September 28, 2002
Minutes of the Council and Membership Meeting
Saturday, September 28, 2002
President Terry Carlton convened the Annual Meeting of the Council of the Friends of the Oberlin College Library at 1:30 p.m. in the Goodrich Room at Mudd Center. Those in attendance were Vice President Dina Schoonmaker, Secretary Nathan Haverstock, Eric Carpenter, Carol Ganzel, Ray English, Paul Erler, Jessica Grim, Erik Inglis, Norman Jung, Gordon (Barry) Neavill, Maria Paz Esguerra, Rebecca Thompson, and Anne Trubek
Highlights of the meeting
This year's meeting marked several important milestones in the Friends' program, including, but not limited to the following:
• the decision to acquire an important special collection which will have immediate use in College studies of women's issues.
• the announcement of the first award of a Friends-sponsored scholarship, which will help an Oberlin graduate pursue studies for a career in library science.
• the scheduling of a first-of-a-kind special reception to honor Oberlin faculty and staff, who have published books from January 1, 2000 to the present.
• the mounting of a dynamic program to recruit more Oberlin students as Friends.
In his opening remarks Carlton noted that because this annual meeting was taking place six weeks earlier than usual, several Council members were unable to attend.
Friends awards
Following approval of the minutes of the April 13, 2002 Special Meeting, Jessica Grim reported on the second year of an award program through which the Friends seek to recognize excellence in making use of the library's collections by Oberlin students. This year Michael Block and Marian Schlotterbeck won Student Research Awards, each in the amount of $500. Oberlin faculty members nominated 15 students for consideration this year, as compared with only eight last year, Grim said. Subsequent to the meeting the papers by students receiving awards were posted on the library's web site.
Grim said that the first Friends Library Scholarship was awarded this year to Catherine Pellegrino, class of 1992. This scholarship, to be awarded annually by the Friends to some deserving graduate, has a value of $2,500. It will help Pellegrino defray her expenses while studying library science at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
This year the Friends received four applications for this scholarship, three of them from recent College graduates, Grim said. She predicted an increase in the number of applicants, as the existence of the scholarship becomes more widely known.
Seal Press Special Collection
In accord with a decision reached at the Special Meeting of the Friends Council in April, Carol Ganzel reported that the Acquisitions Committee had identified a special collection of materials offered by the Seal Press as a good fit with the interests of Oberlin college faculty and students. Founded in 1976 by Barbara Wilson and Rachel da Silva to print letterpress poetry and writing by women of the Northwest U.S.A., the Seal Press subsequently evolved into a nationally recognized pioneer in publishing works on women's issues until it was sold to Avalon Publishing in 2001, thus terminating its existence as an independent publisher.
In discussing the rationale for recommending the Seal Press Collection, Eric Carpenter said that he and Ed Vermue, head of the library's special collections, believed it was a "somewhat unique opportunity" to obtain a valuable adjunct to studies high on Oberlin's agenda at below the original asking price, which was from $60,000 to $75,000.
The Collection includes 300 books, the original manuscripts of prominent women writers, and an archive measuring from 60 to 80 linear feet. "We have not seen the archive yet," Ray English noted, "and we do need to have a first hand look at it. But it does have a good finder's guide, which should facilitate its immediate use by faculty and students, and simplify the integration of Seal Press materials into the Oberlin library's special collections."
In explaining the rationale for recommending the Seal Press materials, the Committee said in part: "This collection extends Oberlin's heritage of involvement in feminist issues into late 20th-century feminist publishing. There is major faculty support for this acquisition. Conversations with a number of faculty members across several departments indicate that the collection would be used immediately to support several courses and would likely be of interest to Oberlin students concerned with women's issues and publishing. Eventually it is also likely to attract visiting scholars. If acquired this archive could provide a basis for building a nationally significant collection of contemporary feminist publishers' archives."
The owners of the Seal Collection would be very pleased to have it housed at Oberlin where it would find immediate use, said Carpenter, rather than at some huge research institution where it might be lost. For this reason he and Vermue had been able to work out a special price of $50,000. The Friends authorized the expenditure of $30,000 of the total for such an acquisition at their Special Meeting in April. The purchase will also absorb this year's $3,000 Friends allocation for special collections plus $7,000 from this year's Friends regular acquisitions allocation. The final $10,000 will come from sources others than the Friends.
