University Library Newsletter Issue 15 Fall 2012

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From the University Librarian

Fast forward into the future…

As John Dewey said, “arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.”  That statement rings especially true for all of us in the UCSC Library.  Now that the McHenry renovation and construction project has finished, the Grateful Dead Archive Online has been launched, and Dead Central has been dedicated, we are moving rapidly on some key new initiatives that will help us continue to support students, faculty, and staff.

Our plan for the coming year includes efforts to bolster the work underway by the Academic Senate Committee on the Library and Scholarly Communication to pass an Open Access Policy for UC.  UCSF was the first UC campus to institute such a policy last spring, and that action has sparked systemwide interest.  Many faculty and graduate students have become painfully aware that the current pricing models for commercially-produced scholarly journals are unsustainable, and we have had to cancel subscriptions to hundreds of titles because we can no longer afford them.  The proposed Open Access Policy would grant a non-exclusive, irrevocable license to the University of California that would allow UC to make faculty-authored articles available in open access repositories.  Faculty would also be encouraged to retain copyright for articles they have written instead of transferring their rights to publishers.  If this policy passes, it will give the UCSC Library and the other UC libraries greater leverage in negotiating subscriptions, and it will help build momentum among faculty and researchers to retain control of their intellectual property to ensure that it is accessible to a worldwide audience.

Another exciting undertaking this fall is continued work to digitize materials from our collections.  With the 50th anniversary of the campus just a few years away, we have already started scanning photos, historical documents, and other campus materials.  Digitized images are being added as I write this, so be sure to check out our History Pin channel and our UCSC Campus History digital collection to see what has been put up.

There’s much more I could talk about, but I’ll leave that to the next newsletter.  I do hope you’ll visit the libraries virtually and in person often.  We rely on our friends for so much, and you have made such a difference to us.  We’re looking forward to working with you in the future! 

Ginny Steel
University Librarian

"It Really Changed My Life"

That’s what University Library supporter Gary Novack said on a lovely morning in June as he sat on the redwood-flanked porch that he and his wife Dona named at McHenry Library.

He was speaking of his experience as an undergraduate student at UCSC, where he enrolled at the age of sixteen. He went on to say, “It prepared me for life.” Here he found an egalitarian meritocracy: a place where he could take student-led classes in improvisational theater and address his professors by their first names. And he found a library that provided the scientific journals and books he needed. 

In Gary’s family it is understood that they all give back to society in some way. His advice to potential donors is to find two or three causes you really care about and support those to the best of your ability. Among the ways Gary and Dona, a book club facilitator, chose to support the students of UCSC is by helping to provide a library environment conducive to productive studying.

Gary’s devotion to the support of public higher education is evidenced by his service. He is a past president of both the UCSC Foundation Board and the Alumni Council and served as a UC Regent during 2003-2005.

Gary is the founder and President of PharmaLogic Development, Inc., a pharmaceutical and medical device consulting company. Gary is a board-certified clinical pharmacologist with over 23 years experience in pharmaceutical research and development. He has a particular interest in ophthalmology, and is proud to have been able to develop drugs to treat eye diseases.

A biology major at UCSC, he graduated in 1973—after just three years—with honors. He was a graduate student at UC Davis, where he met his wife-to-be Dona in the library. He earned his doctoral degree is in pharmacology and environmental toxicology in 1977; was an NIH postdoctoral trainee at UCLA from 1977 to 1979, and later taught at several UC campuses.

Thanks to the generosity of the Novacks, UCSC students enjoy a magical inside / outside  study space at McHenry Library. Thank you, Dona and Gary!

 

"I Cannot Live Without Books"1308

said Thomas Jefferson to John Adams in 1815. Neither can we!

Need a gift for that person who has everything?
Do you want to celebrate someone special in your life, or thank someone for helping?
Perhaps honor the memory of a loved one?

