Friends
of the Library
Minutes of the Fall Meeting
October 22, 2004
The activities for the
Fall Meeting of the Friends of the Library began on 22 October 2004
at 3:00 pm in the Browsing Room of the Library with a reading by
Charlotte Morgan from her book "One August Day" about
Hurricane Camille. Ms. Morgan is an award winning author and adjunct
Professor of English at Sweet Briar College and Professor of Creative
Writing at Hollins University. The reading was open to the public.
Chairman Ann Reams '42
convened the Fall Business Meeting of the Friends of the Library
in the Browsing Room of the Library on 22 October 2004 at 4:00 pm.
Those present were: Greg Armstrong, Carolyn Bates, Mary Landon Brugh
'57, Katharine Chase '67, Marge Freeman, Dorthea Fuller '53, Laura
& Gene Goley '52, John Goulde, Adelaide Hapala, Beth Ike '96,
Liz Kent, Joyce Kramar, Lisa Johnston, Helen Lewis '54, Joe Malloy,
Stephen Mirabella and Sigrid Mirabella.
Mrs. Reams reported that
Peggy Ann Rogers is sorry she had to miss this meeting. She stopped
by earlier and spent time in the library but had to go home to celebrate
her 70th birthday. She recently sent an extraordinary letter about
the wonderful time she had on the inaugural cruise of the Queen
Mary. We hope to ask her to write more about this and possibly put
it in the Gazette.
John Jaffe apologized
for his absence, but he was elected as faculty representative to
the External Affairs Committee of the Board and that meeting conflicted
with this one. He will join us as soon as it is over. Joe Malloy
presided over the meeting in place of Dr. Jaffe.
Betsy Butler ‘’91,
who participated in the Alumna in Residence Program this year, is
an archivist and librarian with the Ohio Historical Society and
she has joined the Council and will also serve on the Membership
Committee.
MINUTES
The Minutes of the Spring
Meeting (2004) of the Friends of the Library were approved as submitted.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
REPORT
Beth Ike '96 Director
of Donor Relations and Development Operations, gave the Membership
Committee Report. The Friends of the Library membership is 18. Total
dollar amount is $800.00 as of October 21, 2004. Last year as of
October 22, 2003 we had 40 members. Total dollar amount was $6,865.00.
Please note that $5,000.00 of that amount was a bequest for the
Art Department of the Rare Book Room of the Library. This was a
gift from Margaret Anderton Dortch '41. The Development Office has
sent their joint mailing for membership in the Friends of the Library,
Friends of Art and Friends of Athletics. Joyce Kramar will be mailing
out renewal notices to past members in January 2005. Ms. Ike reported
that the library portion of the Campaign for Her World has received
over four million, eight hundred and twenty thousand dollars. A
big portion of this came from the Kitty Corbett Powell '38 gift
of three million dollars.
FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT
Dr. John Goulde, Professor
of Religion, gave the Finance Committee Report. Professor reported
that once again we were able to stay well within our budget and
ask the Friends to approve the same budget for 2005-2006 The Friends
voted to accept the same budget.
NEEDS COMMITTEE REPORT
Lisa Johnston gave the
Needs Committee for Allen Huszti, Professor of Music and Chairman
of the Needs Committee. Ms. Johnston reported that the Needs Committee
had a very difficult time this semester with the requested list
of books from the faculty. The total requests came to $10,273.74
which then had to be cut down to $6,007.73. Ms. Johnston reported
that we had a large number of departments requesting books. We also
had a large request from our new Professor of Engineering, who is
building a good foundation of books for our new Engineering Program.
After reviewing the requests, the Friends approved the purchase
of these items.
EVENTS COMMITTEE REPORT
Professor Malloy gave
the Events Committee Report. He began by thanking Charlotte Morgan
for her wonderful reading. Professor Malloy does not have a speaker
for the spring meeting and suggestions will be welcomed.
The Friends of Art will
be providing the speaker at the Friday evening event in 2005. The
Friends of Art will be hosting a two-day affair this spring in honor
of the 20th year anniversary of the Pannell Art Gallery. The Thursday
speaker will be Faith Ringold and the Friday evening lecture will
be Miriam Schapiro. Mr. Malloy distributed the brochure for these
events. If you are interested in attending both events, please let
Joyce Kramar know, otherwise our regular spring activities will
begin at 3:00 pm on Friday, 1st of April 2005 and will continue
with cocktails, dinner and the Schapiro lecture.
Some discussion followed
with regards to the spring meeting:
· It was decided
that when Joyce Kramar sends out the spring invitation to the spring
meeting, she will include both Thursday and Friday events.
· Suggestions
were made that someone contact Lynchburg and Amherst newspapers
and have them do an article on the proposed renovation of the library
and how you can become a member of the Friends and help support
the library and also have library privileges. Sigrid Mirabella suggested
that we contact the Lynchburg, Amherst and Nelson papers and have
them do an article about the Friends and how you can become a member
and what that membership entitles. Mrs. Mirabella said that we could
certainly use their name as an example of being connected to Sweet
Briar through the Friends of the Library and how much being a member
has benefited them in many ways both personally and professionally.
· It was suggested
that we talk to the Amherst Chamber of Commerce and also some of
the local Realtors as they are constantly working with new business
and new people who move to this area and are unaware of the benefits
of being a Friend of the Sweet Briar Library and how it can enrich
your life.
· Professor Goulde
suggested that we have an information table available to parents
on orientation weekend, Families Weekend, club days and graduation.
· It was suggested
that Professor Malloy or Professor Johnston write an article for
the newspapers on Rare Books.
