LSA News

No. 54, May 2004

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

Index Dreaming at My Desk by Harriett Smith The World Around Us by Shirien Chappel Bazaar Benefits Baby Boris Teaching LCSH in Scotland and Ireland by Lori Robare Report from the Signage Initative Two Truths and A Lie! From the Fact File Events Of Interest Congratulations! Goodbyes

Tulips near Woodburn. Photo by Ed Teague

Dreaming at My Desk

by Harriett Smith

Louis Quignot

I admit there are some days when I find my job to be rather monotonous. Crank out some retrocon, withdraw some titles, fix some call numbers....It's all very worthwhile and good, but often it's not...well...imaginative, creative, exciting....

But sometimes I run into something that unexpectedly captures my imagination and makes the past seem immediate and touching. That happened to me recently when I received an older book to reinstate. The title had been withdrawn since 1985 and needed retrospective conversion. But when I looked at it with an eye to cataloging it, I realized the "cover title" was quite different than the title page... in fact, it wasn't a cover title at all.

Since I began life as a cataloger in the Library in 1987, I have had the privilege of dealing with a number of rare or old books, and it's possibly my favourite part of the job. It always gives me a thrill to dip into a cookbook from 1720, or pamphlets written when Charles II of England was still alive. That to me is part of the romance of cataloging! But somehow this particular book was especially interesting to me. Maybe it was the personalization of the binding, which I haven't seen much at my desk (although perhaps the official rare books catalogers have seen it more often). In any case, I became quite obsessed with it, and spent some of my own time tracking down the history surrounding it.

The book at my desk was Voyage en Icarie

Photographs © LR Sexton. Click on images to enlarge.

and it's a Utopia of a sort by Etienne Cabet. On its beautiful smooth forest-green leather binding is some gold tooling, and in the center in gold the inscription "Le citoyen L. Quignot á la citoyenne H. Jean". Inside on the half-title page in fading brown ink is the inscription "Souvenir from a prisoner of state to Mademoiselle Hermance Jean, 12 May 1849....."

... (story continued)

The World Around Us

by Shirien Chappell

with deep appreciation to Gari Sheila Coats

Have you ever taken a medication that made you just feel "off"? That made you feel like you just weren't quite yourself, something was just not right, you just weren't centered? I've experienced that feeling. One time it lasted longer than I could handle -- I was feeling too far removed from my everyday "Shirien feeling". I couldn't make myself feel normal or right, and I started getting a little panicky. I starting thinking that maybe I was going slightly crazy, maybe I'd never get back to that wonderful everyday feeling of normalcy, that centered and grounded feeling that I take for granted nearly all of the time. Eventually the hormones or meds wore off and I got back to my old, comfortable self, and I realized how wonderful it is to have that warm and easy feeling of being connected with myself.
If you were not a child of the 60s or if you've never been on hormones or other brain altering medications you might not understand what it feels like to have some part of your brain not be in synch with the rest of you. In fact, the feeling that I've been describing may have nothing to do with the story I'm about to tell you, but it is the closest I can come, the best way I can imagine what it was like for Gary as he grew up.

He was only four years old when he started feeling that something was not right. He didn't know what it was, he only knew that something felt wrong, something was out of whack in his world, and being alive just didn't feel good. He realized that he was different from everybody else. They were comfortable with themselves, didn't even have to think about who they were, while something inside of him, something that touched on who he was, wasn't right.

As he got older he began to understand what was so very wrong for him: he began to realize that his body wasn't right, or maybe it was himself who wasn't right - either way, he knew that he was born somehow wrong. He didn't fit comfortably into the body he was born into, he didn't feel right, he felt incomplete. Little Gary would watch Red Skelton's comic sketches on TV -- the one where Skelton's left half was dressed as a male and his right half was dressed as a female -- and he'd think, "That's me! That's what I feel like." But he didn't understand why.

Bazaar Benefits Baby Boris

by L.R. Sexton

At this year's LSA Spring Sale, shoppers browsed through tables of designer jam, fresh farm eggs, and an eclectic array of goods, some of which can only be described as "unusual". There was a veritable jungle of houseplants donated by Victoria Mitchell, one of our "green thumbs".

Sale coordinators Pam DeLaittre and Susan Mincks wish to thank everyone who helped with the sale. LSA netted $390 from commissions, the raffle and donations to the Boris fund. All of the proceeds from this year's sale were donated to help with medical expenses for Boris, infant son of Annie & Seth Zeidman-Karpinski. Boris was born prematurely. Annie, a librarian in the Science Library, recently expressed her heartfelt thanks to the Library community for its support.

Rose Thomas created this year's raffle cake.The cake, chocolate with fudge sour-cream frosting and little chocolate curls, was one of those dreamy numbers with its own name: Velvet Underground. Rose says it smelled just like a Starbucks Mocha. The rest of us will never know how delicious it was, because the Systems Department, after years of disappointment, finally won the raffle. The cake disappeared soon after and hasn't been heard from since.

