LSA News

No. 52, March 2004

If you have anything you want in the next newsletter, send it to lsaweb@lists.uoregon.edu .

Index Regarding Dennis The View from Hidden Spring by Pam DeLaittre The Zimbabwe Program by Susan Mincks New Staff Babies! From the Fact File LSA Spring Sale Events Of Interest Comings and Goings

Pomegranate and Tea by Erik Dahl

Regarding Dennis:

Responses to Dennis Hyatt's Retirement by a Few of His Friends and Colleagues

Mary Clayton, Associate Law Librarian, on Dennis

I have been a Law Librarian for 30 years and it has been my good fortune to work with Dennis for 20 of those years. The atmosphere in the Law Library is very collegial, communication is open and we consider ourselves to be a team. Despite disclaimers by Dennis over the years, we all know that the tone is set by him. His respect for people, his support and encouragement, his humor and his generosity in deflecting praise to us are all reasons we are going to miss him very much.

When the Law Library moved into the new law building about 5 years ago, we hired two 16-year-old high school students to finish setting the collection over the summer. One of the students hired was my son Will. Will and Rick reported to Dennis and he began by outlining the over-all project, explaining the smaller parts of it and giving them a background in growth rates etc. for the law collection. He encouraged them to make suggestions about the best way to accomplish the objectives and in general treated them both, who were working at their first job, as respected participants in the process. At some point I told Will and Rick, "You will never have a nicer boss than Dennis." When my son came home from college last summer, we went downtown for his first visit to the new Eugene Public Library. As we walked into the first floor stack area, Will looked around said "There's a lot of empty shelving here." And then he added, "Ever since I worked for Dennis that summer, the first thing I notice when I walk into any library is how much growth space there is!"

Angus Nesbit, Law Reference Librarian, on Dennis

When the newsletter asked me to contribute a few sentences about what makes Dennis Hyatt so special as a librarian, I thought, "how easy that is!" I routinely rattle on to my wife, colleagues and other friends about how satisfying it is to have Dennis as a library director. Perhaps my favorite thing about Dennis is his accessibility. I have served under 4 other directors in past jobs, but have never previously enjoyed such opportunity to learn from a seasoned administrator as I've had with Dennis. Dennis has truly maintained an open door policy not only for all law library staff, but for many in the rest of the library system. Think of the things that compete for a library director's time. Every day. Relentlessly. Then imagine being able to pop into the director's office any old time, to talk about virtually any aspect of a library decision or activity. Then, as an added bonus, consider that the director has one of the longest institutional memories of anyone on campus. If you can imagine how fulfilling it is to serve under such a director, then you should be able to imagine how sorry we in the law library are that Dennis is retiring.

Andrea Coffman, Ocean and Coastal Law Librarian, on Dennis

In the months and weeks since Dennis first announced his plans to retire, the reality of his impending departure has been slowly but surely sinking in. I've noticed my mind wandering to thoughts of the "Dennis things" that I so admire and know I will sorely miss: his dedication to his staff; his awe-inspiring knowledge of legal literature; his gift for elevating the ordinary bib talk, lecture, or library tour to a higher plane; and his wonderful, easygoing sense of humor.

Of the many good things I have learned from Dennis, learning to appreciate the importance of thinking outside the box, of striving to see the big picture, rates as the most valuable lesson to me, both professionally and personally. I remember more than a few long and convoluted discussions at our law librarians' meetings during which Dennis would be mum for a while and then say something or pose a question (oh, those questions!) that would make me realize that resolving the problem lay in looking at the forest, not in struggling to bring just a few trees into focus.

To this day, I marvel at my exceedingly good fortune to have worked for over two decades in the law library with Dennis at the helm. The law librarians and library staff with whom I work make a great team, but, while Dennis may modestly understate the importance of his role in shaping and directing that team, much of the credit for the law library's welcoming environment and reputation for excellent service belongs to him. I am grateful to Dennis for his wise counsel, encouraging words, and generous friendship over the years, and I wish him the very best in his retirement.

