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New Release
October 13, 2005

CONTACT: Kristin Margolin, Student Government Association 304-550-2866
D.J. Casto, Student Government Association 304-293-4403

Sip on this. West Virginia University students and employees will soon be able to enjoy a latte at the library.

Plans are in place to construct a coffee shop, complete with Starbucks products and food items, in the bay window area on the fourth floor of the Downtown Campus Library.

Construction on Eliza’s is set to begin Nov. 1 and should be completed by mid-February, announced Student Body President D.J. Casto during Wednesday night’s (Oct. 12) student Board of Governors meeting in the Mountainlair.

“Since June, the Student Government Association has been working with the provost’s office, WVU administrators and library staff to create an area where students could enjoy a cup of coffee in the Downtown Campus Library,” said Casto, noting the shop is the initiative of BOG member Jon Jaraiedi. “The library is one of students’ favorite places to study and relax on campus. I think the addition of Eliza’s will be a welcome enhancement.”

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The Dominion Post Oct. 3, 2005
Eric Slagle, Reporter

WVU library opens monster-themed display in time for Halloween

WVU students considering creepy costumes for the quickly approaching Halloween season can visit the ground floor of the university’s downtown library for suggestions.

That’s where library staff has assembled four display cases of horror-related reading.

The theme of the exhibits actually is monsters, both in literature and film. Titles in the arrangement include classics such as “Jaws,” “Frankenstein,” and the “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.”

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Worth not necessarily related to tome’s age

By Mary Helen Hinchliffe
The Dominion Post

Cliff Bishop waited anxiously in the WVU Downtown Library Complex with several books in hand to determine if he was holding a collector’s treasure.

Bishop, along with his wife, Sara, and son, Caldwell, 17, were among more than 60 collectors who attended the Book Lovers’ Roadshow on Sunday at the Charles C. Wise, Jr. Library, featuring Jack Walsdorf, an antiquarian book appraiser and collector.

The family, which has several hundred books in their collection, hoped to find out more information about and the value of their books from Walsdorf.

“The main reason for coming is to find out about the books, but also for (Jack’s) views on what condition they’re in and whether or not they would be worth restoring,” Bishop said. “For me it’s intriguing to read the books and wonder about the individuals that have previously owned them.”

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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.

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WVU Libraries are among 31 institutions across the nation participating in a pilot program to provide virtual reference services to people seeking government information.

The Government Information Online service allows researchers to go online and ask questions or seek information about state and federal government. Patrons access the service through a link on the WVU Libraries webpage http://www.libraries.wvu.edu or directly at http://govtinfo.org. From this site, users can e-mail a question or engage in a real-time chat session with a librarian.

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WVU Libraries could serve as the set for a new program in the fall lineup – CSI: 1893. It may be light on the cool special effects, but the story is still interesting.

Long before FBI agents were searching digital files to find a match for a fingerprint found at a crime scene, Sir Frances Galton began studying fingerprints as a means of identification. The result was Finger Prints, an 1892 work that included the first fingerprint classification system.

Galton established two major points. First, an individual’s fingerprints are unique – the chance of two people having the same prints would be 1 in 64 billion. Second, fingerprints stay the same as a person ages.

An 1893 edition of Finger Prints is part of the collection that the International Association for Identification is entrusting the WVU Libraries with for the next decade.

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Penny Pugh, Head of Reference for the Downtown Campus Library, was named president of the West Virginia Library Association during the organization’s fall conference at Stonewall Resort.

In the post, she will guide the group which represents librarians and staff from public, academic, K-12, and special libraries around the state.

“It’s very challenging and humbling to be president of this organization,” Pugh said. “The association represents libraries of all types and gives us an opportunity to work together toward common goals, which ultimately serve the citizens of West Virginia.”

Pugh comes aboard with a full agenda already on her plate. The WVLA succeeded last session in securing funding from the Legislature to acquire statewide electronic database licenses for hundreds of libraries.

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Illustrating the message — Below, Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard reads from one of her books to a group of children at Westover Elementary during a presentation entitled “Every Family Has Stories.” The author visited the school last week as part of the University’s marking of the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. Howard, who resides in Pittsburgh, was a member of WVU’s library science faculty from 1978-93.

– Mountaineer Spirit

Sophie Bogdanski (right), Monographs Unit Librarian for the WVU Libraries, explains Banned Books Week to Shelia Shurina, an education junior, at a display in the Downtown Campus Library Alumni Lobby.

Banned Books Week, a national event that runs from Sept. 25-Oct. 2, has two goals. First, the annual observance is a celebration of the freedom to read. It is also a chance to educate people about the library’s responsibility to collect, provide access, and archive materials on all points of view and on any given topic without censorship.

“The library is a bias-free zone,“ Bogdanski said. “This freedom is essential on a university campus where students, faculty, and staff need to research both sides of controversial issues such as cloning.”

In spite of differing opinions about what is written in a book, people still have the right to read it. This right is embedded in the First Amendment of the Constitution.