· It was suggested
that we invite someone from the newspaper to an event, which really
should require a written invitation and followed up by personal
phone calls.
· It was suggested
to invite Professor Barbara Perry to speak on her new book on Jackie
Kennedy.
· A last suggestion
was made to highlight the total amount that the Friends have spent
on books over the years.
Mr. Malloy thanked the
Friends for their excellent ideas on promotion and programs for
the friends of libraries.
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
REPORT
Professor Malloy had
copies of the last year's Library Gazette, which featured Lee Smith's
talk. Sweet Briar College students have been notified of the Basbanes
Book Collection Competition and we hope to have those results in
time to be featured in the next Library Gazette.
OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS
The Spring 2005 Meeting
of the Friends of the Library will be held on 1 April 2005. The
Friends of Art will be providing the speaker. It will also be a
two-day event, 31 March and 1 April 2005. We hope that many of you
can attend the events on both days.
Professor Lisa Johnston,
Head of Public Service in the Library and Associate Director gave
a report on the library. She mentioned that the staff has been very
busy this year and thinks it could be because of the large freshman
class we have.
Professor Johnston reported
on the Kitty Corbett Powell '38 gift of $3 million dollars for the
expansion and renovation of the library. In honor of Mrs. Powell's
gift the Main Reading Room, centerpiece of the library has been
named "The Kitty Corbett Powell '38 Reading Room". The
Room is based on the "perfect form" dimensions described
by Vitruvius and used by Palladio. The room is a double square and
derived from and replicating closely the Banqueting Room at Whitehall
Palace designed by Indigo Jones. Ralph Adams Cram, Sweet Briar's
architect, determined this form would be most suited to the centerpiece
of a learning enterprise, giving the greatest feeling of both comfort
and uplift to people who use it. The room was the key for the original
library on campus. Mrs. Powell's gift will go to restore it to the
original glory and to expand the overcrowded library facilities.
This generous gift, together with others received, gives a good
base, nearly half of the estimated $12 million that will be required
for the project.
Professor Marge Freeman
spoke on the rearrangement of collections last summer. During the
rearrangement of the collection two summers ago (2003), space was
left to move the Art Library to the main library. Now the Shallenberger
Library houses the Rare Book Collection and the Sweet Briar College’s
archives. Both of these collections had previously been housed on
the second floor of the old part of the Cochran Library in over
crowded areas. That space was not air-conditioned and lacked any
humidity control. Both of these conditions are critical for rare
items and the fragile pieces of college history that makeup the
archives. In their new home these collections have adequate shelf
space and environmental controls.
Some large sets of items
that have been used infrequently were moved to the Wick Library
where they can be recalled on short notice.
After a review of usage
it was decided to move the microfilm and microfiche collections
to Wick as well. The microfilm and microfiche encompass older journal
issues and their use had declined because of on-line availability
of the same material. These materials are easily retrieved by the
library staff for patrons.
Professor Freeman went
on to report that moving all these books and the micro materials
took most of the summer and involved a number of staff members.
But it would not have been possible if it were not for the excellent
work crew that we had this year. We hired approximately a dozen
young people from the Mt. Olive Baptist Church Youth Choir that
loaded book trucks moved them from building to building on a van
and then reloaded the shelves. This was a particularly difficult
move since many of the art books were very large and heavy, the
rare books were fragile and required special handling (we wrapped
every item in bubble wrap), and the microfilm and fiche required
unloading cabinets, moving the materials and then moving the cabinets.
I am happy to say that everything went very smoothly, particularly
due to the oversight of the workers by Ms. Johnston and Mr. Malloy.
All of this moving freed
up space and now "The Kitty Corbett Powell '38 Reading Room”
has been rearranged with more tables and chairs, the audio books
and DVD's now have more space and the Cochran Library is a much
more inviting place to study.
Over the next year, Professor
Freeman reported, we will be examining the rare book collection
to see what gems we can find. Also we will be spending time developing
a better organization of the Archives. We hope that sometime soon
we will have our Friends meeting in the Shallenberger Library so
that you can see this facility and its unique collections.
Mr., Malloy mentioned
that during the summer move, Ms. Freeman inventoried everything
so our records and catalog are up to date.
Ms. Kent reported
that she is chair of the Women' Studies Committee and also faculty
advisor for those students who decide to minor in Women and Gender
Studies. This fall Ms. Kent taught the introduction class to Women
and Gender Studies.
Ms. Richards reported
that some changes had been made in the Media Services area and that
it is now called Academic Computing.
Mr. Malloy reminded the
friends of the Jean Ruggles Smith Endowed Fund for Technology given
by Barbara Smith Young, Class of '71 (Board Member) in memory of
her mother. The gift was $500,000. She immediately gave us $50,0000
for lab and library electronic resources and the remaining $450,000
endowment will yield funds to pay for some library electronic resources
annually and to maintain the lab and replace equipment on the regular
cycle of full replacement every four years.
Ms. Richards gave the
Friends a summary of what is available in the “Jean Ruggles
Smith Electronic Classroom.” There are ten Macs and ten PCs
computers, a projector that runs on both Macs and PCs, a station
with a turntable, a tape deck, DVD player and VCR, which is multi-standard,
which will take any video from any country. A tour of the “Jean
Ruggles Smith Electronic Room” was conducted by Ms. Richards
after the meeting.
Mr. Malloy announced
the names of the McVea Scholars. They are:
Melanie Hope Eanes Campbell
- '05
Ashley Jean Rogers - '05
Karliana Brooks Sakas - '06
Ploy Pritsangkul - '07
Jennifer Leigh Summerfield - '07
The meeting was adjourned.
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