WVU Libraries

Library records included in Patriot Act provisions; librarians respond with systematic purging

Civil liberties have become an issue of much debate and concern in recent years due to the passing of the USA Patriot Act in 2001. Library records are an important topic in that debate.

Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act reads, “The director for the FBI, or a designee of the director, may make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things (such as books, records, papers, documents and other items) for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.”

Frances O’Brien, dean of West Virginia University Libraries, said libraries should be a place where students can come and find information on any subject they want and not be questioned about it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Research may be a few steps faster and net greater results for many WVU Libraries users. Mountainlynx, the libraries’ online catalog, now includes electronic journals in its listings.

Until now, someone searching for a mix of resources to research a topic had to check Mountainlynx to find books, films and microfilm, then look elsewhere on the Libraries’ Web site to find available electronic journals.

It’s now one-stop shopping.

“If students and faculty know to go to Mountainlynx, then they can find the electronic journals they need,” said Linda Blake, electronic journals coordinator and science librarian.

Read the rest of this entry »

Several current and former WVU students probably feel their Spidey Sense tingling while watching Spider-Man 2. The thought that there’s something familiar about one particular scene probably swings through their minds.

As Peter Parker can attest, trust those senses. There is something familiar about the film’s bank robbery scene for anyone who has sat in G-21 of White Hall.

A replica of the Robert Lepper mural covering the front wall of the WVU auditorium adorns a wall of a bank in the latest Spider-Man installment.

Read the rest of this entry »

CONTACT: John Cuthbert, West Virginia and Regional History Collection 304-293-4040 ext. 4201

In honor of West Virginia’s 141 st birthday, the West Virginia University Libraries’ West Virginia and Regional History Collection will exhibit the artwork of Mountain State native Richard Kidwell Miller on Saturday, June 19.

Miller is scheduled to attend the exhibit in the James Hornor Davis Family Galleries and present a lecture. The exhibit will open at 5 p.m., and Miller’s lecture will follow at 6 p.m. The galleries are on the sixth floor of the Charles C. Wise Jr. Library, part of the Downtown Library Complex.

Miller was born in Fairmont during the Great Depression. He displayed artistic talent at a young age and earned early release from grade school each day to study at a local WPA arts center.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mountaineer Spirit

BY MONTE MAXWELL

The WVU Libraries are seeking input from students, faculty and staff on the services they currently provide and what they should provide.

In a few days, about 4,000 randomly selected individuals will each receive an email requesting they participate in LibQUAL+, an online library service quality survey that takes place during the first two weeks of April.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mountaineer Spirit

BY MONTE MAXWELL

WVU Libraries has begun one of the final stages in the completion of the Downtown Library Complex.

During the next few weeks, the West Virginia and Regional History Collection, along with 47,000 volumes from the general collection, and libraries faculty and staff will relocate to the renovated Charles C. Wise, Jr. Library.

The process will bring permanently improve services that students and faculty receive, but may cause some temporary inconveniences, officials explained.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Monte Maxwell
Mountaineer Spirit

John Cuthbert, curator of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection, joined the ranks of Sen. Robert C. Byrd, writer Denise Giardina and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gate Jr. during an Oct. 12 ceremony in Charleston.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Bob Schwarz. Staff Writer. The Charleston Gazette

The Glenwood Series starts its second year at 4 p.m. Sunday at Glenwood, the historic estate on Charleston’s West Side, when John Cuthbert, author of the book “Early Art and Artists in West Virginia,” gives a lecture related to his book.

The Marshall University Graduate College Foundation sponsors the lecture. In 1978, Lucy Quarrier, the house’s last resident, gave Glenwood to the West Virginia Graduate College Foundation, which is opening the estate to the public through these programs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mountaineer Spirit

West Virginia Collection Curator John Cuthbert holds one of 19th century artist David Hunter Strother’s sketch pads.

See the photo and read the rest of the caption (PDF).

WVU campus drawings by an architect who designed or remodeled many campus buildings are now available in the West Virginia and Regional History Collection (WVRHC) through a donation by the family last year.

Beginning in the late 1950s and up into the 1980s, Robert J. Bennett was involved in much work at WVU. His designs included the Chemistry Building Annex (’66), Knapp Hall (’65), the Evansdale Library (’78), and others including several renovations.

His estate donated the drawings, more than a score, through Bennett’s wife, Jacqueline R. Bennett, and daughter Sandy Bennett Taylor. Bennett died in 1996.

The drawings have been processed by the WVRHC and became available the first of October.

“We are really pleased to have this documentation of many of our buildings and their renovations available as a resource for those who seek additional knowledge about our campus,” said John Cuthbert, curator. “And we certainly appreciate the generosity of the Bennett family in making this important donation to enhance our archival materials.”

Mountaineer Spirit

A look inside the West Virginia and Regional History Collection at WVU.
West Virginia University Alumni Magazine v.23:no.3 (Fall 2000)

by John Cuthbert

The author is curator of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection of the WVU Libraries.

It has often been said that history holds the keys to unlocking the future. If there is even a kernel of truth to this statement, then surely the West Virginia and Regional History Collection of the WVU Libraries is an asset that will prove to be invaluable to the citizens of West Virginia as we struggle to meet the new challenges of the next millennium. As the primary keeper of the historical record of the Mountain State, the West Virginia Collection has a formidable number of keys at its disposal.

Read the rest of this entry »