Jennifer Rowan on Dennis

It is the hardest of things to begin to talk about Dennis because of the conviction right from the start that one simply can't do justice to the task. I've known Dennis for eighteen years this March when I began my job in the Law Library in serials checkin, and it seems an impressive length of time to count someone a friend. With Dennis, however, one is likely to sense a profound and mutual empathy in rather short order - you don't have to know Dennis a long time before you feel you really know him. His charm and attention to those around him attests to a rare quality of immediate accord and truly ingenuous interest. He is fully engaged, he listens attentively and his remarks are always thoughtful and eloquent and are never, ever brief.

In the depths of Tech Services in the underbelly of the Law Library, Dennis' informal visits to the staff were far from perfunctory. He wanted to interact, to converse and to discuss - not necessarily about anything related to work, it might just as likely have to do with the nonfiction book he was currently absorbed in or he might launch into relating a long and invariably complicated narrative history of some aspect of the law school or library or of his own career or education. I've only ever met two other people in my life with the memory for detail and knack for weaving an intricate, multilayered story as has Dennis, and neither of them had the additional grace of his personal warmth. His social peregrinations to Tech Services were undoubtedly paralleled by similar visitations throughout the public service domain and in the law school corridors. Dennis even had time for the law school secretaries who were charmed by his sincere interest. Although I exchanged the Law Library for A&AA in 1997, and the whole establishment was subsequently relocated to its gleaming new site in the remote territories of east campus, I know that Dennis has never abdicated the social routines and rituals that ensure his personal connection to the people around him.

And his parties for his staff are the stuff of legends! Law Library staff birthdays were always celebrated with cake or pie or fruit served up in Tech Services, and one could depend on a silly chorus of birthday song with kazoo accompaniment and a hilarious commemorative speech by Dennis, delivered with straightfaced eloquence. Staff 10-year anniversaries have always presented Dennis with the greatest challenge of all. These occasions have allowed the creative expression of his genius for outrageous themes and a talent for attention down to the smallest detail. Usually staged at Dennis' own home, these parties have taken the form of performance art in distinctive Dennis style involving a lengthy recitation with convoluted plot of his own inspired devising - always audience-interactive - and with the incorporation of masks, hats, odd footwear and other props to create his signature brand of absurdity and off-beat ambiance.

Anyone who knows Dennis well enough keeps somewhere in their home a collection of letters and cards still in their envelopes inscribed with his briskly upright and distinctive handwriting and adorned with a rainbow medley of curious stamps - 2 cents, 4 cents - in double rows lining the top and right edges. Anyone who has ever received a letter or card from Dennis can NEVER be prevailed upon to throw it away - it is a keeper, if not for the impressive vintage postal configurations then for the warmth and wit of the message inside. Tonight, I took out and read again the letter Dennis wrote on the occasion of my marriage five years ago. In fact, in true Dennis fashion, he and Patty drove up to Portland and attended the eleventh-hour event (John and I married on short notice after a sixteen-year "courtship"), and he read the letter aloud as part of the ceremony - an eloquent and personalized testimony to our friendship. I treasured Dennis' heartfelt contribution to my wedding, and I have continued to value his letters and his friendship over these past eighteen years. With his recent plunge into retirement, the Library may have initiated the formation of a search committee for a new Law Librarian, but we all know in our hearts that Dennis is someone who can never be replaced.

Lonni Sexton on Dennis

I think Dennis Hyatt epitomizes the word "Generosity". He is generous with his time and his knowledge. I remember once my son got an old stamp album from his grandfather. I knew that among many other interests, Dennis is an avid philatelist, so I asked him to look at the album. He not only thoroughly researched the stamps in the album, he wrote down a description of the notable stamps with an appraisal. He did the research while on his vacation! His payment was warm thanks and a latte grande.

Luckily Dennis is working part-time for a while yet. I hope he still attends the all-staff meetings, because we all wait with glee for Dennis' hand to shoot up during the "question and answer" period. Dennis is not the sort to let any ambiguous statement to go by unchallenged. I am glad he was a strong supporter of the LSA for many years, because there were times when the organization might simply have faded away without his interest and support.

I'll miss Dennis when he leaves us. I am sure he will be happy and successful in retirement. He is a warm person with a lot of interests, good friends, and a wonderful spouse, Patty. Best wishes to you, Dennis.

Harriett Smith on Dennis

Dennis gave me my start in the library world when he hired me as a temp in 1986, and treated me as though I were a regular staff member. When a job came open in the Catalog Department, I feel sure that one reason I was hired was the glowing recommendation he wrote.