The Buy-A- Book program allows you to do so while contributing directly to the education of tomorrow’s teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and others. Your gift will place books, e-books, and scholarly journals directly into the hands of UCSC students, faculty, staff and Friends of the Library.

As a thank you, in addition to a record in the library catalog, each gift of a book in honor or in memory of another will be acknowledged with a card that contains the book’s title, the name(s) of the honoree(s), the occasion being celebrated, and your name, as donor.

Buy-A-Book today!

 

The Real Thing, Baby

Photos by collector Richard Shirk

Marvin Gaye sings to his lady love of “the real thing.” There’s nothing like physically being with the one you love, we all agree.

At UCSC, students of art photography are hugely fortunate to be able to experience the real thing in the form of the very photographs created by greats of photography such as Imogen Cunningham, Henri Cartier Bresson, and Wynn Bullock.

From its earliest days in the 1960’s, the University Library’s Special Collections and Archives has been the happy recipient of photographs created by people who are now considered “greats” in the photography world: Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Morley Baer, among others. The growing importance of our photography collection inspired photographers Erik Lauritzen and Pirkle Jones to choose UCSC’s University Library as the home for their archives. More recently, the family of Wynn Bullock has stated its desire to create the Bullock Family Photography Archive.

Thus it was not entirely a surprise that the Shirk family has chosen to will a portion of its remarkable collection of photographs to the University Library for study by students and display to all. The breadth and depth of the collection of photographs housed in Special Collections made it a natural destination for this very important collection. 

Christine Bunting, Head of Special Collections & Archives, provides the following account of this remarkable and much appreciated gift of photographs:

“Last spring Special Collections was honored to be the recipient of an extremely fine private collection of photographs presented as a gift from the estate of Patricia Shirk. This collection of seventy-five photographic works deeply enhances Special Collections’ existing holdings as these pieces are of incomparable beauty and importance to the history of the medium. Among the donated works are five rare parmelian prints of the Sierras and several other works from the 1930s and 1940s by Ansel Adams, as well as thirteen works by Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston, including a stunning portrait of Robinson Jeffers. The collection spans the early albumen portraits of Julia Margaret Cameron and the platinum prints of Frederick Evans to the later-20th-century elegant and daring photographs of Harry Callahan and the abstract work of Aaron Siskind. Two special pieces in the collection are 20 Photographs, a portfolio of Eugene Atget’s photographs printed by the renowned American photographer Berenice Abbott, and a spectacular portfolio by Eliot Porter, In Wilderness, with ten luscious dye transfer prints.”

“This collection is a true testament to the expert but delicate eye of Patricia Shirk who, along with her husband Richard, carefully selected each work and built a highly personalized and richly diverse compilation. Richard Shirk was a commercial and fine art photographer based in Detroit. After receiving early training in aerial photography in the 1940s Air Force, he became an accomplished staff photographer for fine art magazines, established businesses in advertising photography, and eventually taught photography classes at Wayne State University.”

“Drawn by a love of the Monterey Bay area, the Shirks moved to the area in 1984 and settled in a home they designed together. Special Collections also holds examples of the work of Richard Shirk, who died in 1985. Upon donating her late mother Patricia’s collection to Special Collections, Beth Shirk said, ‘I feel like I transferred her heart and soul. Her beloved photographs are right where they belong in a lovely, secure new home.’ ”

 

Celebrate Good Times

McHenry Library

It was the gloriously sunny day among the redwoods we’d hoped it would be. About 400 students, alumni, faculty, and friends of the University Library gathered April 21st in the Mary Ackerknecht Reading Garden to celebrate the re-dedication of McHenry Library with speeches, bluegrass music, and library tours. Young alumna Jessie Wilkie delivered a glowing appreciation of the new library. She followed University Librarian Ginny Steel and Chancellor George Blumenthal who thanked the many people involved in creating the new space.