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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.

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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.

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Alisha Myers didn’t know what she was getting herself into last summer. An art education major at WVU, Myers, who works in the university’s newly renovated Wise Library, spent her summer in town, expecting the doldrums to seep in and take over.

The days were lazy, until the Web Services Librarian Beth Toren, who is also her supervisor, came to her with a project proposal – to help her put one of the library’s most extensive collections on the Internet.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) is the showcased author. He’s best known for his science fiction, but also wrote commentaries on the Bible and numerous books on science that could be understood by the common layman.

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CONTACT: Monte Maxwell, WVU Libraries 304-293-4040 ext. 4004

Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov used his books to explain the complicated world of science to readers around the globe. The West Virginia University Libraries are now using the Internet to share his works with the masses.

WVU Libraries recently launched an online exhibit celebrating their Isaac Asimov Collection.

The collection, donated last year by WVU alumnus Larry Shaver, contains works by Asimov, who has been called one of the greatest science fiction writers of the 20th century. Many critics, scientists, educators and readers praised Asimov for explaining complex scientific concepts in a clear, digestible way.

“We often think of rare library books as old books,” said Beth Toren, Web services librarian. “It is exciting to see something really different: a late 20th century science fiction collection, the complete works of one author, which include many first editions, autographed copies and great visuals. The sci-fi art lends itself to a graphic display, as do the hardcover editions with their book jackets intact.”

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CONTACT: Frances O’Brien, WVU Libraries 304-293-4040 ext. 4000

Without adding another wing or more shelves, West Virginia University Libraries is about to grow its collection by about 26 million volumes.

This feat is being accomplished through joining the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium Inc., or PALCI, a group of more than 50 academic libraries in the Keystone State with a reciprocal lending and borrowing agreement. WVU and Rutgers University were the first institutions outside of Pennsylvania to be invited to participate.

PALCI enables students, faculty and staff of a member institution to use a Web site to concurrently search the holdings of all participating colleges and universities. After finding a particular title, users can then request the book be sent to a library on their campus.

For students, faculty and staff at WVU, the agreement means quick and easy access to collections at schools such as the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, Drexel University and dozens of others.

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The Dominion Post
BY EVELYN RYAN

Photo: Ian Benson/The Dominion Post

Book expert Jack Walsdorf evaluates some old books, including “The Indian Fairy Book,” in his hand and, from left, a 1882 volume “Daughters of America” and a 1912 brightly illustrated edition of “Just So Stories.” The WVU Libraries hosted his “Book Lovers’ Road Show” at Wise Library on Friday. More than 70 people came to have their books evaluated.

Jack Walsdorf lovingly caressed the 1882 illustrated book, “Daughters of America.”

The daughters appeared in battered condition — one side of the spike broken through, portions of the cover showing attention from silverfish.

He shook his head.

“In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In books, it’s condition, condition, condition,” he said. It would cost, he estimated, about $75 to restore the volume. And there’s no indication anyone would want to buy the volume, written by Phoebe A. Hanaford.

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Charleston Gazette

“Most everybody responds to old books,” said Frances O’Brien, dean of West Virginia University’s libraries. “Any librarian will tell you that one of the most fun things we do is introduce people to old books. They can actually hold in their hands something that was around when Ben Franklin was alive.”

But is that dusty old tome actually worth something? Would-be collectors can find out Friday when old-book guru Jack Walsdorf brings his Book Lovers’ Road Show to the James Robinson Reading Room at WVU’s Charles C. Wise Jr. Library in Morgantown.

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CONTACT: Monte Maxwell, WVU Libraries, 304-293-4040, ext. 4004

It makes an interesting story in itself: health care professional by day, mystery writer by night.

Arthur Conan Doyle penned his Sherlock Holmes series while serving patients through his medical practice. The ophthalmologist’s story is not that unique.

Library and bookstore shelves are lined with mysteries authored by physicians, dentists, biochemists, medical records administrators, emergency medical technicians, pharmacist assistants and nurses.

Such works are the focus of an exhibit at the Health Sciences Library throughout February. The exhibit, located in the display case outside the entrance of the library, contains a selection of books, pictures of authors and Web sites. There are also a few of the villain’s tools of the trade – poisons, on loan from the University’s Pharmacy Museum.

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By Brad McElhinny, Charleston Daily Mail

MORGANTOWN — Packing up the contents of a library and moving them to another location is not like moving the contents of your home.

Do your spoons have to be numbered and placed in order? And if you don’t unpack a box or two as long as you own your home, will anyone care?

But when officials at West Virginia University start transferring thousands of books and periodicals to the new campus library next month, you can be sure the movers will possess expertise in moving heavy objects and in keeping them in order.

“This is like throwing the contents of 20 to 50 households all together and having everything end up in the right order,” said project coordinator Ruth Nellis. “If everything gets out of order, it’s a major problem. We’d prefer to be able to find everything.”

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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.

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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.

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