Dennis is a generous supporter of the arts, and he and Patty sponsored many a glorious Elizabethan costume for the Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble's madrigal dinners. He also waited on the high table in costume as an Elizabethan steward, complete with stockings and flat cap. Behind his dignified headwaiter demeanor he was usually conniving at all sorts of tricks and jokes with the singers and the chefs. What a lot of fun he was at those events! The choir would not have had the look it does today without his patronage. "Generous" is a word that crops up over and over when people talk about Dennis, and how true it is -- he is generous with his time, his money, his praise, his humour, and his humanity.

Katy Lenn on Dennis

I was asked to write a couple of paragraphs for the LSA newsletter. Writer's block took deep root and choked out any germ of an idea (why can't there be a Roundup-type product for that?). I then decided to take a walk around the Library, talk to my fellow colleagues, and get them to provide the material for this piece.

During my walk around Knight Library I asked people to give me one word to describe a certain individual. So instead of a short article, I offer you a quiz: Who in the UO library system do ALL of the following words describe?

• Unique
• Warm
• Generous
• Loquacious
• Loquacious
• Compassionate
• Calm
• Mentor
• Genuine
• Generous
• Noble
• Bibliophile
• Erudite
• Generous
• Avuncular
• Focused
• Silly
• Quirky
• Generous
• Old-fashioned
• Nurturing
• Collector
• Generous*

* I did not allow people to repeat words but Generous appears more than once because it was suggested so many times. As someone mentioned, this person "is generous on so many levels!"

Answer: Dennis Hyatt.

I want to thank everyone who assisted me. I was having trouble finding the words to describe the essence of Dennis (sounds like a good cologne name - "Essence of Dennis" coming soon to a Hiron's near you!).

And now that I'm just about finished writing, writer's block has loosened its grip:

There once was a man named Dennis
who thought he'd be a lawyering menace
soon found he preferred books
to the courts and the crooks
and so took up biblio-tennis!

It is very hard to rhyme with Dennis! Give it a try and email with your attempts.

The View From Hidden Spring

By Pam DeLaittre

As you may remember, before Christmas we had ordered some chickens called Barnevelder Bantams. Janet Tallon, the breeder, lives in NE Tennessee, so we had to wait until later to have the chickens shipped. The US Post Office is the only shipper that will deal with live freight from pick-up to delivery, and they don't ship any live freight over the holiday season in December, or for a week or so in January. This is to ensure, obviously, that the animals will get there alive. There is also the issue of weather and temperature. If the airplane will land anywhere on the route where the temperature is 30 degrees or lower, then they won't ship live freight.

Between mid-January and mid-February, Janet attempted to ship the chickens to no avail. In mid-January she went to the post office only to be told that, yes, they would accept them, but because the temperature in Denver (the air hub they would fly through) was below 30 the airlines would reject them and they would in the end be returned to Janet unshipped.

Finally, on Friday, February 20th, Janet emailed Kirk to say that the weather looked like it might work for shipping the three chickens the following week.

... (story continued)

The Zimbabwe Program

by Susan Mincks

On January 15, 2004, the LSA Program Committee presented Jennifer Kyker, who spoke on Zimbabwe's Plight. Jennifer is a native Eugenean, musician, scholar, teacher and authority on the music and culture of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. She also learned Shona (one of the two major languages in Zimbabwe), and to play the mbira instrument. Jennifer spent the last year as a Fulbright Fellow in Zimbabwe studying the Kurova Guva ceremony.

The Shona people have a three-day ceremony, the Kurova Guva, for relatives who have been dead a year. It starts with making beer, some of which is then mixed with goat dung and poured over the grave. This is to let the dead person know that the grave is decorated just like their house and that the grave is their new home. Goat dung is mixed with different colors and painted on the walls of houses. It dries hard and lasts a long time, and, no, it doesn't smell. The elderly people sit inside the house where the ceremony is being held and play music and dance. The instruments are always made out of metal and never go outside of the house. The young people stay outside of the house and sing other songs, drum, play music and dance. This is about the only time the young people can get together and sing and dance is during the ceremony. Music is played constantly to and from the gravesite. It is believed that the music carries the spirit of the deceased along. Another interesting fact is that a shed is built next to the deceased persons house and most of their belongings are put in it. This is very important for when the person is called upon by another family member for help, they will have a cane and a coat, to make it easier for them to go and help the living family member.

