WVU Libraries

by Tonia Teresh, Susan Case, and Tim Terman
West Virginia University Alumni Magazine v.22:no.2 (Summer 1999)

The year is 2001. You are in a brand-new, state-of-the-art library. Over the hushed whir of computer fans and the muted sound of footsteps on the carpeted floor, you hear a librarian say, ever so quietly: “Please wait while the information you requested is being downloaded.”

With the groundbreaking for WVU’s new downtown campus library facility on June 20, and numerous library improvements underway campus-wide, a scenario like this is not idle speculation. The future of libraries at WVU is now.

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The WVU Libraries, the WVU Press, and the West Virginia and Regional History Collection are pleased to announce the availability of the out of print book, “West Virginia History: A Bibliography and Guide to Research” on the world wide web. The author, Harold Forbes, is the Associate Curator at the West Virginia and Regional History Collection.

The book was published by the West Virginia University Press in 1981 and contains references covering the period from the prehistoric mound builders through the 1980s.

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By Tim Terman

West Virginia University will take the first step toward major campus changes at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, June 20— West Virginia Day — when University officials break ground for a new library on the downtown campus.

The five-story, 124,000-square-foot consolidated complex will cost $30 million and should be completed in two years. This is the first groundbreaking for three projects included in the initial phase of WVU’s master plan — a 10-year blueprint for more than $254 million in both new construction and renovations to existing buildings on the two Morgantown campuses. The first three projects are to be completed by 2001.

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The WVU Libraries and the West Virginia and Regional History Collection are pleased to announce that researchers from all over the world can now access information about the materials in the Collection virtually on the World Wide Web. The West Virginia and Regional History Collection’s new web site is now available at www.libraries.wvu.edu/wvcollection.

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In March 1997, the WVU Libraries received a $1 million dollar challenge grant from the WVU Research Corporation to enhance library collections. The Research Corp. agreed to donate two dollars for every one dollar contributed by the WVU community over a five year period to establish library collection endowments. This unique and innovative partnership between university research and university Libraries is paying off for WVU.

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The WVU Libraries Staff Council is pleased to announce the publication of the Council’s web site. The site is the first well developed section of the WVU Libraries new Intranet, available at: http://intranet.wvu.edu/library/.

The WVU Library Staff Council (LSC) is an organization dedicated to improving the working conditions for library staff at the WVU Libraries. Since 1995, LSC has met once a month to discuss issues important to library staff members. The Executive Council of LSC consists of 15 representatives from departments in 9 WVU Libraries.

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WVU’s Libraries have a new dean.

Provost Gerald Lang has named Frances O’Brien, who is deputy university librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to the post effective June 16.

O’Brien replaces Dr. Ruth Jackson, who left the post in December, 1998, after 10 years. Myra Lowe has served as interim since July.

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