of the afternoon.
Janet Peery, Allan Stypeck, and Mike Cuthbert
With the gracious support of the Friends of the Jean Outland Chrysler
Library at the Chrysler Museum, the Friends of the Old Dominion University
Libraries offered up an exciting and interesting Saturday on February
10. The Book Guys – Allan Stypeck, Mike Cuthbert and Warren Wigutow
– recorded two radio shows in the Mills Godwin auditorium, playing to
a live audience of about 200 book lovers. With a quick wit and amazing
detail, Allan and Mike looked at and discussed such diverse books as
a 1682 first edition of the Captivity Narrative of Mary Rowlandson
and a 19th century Ambercrombie family Bible. In between
were interviews with special guests Janet Peery and Alf Mapp, and discussions
with fellow book collectors Doug Greene and Gordon Magnuson.
Nearly everyone in the audience had brought an old or treasured
book for appraisal, but there was only time during the radio programs
for a handful of on-air evaluations. Few went away disappointed, though,
as Allan, Warren and Mike stayed long after the recording equipment
was packed up, patiently talking with anyone who waited with their books.
From early editions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin to a collection of very
small books containing the plays of William Shakespeare, the books ranged
from very rare to ‘just good reads.’ In many respects, the value of
the books was the least interesting part of the day. Tidbits of information,
from how to determine whether a Frank Baum Oz book is a first edition
(it is very difficult to tell) to using unscented kitty litter to remove
mildew from books, the Book Guys were informative and entertaining.
Following the radio tapings, members of the Friends enjoyed a reception
in the Perry Library, and several who still had energy left at the end
of the day were treated to a marvelous dinner at Bobbywoods Restaurant.
Special thanks are owed to Ken Hawkins at the Norfolk Sheraton for assisting
with accommodations, and of course to the Jean Outland Chrysler Library
Friends for their interest and support. Our thanks also to public radio
station WHRV-FM for recording the festivities. All in all, it was a
wonderful day.
Did you miss hearing the shows when they aired on the radio? You
can still hear them via the Internet! Check out The Book Guys on the
world wide web at http://www.bookguys.com!
The miracles of technology make it possible to hear the shows again.
"The Crisis in Scholarly Publishing"
Julia Blixrud, Association of Research Libraries/SPARC
If you were unable to attend this Friends event on Thursday, March
29, 2001, you missed a thought-provoking presentation that was also
a call to action.
The fast-rising cost of journals has had a devastating effect on
the flow of scholarly communication, the research community, and library
collections. The situation is especially dire for journals in the scientific,
technical and medical fields. SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing and Academic
Resources Coalition) was created to offer a constructive response to
this issue. It works to find common ground among libraries, publishers
and scientists who share the goal of making scientific communication
responsive to the goals of science. Data gathered by the Association
of Research Libraries shows that libraries are spending more and getting
less. This study showed that serials spending was 152 percent higher
in 1998 than a dozen years earlier – yet there has been a seven percent
decline in the number of titles libraries are getting for their money.
The strain of rising journal prices is compounded by the availability
of new media – such as Web editions of existing journals – and ever-more-specialized
journals competing for available budgets.
Research used to be gifted to societies by authors and returned
to the community in the form of low-cost journals. Now, researchers
– whose work is paid for by the university or the federal government
– give away their research to commercial journals, which then charge
universities hefty subscription fees in order to buy it back.
Did you know that the cost of serial format publications increased
approximately 200% between 1986 and 1999, while, during the same period,
the Consumer Price Index increased only by approximately 50%?
It should not be surprising, in light of these startling statistics,
that there was a 25% decrease in expenditure by libraries on monographs
during the same period.
Factors that contribute to the monopoly marketplace are:
- Abundance of supply of publishable works
- Limited, static or even shrinking market for those works
- Disconnect between creators of the intellectual content and the
eventual purchaser (libraries) – scholars and scientists generally
have little knowledge of the cost of journals, they simply need to
publish or perish
Library strategies to fight the monopolies:
- Blanket cancellations of serial publications
- Rely more heavily on document delivery – "just in time, rather
than just in case" collection policies
- Collaborative collection development (consortia)
- Abandon the ownership model – license information rather than buy
it – "pay per view"
Scholars can fight to reclaim their power over the commercial publishers
by leaving them behind and establishing alternative venues in which
scholarship can be communicated. This process has begun in a number
of disciplines, and the prospects are exciting. Libraries alone cannot
combat the economic realities of the publishing monopoly marketplace.
Only in alliance with the creators of the intellectual content of scholarly
publishing can change occur.
For more information on SPARC, visit their web site at: www.arl.org/sparc
Book Sale Funds Update
The 2000 Annual Book Sale was the Old Dominion University Libraries’
most successful ever! A total of $2,603.37 was garnered from the sale.
Proceeds were mainly used to fund the Annual Student Achievement Awards.
Twenty-seven students were given awards based on eligibility and achievement.
The eligibility component required students to have worked for the Libraries
for two semesters. The achievement component was based on supervisors’
evaluations and resulted in four groupings:
- 10 students received awards of $100 each ($1000)
- 7 students received awards of $85 each ($595)
- 7 students received awards of $75 each ($525)
- 3 students received awards of $60 each ($180)
The four groups of awards combined added up to a total of $2,300
given out as gift certificates to the Old Dominion University Book Store.