After decades in the planning and seven years of construction, McHenry Library, expanded and renovated, stands ready to serve the needs of early-21st-century students. The renovation and expansion of McHenry Library brought the total number of seats for users of both the McHenry and Science & Engineering library buildings to 2,370. Read more about the new McHenry Library in the April 2012 issue of University Library Newsletter.

Grateful Dead Archive & Dead Central

On June 29th, Moonalice, the jam band led by Roger McNamee, set a joyous tone for an afternoon of dancing on the Mary Ackerknecht Reading Lawn in celebration of the dedication of the Grateful Dead Archive and its accompanying display space, Dead Central.

About 900 Grateful Dead fans and supporters of the Archive, housed in McHenry Library’s Special Collections, enjoyed Moonalice’s music, sunshine, lemonade, and tie-dye decorated cookies. 

The celebration drew the attention of National Public Radio, which broadcast an interview with Grateful Dead Archivist Nicholas Meriwether on July 31st. More about the Archive and Dead Central is found in the April 2012 issue of University Library Newsletter.

Grateful Dead Archive Online

1306Would you like to see items from the Grateful Dead Archive, but live many miles from Santa Cruz? Now you can. The Grateful Dead Archive Online is the culmination of years of work organizing, cataloging, and digitizing items in the archive. It was released to the world of fans and scholars on June 29th. 

The Grateful Dead Archive Online, called GDAO (www.gdao.org), is a socially constructed collection comprised of over 45,000 digitized items drawn from the UCSC Library’s extensive Grateful Dead Archive and from digital content submitted by the community and global network of Grateful Dead fans. Digitized content —including concert hotline recordings, decorated fan envelopes, fanzines, photographs, posters, radio interviews, tickets, T-shirts, and videos—can be found here, as well as web resources such as David Dodd’s “The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics” website and the fan recordings of concerts archived by the Internet Archive.

Almost every member of the University Library staff was in some way involved in creating this groundbreaking online archive. Donors helped fund the labor and supplies and equipment used. Kudos to everyone who helped make it real, especially the project manager, Ms. Robin Chandler!

 

Remembering Emily

By Stanley Stevens, Librarian Emeritus  

Emily Espenshade Clark

1915–2012

I am saddened to report that Emily Clark died on August 3rd. 

For 50 years, Emily Clark, widow of Founding University Librarian Donald T. Clark, was intimately associated with UCSC and the University Library. Emily and Don moved from Harvard University in September 1962, and dedicated themselves in support of UCSC. Emily's passions were the UCSC Arboretum and the UCSC Women's Club. She was an accomplished painter and wood carver. Among the many contributions that she and Don made to the Library is the Donald T. and Emily E. Clark Map Endowment.

Emily and members of her family were guests at the rededication of McHenry Library on April 27th.

Emily is survived by her son Michael E. Clark and his wife May, and four grandchildren. Emily was preceded in death by her husband Donald and their daughter Pamela.

 

Up a Lazy River

It takes a truly dedicated library staff to build and maintain our University Library. In June four mainstays of the organization retired.

Jackie Russo, Library Purchasing Specialist

“Ask Jackie. She’ll know.” If Jackie had a nickel for every time a colleague spoke those words, she’d be spending even more money at local nurseries buying plants for her garden and containers for her exquisitely done flower arrangements.

Jackie joined the University Library staff in May 1977. After stints in Technical Services keeping track of serials and accounting matters, in 2003 Jackie became the library’s go-to person for the acquisition and purchase of everything (other than the collections!) needed by the library. Just the right lighting for that dark corner? Ask Jackie. Need a new phone line or data line? Ask Jackie. Special cleaning needed on the third floor? Ask Jackie. The amount of researching, ordering, tracking, reconciling, and coordination needed to acquire and place the furnishings in our newly expanded and renovated 386,226-square-foot library building was astounding. 

Jackie’s skills, knowledge, and ever-cheerful manner were invaluable in creating the new McHenry Library. Happy gardening, Jackie!