Dina Schoonmaker observed that in visiting the Seal Press web site she was impressed by the range of materials the collection comprises. As examples, she mentioned several books which chronicle the travel adventures of women writers in remote areas of the world.
Other recommendations by the Acquisitions Committee
Ganzel called attention to the Committees recommendation to purchase Volume I of a landmark work of 20th century mathematics and logic – Principia Mathematica (1910) by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell. Oberlin already owns the second and third volumes of this work, Ganzel noted, and Professor Michael Henle had repeatedly asked the library to acquire the missing volume.
There followed discussion of various other items that the Committee recommended for acquisition. A notable example was the "Historical New York Times Online (1851-1999)," which will supersede the present and often eye-straining microfilm version, and enable students to use this valuable resources from their dorm rooms, Carpenter observed.
That being the case, Norman Jung questioned the recommendation to buy the Los Angeles Times on microform. "Shouldn't we just wait until that newspaper, too, has an on-line version?"
In response Carpenter noted that there was no way of knowing when if ever the newspaper might take this step. In the meantime, the L.A. Times, he said, is very much needed to support ongoing Latino studies at Oberlin. For this reason it had also figured on last year's Committee recommendations, only to be deleted owing to budgetary constraints.
In consideration of the impact of electronic technology, Schoonmaker asked whether some of the reference works on this year's list, a German dictionary, for example, might not soon be superseded by on-line versions. In response Carpenter noted that the Oxford English Dictionary is the only dictionary he knew of with an online version and that the German dictionary in question was the work of a fairly small press, and therefore unlikely to be produced in that format.
Program Committee
Schoonmaker reported on programs sponsored by the Friends, beginning with those in the fall of 2001. Several of these represented collaborative efforts with Oberlin College departments, and in one instance with the Oberlin Public Library. Among the upcoming novelties this year is a reception, scheduled for December 6th, to honor Oberlin faculty and staff who have published books from January 1, 2000 to the present. As of September 28th Schoonmaker said that the Committee had received 21 responses to this first of a kind event from people connected with the Conservatory and College of Arts and Sciences.
While she said there are no plans to make this an annual event, several Council members pointed out that it will provide an opportunity to recruit more active-faculty members – a priority Friends target. Erik Inglis suggested that, conceivably, in the spring it might be possible for the Friends to sponsor an event honoring faculty and staff contributions related to "all the other sorts of media the Oberlin library collects" – musical scores and recordings, for example.
Membership Committee
Carlton noted that Committee chair Rubin's manifold obligations in his new and very demanding post as interim director of the new Library and Information Sciences department at Kent State had "put on hold for several months" his involvement in the production of a new brochure for use in recruiting more Friends.
Anne Trubek suggested that the Friends might want to consider purchasing a letter-press quality printer, which could be used for producing brochures and other Friends publications. Such an acquisition would involve a one-time outlay of about $10,000, Trubek estimated.
Several Council members expressed the opinion that Trubek's suggestion was worth looking into. Barry Neavill suggested that a letter-press might find many uses – that the cost of purchasing it might be shared by various college departments interested in having such a resource available. Ray English said that he would be more than willing to work with a volunteer group to explore the feasibility of this idea.
Student Friends activities
Maria Paz Esguerra reported that as of the time of the meeting 43 students had become Friends of the Library, thanks to the efforts of herself and Rebecca Thompson, Institute of Museum and Library Studies Diversity Fellow. In complement of their activities a special exhibit titled "A Tradition of Excellence: The Friends of the Oberlin College Library," was mounted near the circulation desk on the Main Level of Mudd Center in time for the fall semester.
During freshman Orientation Week, Paz Esguerra and Thompson recruited 16 new members by manning a special table at three events: the parents' tour, the new student and parent orientation fair, and the new students' library orientation tour. In another innovation they also provided each student recruited with a "New Member Welcome Packet," which included a letter of greeting from English, the latest issue of Library Perspectives, and a small dry-erase board for use in their dorms.