Students were allowed to use the gift certificates to purchase any items
of their choice, including all merchandise available in the Book Store
– even text books!
The sum of $300 was used by the Library Staff Organization to fund
the annual Student Appreciation Luncheon. The money was used primarily
for food and beverages, but also for paper products. The luncheon was
for all student assistants working in the library, not just for those
who received awards. The Student Achievement Awards were presented to
recipients at the luncheon.
The remaining $3.37 was carried over to next year’s sale.
Membership DUES: Where Do They Go?
Membership dues for Friends of the Old Dominion University Library,
now averaging $10,000 - $13,000 annually, are given to the Library to
extend funds available to build programs and services of the library
system. Some recent expenditures from Friends gifts are these purchases:
- Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry, a 15 volume landmark
reference set intended for chemists, biochemists, molecular biologists,
and many physicists, both practitioners and researchers.
- Preservation supplies intended to protect the Library’s special
collections – fragile and valuable manuscripts, historical photographs,
newspaper clippings.
- Special project staffing for preparing the Web site that documents
all of Old Dominion University’s 23 Literary Festivals. The site may
be found at the following address: http://courses.lib.odu.edu/litfest/
- Extension of professional signage throughout the Perry Library.
- Software to create adaptive workstations for the Library’s special
needs users to exploit online information resources to the fullest.
Financial Report
As part of the annual meeting of the Friends of the Library, a
financial report was distributed, showing receipts and expenses as of
April 10, 2001, for a fiscal year beginning September 1, 2000 and ending
August 31, 2001. The following are major income or expense items for
the year in progress.
Expenses
- Operating expenses $428
- Merchandise for resale $200
- Book Guys net expenses $767
- Subtotal $1,395
Income
- Membership dues as of 4/3/01 $6,121
- Baskets for Books $2,395
- Annual dinner net income $ 407
- Merchandise sales $ 485
- Subtotal $9,408
Balance $8,013
– Jean A. Major, Treasurer
Featured Volunteer: Rosalie Tuttle
Manuscript collections come to libraries with staples and paper
clips fastening individual sheets of paper, with newspaper clippings
and photographs interspersed with hand-written and typed pages. These
valuable collections must undergo preservation processing before they
are prepared for use. Rosalie Tuttle has been doing this valuable work
with the manuscript collections of the Diehn Composers Room for nearly
two years.
Most recently, Ms. Tuttle has processed the collections of Allan
Blank, whose compositions are being featured in a performance that is
part of the upcoming Virginia Arts Festival. On April 26 a chamber ensemble
made up of principals from the Virginia Symphony will perform a selection
of Blank compositions in the Chandler Recital Hall. The performance
will be preceded by the opening of an exhibit of selected manuscripts
from the Blank collection, including those documents prepared by Ms.
Tuttle and others identified by her as a result of her work with the
collection. Rosalie Tuttle has carried out the preservation procedures
for most of the photographs included in the collection of Ludwig Diehn,
the composer for whom the Diehn Composers Room was named. She has also
done most of the essential preservation for other Diehn Room collections.
Rosalie Tuttle brings a valuable combination of talents to her
work in the Diehn Composers Room. A longtime performer in choral ensembles,
she possesses significant musical knowledge and interests. These are
combined with experience as a librarian; she recently retired as the
librarian of Catholic High School in Virginia Beach. Friends of the
Old Dominion University Library salute the valuable contributions of
Rosalie Tuttle to the Diehn Composers Room.
PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, the Friends of the Old Dominion University Library assembled
on the campus at the lucky seventh annual author dinner in recognition
of the Library as the central force in the intellectual life of the
University; and
WHEREAS, the impetus to organize the Friends of the Old Dominion University
Library originated from President James V. Koch and Donna L. Koch; and
WHEREAS, President James V. Koch and Donna L. Koch, who have led by
example, have nurtured, encouraged, and supported the goals and activities
of the Friends in many ways, directly and indirectly, effectively and
optimistically, consistently and gracefully; and
WHEREAS, President James V. Koch has highlighted the Library in his
service to the University and he has faithfully participated in Friends’
events, notably taking the podium at the most recent Fall Forum to share
his current research in e-commerce and also heroically winning dollars
for the Library by making baskets in a rapid-fire foul-shooting contest
at the annual "Baskets for Books" event; and
WHEREAS, Donna L. Koch has served formally as Friends Program Chairman,
effortlessly providing coordination and resourcefully offering bright
ideas and extraordinary literary talent, in addition to bringing people
together so that all have shared her enjoyment in the production of
worthwhile events; and
WHEREAS, by inspiration and action, individually and together, the
Kochs have guided the development of the Friends organization and fostered
friendship among the members while simultaneously advancing the quality
of the University; now, therefore,
BE IT HEREBY PROCLAIMED that President James V. Koch and Donna L. Koch
are extended our thanks and appreciation for their thoughtfulness, participation,
and dedication, as well as their generous annual monetary gifts; and
they are assured of our commitment to sustain the spirit of the Friends
that they have inculcated;
WHEREFORE, President James V. Koch and Donna L. Koch are accorded our
very best wishes for happiness and success in their endeavors forevermore.
SIGNED AND SEALED sentimentally at Old Dominion University this tenth
day of April 2001.
Friends of
the Old Dominion University Library
(signed: Martha G. Rollins)
President
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