With family members going to work in the larger cities, the ceremonies for the dead are harder to do and sometimes it takes several years before the ceremony can take place. Most people don't have trucks to carry the family in or the money to buy gasoline. Sometimes only one family member can go into the city for the funeral, which is a mass gravesite. This is very disturbing for the Shona people, as having ancestors near them is very important. Whenever a Shona person has a problem they call upon an ancestor to come and speak through another person to help them with the problem they are having. Also, with the ancestors buried all over the country and in large gravesites, the family doesn't know who the ancestor is buried next to. It could be a person who was evil, or didn't like the ancestor's family, or was not a good citizen.

Jennifer also talked about the current conditions in Zimbabwe. Times are tough in Zimbabwe, and even tougher if you're a woman. An estimated thirty percent of the population of Zimbabwe is HIV positive. It is a country with over one million orphans. Unemployment is at about seventy percent. The press has been almost completely taken over by the government, and there is no freedom of assembly. Farms are failing; an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease has devastated a once-thriving beef export industry.

Jennifer is planning to set up a nonprofit agency that will provide vital assistance for females age seventeen to twenty-four, about half of whom are orphans, and for whom there are few resources and little social support. For a fairly small amount of money a young woman could be placed in a boarding school, freeing her of domestic duties, giving the family one less mouth to feed, and allowing the woman to focus on her studies. The agency could also hire a housekeeper to take up the family's domestic slack. If you want to learn more about what is happening in Zimbabwe, or what Jennifer is doing, or want to give a donation, contact her at jsarudzai@hotmail.com.

NEW STAFF BABIES!

A couple of New Acquisitions for the Library Collection

Angus Nesbit from the Law Library and Blake Scott from Knight have a lot on their hands these days as they juggle books at work and new babies at home. We welcome these comely additions to the newest generation of library users!

Above: A tranquil moment for Angus Nesbit, Madeline and Moxie the cat

Above: Madeline Nesbit (photos provided by Angus Nesbit)

Above: Blake Scott and Josie in reverie

The many moods of Josie Scott (photos provided by Blake Scott)

Dying for Love

'FACT FILE' WINNER & ANSWERS

In our February issue, we asked you to identify some fictional characters whose death occurs in eight stories of romance. A handful of readers correctly identified all of the works but got tripped up on the characters. One reader killed off Maria in "West Side Story;" although Maria utters the lines, "How many can I kill, Chino? How many--and still have one bullet left for me?" she tosses the gun away. Two staff members correctly identified all of the works and the ill-fated heroines and heroes described in our clues. Our winner, whose name was drawn by lot, is Jeanette Lochbaum, of the Office of the Librarian. Jeanette will be receiving a delight from Euphoria Chocolate, courtesy of the Library Staff Association. Honorable mention to Victoria Mitchell who also sent in a perfect submission.

You can revisit the clues in the February LSA News Fact File.

The answers:

1. Anna Karenina: Anna Karenina
2. Othello: Desdemona and Othello
3. Tosca: Cavaradossi and Tosca
4. Madame Bovary: Emma Bovary
5. Aida: Radames and Aida
6. Tess of the D'Urbervilles: Tess Durbeyfield
7. West Side Story: Tony
8. Madama Butterfly: Cio-Cio San (Butterfly)

LSA Spring Sale April 20

This spring's Sale will benefit the Science Library's Annie Zeidman-Karpinski and her family

If it's raining, it must be spring, and if it's spring it must be time to look ahead to the Library Staff Association Spring Sale!

The Spring Sale will be held on April 20 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Knight Library Browsing Room. This year, LSA will donate its usual 10% commission and money received from the dessert raffle to benefit Annie Zeidman-Karpinski and her family, Boris and Seth Karpinski. These folks have had an exceptionally rough time of it this year - thrown into a life-threatening and expensive emergency far from home, family, and work. LSA Executive, Library Administration, and other interested parties have all agreed that this would be a wonderful gesture of support for one of our own. There will be a donations jar at the sale for those who want to contribute but don't care to make a purchase.