Victoria Mitchell and Debi Baker deserve kudos for donating all the proceeds of their sales to the Baby Boris fund. Victoria sold most of the plants below. She was on hand to give instructions and care tips to those of us who love plants, but can't stop killing them.

Teaching LCSH in Scotland and Ireland

The workshop is Basic Subject Cataloging Using LCSH - two full days of theory and practical application. LCSH stands for Library of Congress Subject Headings. Carol Hixson and I co-chaired a joint task force of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) and the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) that developed the workshop over the last two and a half years.

One session of the workshop was presented as a program at ALA in Toronto, to test our approach and get feedback. But attendance was so low in Toronto that we decided to put the course materials on a web page and publicize the session more widely. A librarian in Scotland spotted this and set the wheels in motion - soon the Head of Cataloging at the National Library of Scotland was inquiring whether we would be willing to send a trainer to do the workshop in Edinburgh. Quick as a wink, Carol confirmed that we would be happy to do so if they would pay the travel expenses for the trainer (as expected for such workshops) and suggested (bless her heart) that they should request me as the trainer.

Once plans for the trip to Edinburgh were well underway, I learned that my contact at the National Library had been talking up the workshop to colleagues in Ireland, and I was invited to pop over to Dublin and do the workshop there as well, at Trinity College. I couldn't quite shake the feeling that someone would pinch me and I would wake up, but convinced two friends to travel with me and set off near the end of March.

... (story continued)

Site visits help Signage Initiative Group hone objectives

In order to see how other libraries deal with signs, UO Libraries Signage Initative group planned a visit to the Valley Library at Oregon State University, the Nicholson Library at Linfield College, and the Suzzallo and Allen Libraries at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Staff in the libraries on the site visit repeated what the UO's sign committee has been learning: less is more.

The Suzzallo Library has a little one-page pamphlet they call "Find it Fast" which is a listing of the major public areas in the library -- a building directory. They provide these pamphlets at each stairwell and elevator landing, and near main entrances. Patrons grab a "find it fast" pamphlet and navigate their way around the building with it. Perhaps we could incorporate some floor maps and a building directory into a pamphlet like theirs, and get rid of a lot of our signs and maps and walls. Less is better!

To learn more about the visit to these libraries and to see pictures of some of their signs, as well as several of the signs in Knight Library, visit the groups's page documenting its site visit.

---Shirien Chappell

Two Truths and A Lie!

(a game of believe it or NOT)

Discover the dark secrets of your colleagues' pasts and marvel at their talent for fabrication! Two of three statements for each person is true. One is false. Can you distinguish fact from fiction? A prize goes to the (improbable) winner!

Stacy Marquardt

1. After graduating from college, she drove 3300 miles across country to look for a job in Atlanta, Georgia
2. Celebrated the turn of the millennium by camping overnight on New Year's Eve in an alligator-infested swamp in the Everglades.
3. Originally hails from Kodiak, Alaska where her dad was stationed in the Navy.

Lori Robare

1. Played the role of Marian in her high school production of Music Man.
2. Practiced skydiving during her college years until stopped with a back injury.
3. Was an interpreter (French-English) for athletes at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Christy Carmichael

1. In a sleepwalking episode at age seven, she climbed down from the top bunk, went to the kitchen and ate a banana.
2. Was attacked by a crow while riding her bike (it landed on her head and started pulling out hairs).
3. Her mom almost entered the convent as a Catholic nun.

Catherine Flynn-Purvis

1. Was the 5th grade Archidiocese of Chicago Spelling Bee Champion.
2. Was part of a team of women mountaineers who successfully climbed Mount Hood in 1991.
3. Taught skiing at a mountaintop resort in Galicia, Spain.

Aimee Yogi

1. Has summited Mount Hood, Mount Washington and Three-fingered Jack.
2. Cross-country skied the Cascade Marathon 30K race from Mt. Bachelor.
3. Rafted the Colorado River with the Outlaw River Rats in 1997.

Leslie Bennett

1. Sang backup for a Carpenters concert.
2. Danced the part of a mouse in a production of the Nutcracker.
3. Was born in Germany.

Will Harmon

1. Lived in Pakistan at the entryway to the Khyber Pass.
2. Flew shotgun in an F4 across the Pacific.
3. His band was kicked off Sudanese TV because the dancers were considered overly lewd in an Islamic state.

Harriett Smith

1. Hopped a freight train with her boyfriend as a teen.
2. Is a secret Britney fan! (don't tell!)
3. Has read Beowulf in the original more than once.