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Eric Baker, Head of Library Operations

As the University Library grew, so did the scope of Eric Baker’s duties. He began in 1979 as a principal clerk reporting to the Head of Library Operations, Tom Ortiz. From running the stock room to learning how to troubleshoot microcomputer problems to purchasing, Eric proved accurate and thorough in all he did.

In 2003 Eric became Head of Library Operations and shortly thereafter began his long professional partnership with Jackie Russo. Eric immediately started the process of planning for the McHenry Library Expansion Project. He had already played a key role in the relocations and planning needed when the Science & Engineering Library opened, so had some idea of the processes and challenges ahead of him.

The McHenry Library Expansion and Renovation was a difficult and multi-staged project. Eric has been admired through the whole process for his professionalism, dedication, knowledge of the building, and for his good eye that led to changing some key features during the project. There aren’t many career opportunities that involve opening two major university libraries. UCSC students and faculty, present and future, are the richer for his thoughtfulness, dedication, and hard work.

Karen Mokrzycki, Librarian1303

Karen joined the UCSC Library in 1980 as Head of the Acquisition Section, having performed that role at the Rand Corporation’s library in Santa Monica. She holds a BA in English and a master’s degree in Library Science from UCLA. 

Active in the American Library Association (ALA) and in the Library Association of the University of California (LAUC), Karen contributed to the advancement of her profession. During her years of service at UCSC, she held every office in LAUC, some of them multiple times. As an ALA member she served extended terms as chair of a committee concerned with the preservation and re-formatting of library materials; she won a national award for this work.

Karen was a preservation expert at UCSC. This was in addition to her roles as selector and faculty support person for the Psychology, Education, and Linguistics departments.

Karen Mokrzycki and Eric Baker are married. We wish them much joy and well-earned relaxation in their retirement. 

Lai-Ying Hsiung, Head of Technical Services 1304

Lai-Ying came to the University Library in 2000 from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she was Head of Cataloging. She served as Head of the Technical Services Department from 2004 until her retirement. The “tech services” department of a library does the work necessary to acquire, catalog, and make user-ready all library collections (with the exception of those in Special Collections & Archives). Rapid and ongoing changes in the formats of library materials have challenged all libraries, but not many have been as fortunate as has the UCSC Library in having such a thoughtful and skilled innovator as Lai-Ying. 

The efficient staff and workflow at UCSC are the envy of other UC Technical Services departments. The staff continuously contributes to resolving the wide range of issues facing a modern academic tech services operation.

Lai-Ying has been amazingly prolific in her contributions to both UC systemwide work and national professional organizations. At both ALA and NASIG (North American Serials Interest Group), her thoughtful contributions will continue past her retirement, as she will continue to serve on committees and is at work on a book soon to be published.

 

Exhibits

McHenry Library

Picturing the Past & Pointing to the Present in Medieval Manuscripts
Special Collections & Archives, 3211 McHenry Library
June 14–October 15, 2012

An exhibit featuring single folios, manuscripts, and fine art facsimiles from Special Collections. Curated by the students in Elisabeth Remak's “Power of Writing” class (History 165), the exhibit presents a survey of how books were made and used in Europe from 600 to 1500 with a focus on the relationship between book production and the development of libraries.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, Ohio

Grateful Dead: The Long Strange Trip
April–December 2012

On loan from Special Collections & Archives’ Grateful Dead Archive are items representing the life and times of the Grateful Dead band and its followers.

 

 

Editor: Lettie Bennett
Contributors: Ginny Steel, Stanley Stevens, Christine Bunting
Production: Linda Hunt, Kirsten Cattell, Jess Spencer
Copyediting and proofreading: Mark Engel
Photography: 
McHenry Library: Steve Kurtz
A Day of Celebration video: John Raedeke
GDA Archive: Carolyn Lagattuta
GDAO Logo: Gary Houston
The Real Thing, Baby: Richard Shirk
“It Really Changed My Life”, Gary Novack video: John Raedeke
Up a Lazy River:  Angelika Frebert