Annie, when asked about this, was quick to say she had already been "incredibly moved by the support the U of O community has given us". You can find out more about how her family is faring at a little website Annie and Seth have put up.

The Spring Sale can't happen without sellers, so if you are a gardener, baker, craftsperson, or have a garage full of "wonderful treasures" to sell, now is the time to start thinking about what to bring in. This year, LSA is requesting that those consigning items be dues-paying members. Yearly (August-July) dues are $6, should be paid in advance of the Sale and can be paid to LSA Treasurer Pam DeLaittre, Collection Development and Acquisitions, Knight Library.

The Dessert Raffle is always one of the more exciting elements of the Sale, and Pam and Susan are currently looking for volunteers to offer up their wonderful creation to the highest bidder. Non-Raffle baked goods, either whole items or packaged for a quick snack, would also be welcome. In fact, about the only item we don't want to sell is - books!

If you can help with planning, decorating, baking, consigning items, or in any other way, or have questions or concerns, please contact Pam DeLaittre (6-1826) or Susan Mincks (6-1937).

EVENTS OF INTEREST

As well as featuring upcoming LSA events, we'd like to get the word out about events staff are involved in that might be of interest to co-workers. If you'd like the world, or at least your co-workers, to know about something cool coming up, please email Harriett Smith or lsaweb.

LSA EVENTS

No LSA programs are scheduled for March, which allows plenty of time to prepare for the Spring Sale (see above).

NON-LSA EVENTS

As good fortune would have it, the 2004 Conference of the Oregon Library Association will take place in Eugene on April 14 - 16 at the Eugene Hilton and Convention Center. This is a terrific opportunity for librarians and staff to participate in a professional conference and network with colleagues from around the state. Funding is available to encourage and support UO Library staff attendance. Consult with Jeanette in the Librarian's office re: the application process. The full schedule of conference sessions and workshops is listed on the OLA conference website at http://www.olaweb.org/conference/.

The Guild of Bookworkers Northwest Chapter is sponsoring a Gocco Printing Workshop on Saturday, March 13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Beach Conservation Lab of the Knight Library. The instructor will be Shu-Ju Wang, an artist from Portland, Oregon. Participants will learn how to use a simple silkscreen process from Japan to create cards and prints from original artwork or copyright-free clipart. Each participant will end up with copies of two finished prints.

Cost: GBW NW Chapter members: $60 + $17 material fee. This discount will be extended to participating faculty and staff of the UO Libraries. Non-members: $70 + $17 material fee. Basic materials & equipment are supplied, except for the artwork for the cards. Participants are encouraged to bring papers/materials that they are interested in trying. To sign up, contact Marilyn Mohr, 1085 N. Park Ave., Eugene OR 97404, 541-461-4512, mmohr@uoregon.edu Participants should wear clothes that they don't mind dirtying/staining. Oil-based, non-toxic inks will be used to print the cards.

The University of Oregon School of Music will present a Faculty Composers Concert on Tuesday, March 30 at 8:00 pm in Beall Hall. On that program will be works by associate professor Jack Boss, adjunct instructor Rebecca Oswald, and Terry McQuilkin, who is both the Douglass Room Supervisor here in the library and an adjunct instructor in the School of Music. For additional information, see the School of Music's calendar of events or contact Terry McQuilkin.

Welcome

Not exactly a welcome, as he has been with us for some time, but good news: Chip Hixson will continue with the Library in a new (IMLS) grant-funded position as Library Technician 3.

Congratulations

Hilary Hart, Rare and Nonbook Processing Technician and member of the LSA Newsletter Committee, has successfully defended her dissertation: Sentimental Spectacles: the Sentimental Novel, Natural Language, and Early Film Performance for the completion of a Doctorate of Philosophy in UO's Department of English. Congratulations, Hilary!

Stephanie Midkiff's article, "WORSA vs. ORS: A Comparison of West's annotated statutes to official ORS" was published in the January 2004 issue of the Oregon State Bar Bulletin.

Goodbyes

Jenna Boyle resigned from Library Tech 2 position in Current Periodicals and Stacks February 21, 2004

Been to an interesting conference?

Send us a brief report for publication in the next newsletter. Thanks!

Last updated: 030902
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