Paz Esguerra expressed some disappointment with the number of students recruited in view of the effort she and Thompson had expended. She assigned the blame to the recent increase in student dues from $1 to $5. Students pointed out that for $5 they could do a week's laundry, have a snack at the DeCafe or catch a movie and have popcorn at the Apollo movie theater, she said.
In light of their experience she and Thompson prevailed upon Council President Carlton temporarily to lower the dues for students to $2 prior to the Ice Cream Social, which was held September 16, and with good result. In just one hour, between 5 and 6 p.m., they were able to recruit 18 new student members, many of them paying their dues in quarters, nickels and dimes.
During the meeting the minimum cost of a student and recent graduate fees were reduced. (See Change in Bylaws, below). There was also discussion of the need to retool the present database so as to track the number of members in both categories more accurately.
Looking ahead Paz Esguerra and Thompson are hoping to involve students in participating in the first-ever "Big, Big, Talent Show," sponsored by student Friends, and a student Friends book sale, scheduled for early December as a holiday event. As of the date of the Council meeting Paz Esguerra said 300 books had been collected for this sale – including popular mystery and sci-fi novels. She encouraged Council members to contribute books for the sale.
Inglis suggested alternatively that perhaps a special place or places could be set aside at Mudd Center and the various separate branches that comprise the Oberlin College libraries, for the display of recent acquisitions made possible with Friends donations. His suggestion sparked a lively discussion of several possibilities for providing ongoing visible reminders of Friends' contributions. These included suggestions on displays of works acquired with Friends' funds, some system for flagging such works in the collections, the preparation of lists of materials by curriculum subject acquired as a stimulus in the recruitment of active-faculty members, and the mounting of a ten-year retrospective exhibit of items acquired by the Friends for the rare book and special collections.
Honorary and Life Members
The Council approved by consensus the conferral of an Honorary Friends Membership on Irving Klotz, professor emeritus of Northwestern University, in light of his generosity in establishing an endowed fund, the Klotz Family Fund, at the Oberlin library. The fund, English said, was originally established in 1995, and in the intervening years Professor Klotz has made additional contributions to it with the result that today it is one of the largest of the library's endowed funds.
The Council took similar action in granting an Honorary Life Membership on Ogden Hannaford, a resident of Kendal at Oberlin, for his role in coordinating the gift by himself and four other heirs of an extremely valuable, complete medieval manuscript, a missive used in the Mass, which is still in its original binding.
Bylaws amendment
Those present at the meeting, acting as the Friends membership, approved a change in Bylaw 3a, as follows: that the contribution ranges be changed to $2-$29 for student members and to $5-29 for recent graduates.
Election of Council members and officers.
Those present at the meeting, acting as the Friends membership, approved by consensus the nominations of four members to terms ending in 2005: Erik Inglis, Lucy Marks, Richard Rubin and Scott Bennett.
The Council approved in similar fashion the nominations of the following officers for 2002-2003: Dina Schoonmaker, president; Gordon (Barry) Neavill, vice president, and Nathan (Mike) Haverstock, secretary.
Committee members
Carlton encouraged Council members to come forward if they are interested in serving on Friends committees, whose composition for the coming year, he said, is as follows:
Acquisitions Committee – Scott Smith, chair; Scott Bennett; Carol Ganzel; Ruth Hughes; Robert Jackson; Lucy Marks; Carl Peterson; Dina Schoonmaker; Janice Zinser; Eric Carpenter, ex officio; Ed Vermue, ex officio.
Membership Committee – Richard Rubin, chair; Terry Carlton; Erik Inglis; Dina Schoonmaker; Ray English, ex officio.
Nominating Committee – Janice Zinser, chair; Dina Schoonmaker; Ray English, ex officio.
Program Committee – Anne Trubek, chair; Carol Ganzel; Gordon (Barry) Neavill; Dina Schoonmaker; Ray English, ex officio.
Votes of thanks
Before adjourning, Carlton expressed the thanks of the Council to two members who are leaving the Council, Paul Erler and Norman Jung. English asked for a similar show of appreciation for Terry Carlton, who has provided the Council with dynamic leadership as president in the past two years.
Respectfully submitted by Nathan Haverstock, Secretary, October 18, 2002.