David Landazuri

1. Was chosen "All-American Boy" of his 8th grade class in Havana, Illinois. His family was the only Hispanic family in town.
2. Ginger Rogers once said "hello" to him on Montgomery Street in San Francisco.
3. Was arrested at an anti-war demonstration in Chicago in 1972.

Jennifer Rowan

1. Made a living singing in clubs in a major Canadian city in the 1970s.
2. Rode behind Monica Lewinsky and her entourage up an escalator in Macy's in New York City in November 2001.
3. Had her nose pierced when she turned 30.

Stacy DeHart

1. Has sky-dived (dove?) a total of ten times in Oregon and in New England.
2. Drove across the country five times in a Geo Metro.
3. Tracked down and shot an aggressive wild boar.

City Folk

Circ Staffer is latest Fact File Winner

In our April issue, we listed 15 cities and asked you to give us the word for a person who lives in, or is from, each of those cities. Readers found this to be a challenging Fact File, but two staff members from Knight Library Circulation/Reserves sent in perfect submissions. Our winner, chosen by lot, is Jen Lindsay, who will be receiving a gift certificate with $5.00 toward purchases at the UO Bookstore. Jen says that she determined many of the answers on her own, but found one book in our Reference Department to be particularly helpful: What do you call a person from...?, by Paul Dickson (Facts on File, 1990). Readers might also visit Wikipedia's online "List of adjectival forms of place names," at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adjectival _forms_of_place_names. Jen, by the way, says she's a Roseburger; having lived in the seat of Douglass County for her first 18 years. Perhaps she could tell us what we should call the folks from Drain (Drainers? Dranos?). In any event, we congratulate Jen and extend honorable mention to her co-worker and perfect scorer Rick Peterson.

The answers:

1. Moscow: Muscovite (Russia) or Moscowite (Idaho)
2. Seattle: Seattleite
3. Sydney: Sydneysider or Sydneyite
4. Phoenix: Phoenician
5. Glasgow: Glaswegian
6. Los Angeles: Angeleno or Angelino
7. Buenos Aires: Porteño (Porteña)
8. Madrid: Madrileno (or Madrilenian, Madrilene)
9. Quebec: Québecker (Québecer)
10. Manchester: Mancunian
11. Liverpool: Liverpudlian (or Scouse or Scouser)
12. Cambridge: Cantabrigian
13. São Paulo: Paulista
14. Berlin: Berliner
15. Halifax: Haligonian

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

Don't miss the May Retirement Tea, Wednesday, May 19, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Knight Library Browsing Room. Retirees include Sharla Davis, Dennis Hyatt, Duffy Knaus, Ann Muller, and Jean Murphy. We'll also honour some employees who are not retiring but are leaving nonetheless: Mandi Garcia of MDLS, who started as a student and ended as Beach Lab staff, and Ellen Klaastad, longtime Access Services worker and steadfast union organizer.

LSA will provide punch and a small sheet cake, but the event is planned to be a potluck affair as well. Please bring a favourite dessert, fruit (cut up, please), a veggie tray, or any other festive snack you'd like to share. Stephanie Midkiff will be providing transportation for former Library employees who need a lift to the Tea. She can be contacted at 541-346-1661. If you have questions or would like to help with the May Tea, please contact Susan Mincks at 6-1937.

NON-LSA EVENTS

Harriett Smith invites you to the 25th anniversary concert of the Eugene Chamber Singers on Friday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal church. Tickets are sliding scale, $3-13. There will be a reception following the concert. Matthew Svoboda will conduct, with James Miller as guest conductor for the Mendelssohn motet "Mein Herz erhebt Gott, den Herrn". Other music will include the Palestrina "Missa Brevis", madrigals, and even some sing-alongs! Please join us for this wonderful concert of serious, sacred music, and springtime, flighty music -- a treat for any taste.

On May 8 at 8 p.m. in the Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center, the Eugene Concert Choir, along with the Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble and the Oregon Mozart Players, will present the Verdi Requiem. Jean Murphy from MDLS says "it is a wonderful gorgeous dramatic work, and a delight to sing!"

Jean Murphy and Harriett Smith will be part of the chorus for the also-thrilling Eugene Symphony production of Beethoven Nine: Ode to Joy on Thursday, May 20, at 8 p.m. The symphony will be performing the Beethoven symphonies no. 1 and 9 in the Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, and it should be fabulous.

Welcome:

Be sure to say hello to these new staff members:

Kiley Watson will be working half time in Interlibrary Loan effective April 14.

Jimmy Lee Murray joined the staff in Current Periodicals and Stacks effective April 20.

Goodbyes

Farewell to Stacy Marquardt, who resigned from her job in Library Personnel April 2 in order to accept a position in the Office of the Vice President for Research. Good luck with the new job, Stacy!

Been to an interesting conference?

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

Last updated: 050304
lsaweb@lists.uoregon.edu