LSA News

No. 69, November, 2005

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

Index There's Gold in Them Thar Hills by Stacy DeHart Book Workers on Tour at Knight by Andrew Huot An Artist's Duty by Christine Carmichael The View from Hidden Spring by Pam DeLaittre From the Fact File by Terry McQuilkin Events of Interest Announcements People in the Library

Chanterelle photo by Stacy DeHart

There's Gold in Them Thar Hills

Story and photos by Stacy DeHart

This is the first in what will be a regular feature on our staff members’ favorite outdoor adventure sites, and travelogues. We know that a lot of you enjoy the great outdoors and hope that you may be willing to share your knowledge of the finer places in the Northwest with your co-workers. You may submit your articles to lsaweb@uoregon.edu, or sdehart@uoregon.edu. Thanks!

Clear Lake

Well, there actually are golds, maroons, oranges, yellows, pinks greens and browns. A week or two ago I found all these colors on the shores surrounding Clear Lake. Mushrooming was the primary objective, but as I was with some fellow displaced New Englanders, the goal of soaking up some of the autumn spectacle was also high on the agenda. Although the foliage finery on this coast cannot approach the vibrancy of that in the east, (yes, I am a foliage snob) we were pleasantly rewarded with some pretty intense red vine maples against the black lava flows on the south shore. On the west end of the lake were some nice views of mixed maples in reds and yellows. On the east end of the lake the contrast of the tans and browns of the marsh and bear grass and orange/yellow undergrowth with the background of the turquoise lake actually caused me to pause in my hike to admire the view. From this particular vantage point I was also able to enjoy watching a family of six mergansers feed and preen on a partially submerged log.

Clear Lake and its tributary springs form the headwaters of the McKenzie River. For those who don’t know, the McKenzie is the drinking-water source for Eugene. The lake was formed by ancient lava flows blocking the west end of the valley. Snow runoff from the high Cascades travels through and is filtered by miles of porous lava flows and eventually seeps, and during high flow times shoots, out of the earth into a beautiful blue-green pool known as Great Springs. This pool in turn spills over into the lake. This spring water is so clean and cold that the lake supports very little algae. Water temperatures range from 34 to 47 degrees Fahrenheit. The lake itself is over 100 feet deep, and so clear that you can see from shore the remains of petrified trees whose tops are at least twenty feet below the surface. The water remains so clear in part because there are no motorized watercrafts allowed on the lake. Rental rowboats are available at the resort lodge, and there are two boat launches available. More information about the Resort can be found here:

http://www.clearlakeresort-oregon.org/clindex.html

And here is a good topographical map website which will display the Clear Lake Region:

http://mapserver.maptech.com/

(story continued)

Book Workers on Tour at Knight

By Andrew Huot

Knight Library played host on October 27 to a pre-conference tour of members of the Guild of Book Workers, a national, professional organization consisting of conservators, bookbinders, and book artists. The Standards of Excellence in Hand Bookbinding is an annual Guild of Book Workers seminar held annually at various locations around the country. The Guild's 2005 conference took place at the Hilton Hotel in Portland. Presenters this year included Northwest artists Peggy Skycraft (Marbling) and Timothy Ely (Drum Leaf Binding) and Renate Messmer from the Folger Shakespeare Library and Hedi Kyle from the American Philosophical Society Library.

Cara List discusses some of the artists' books held by the Architecture & Allied Arts Library

The October 27th tour consisted of a stop at the Mount Angel Abbey to see the famous library building by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and the abbey's collection of early bindings. The continuation of the tour at Knight included visits to Special Collections, the Music Library and the Frank L. Beach Conservation Laboratory as well as presentations in the Browsing Room by Cara List who discussed and displayed examples from the A&AA Library's collection of artists' books. Tour participants consisted of bookbinders and book artists from around and outside the United States, including Paul DelRou and Dominic Riley from the UK, Johnny Rojas Diaz and Santos Nunez from Puerto Rico, and conservators from the Boston Anthaneum, Dartmouth, Indiana University, and the Folger Shakespeare Library.

THE WORLD AROUND US:

An Artist's Duty

By Christine Carmichael

The life and achievements of Muriel Nezhnie Helfman (1934-2002), best known for her series of Holocaust tapestries, are documented by Linda Rees in Nezhnie: Weaver & Innovative Artist, published in 2004 by Image Line Publications.

Nezhnie, born in Jersey City, N.J., wanted to be a painter from a young age, but chose to give up that dream twice. The first time was in art school in New York, where she had planned to study portraiture but was told she would have to leave the school if she intended to pursue portrait painting. The artistic climate of the 1950s was shifting towards abstraction in art, so she changed her focus to graphic design, with the intention of resuming painting after college. While in college, she met and married a fellow artist and painter and followed a very conventional path for a woman of her time. After completing her degree, she accompanied her husband to Germany for his tour of duty, gave birth to two children (while her husband received his Master of Fine Arts degree), and moved to St. Louis where her husband was offered a teaching position. She again shifted her focus away from painting. So as not to compete with her husband, Nezhnie chose tapestry weaving as a new medium to suit her artistic ambition.

Still feeling pressured to work abstractly, Nezhnie, in her early career work of the 1960s, created free-form tapestries that defied the boundaries of the rectangular shape. With her background in painting and graphic design, Nezhnie at mid-career work in the 1970s made distinctive use of parallel lines to create tapestry portraits; she also began using photographs as sources of subject matter.

Where Nezhnie was most innovative was in pushing the way lines could define images. . . . The viewer becomes aware of the path of the yarns. The more present that path, the more the essence of the face is captured.

Portriat of the Artist as a Young Woman (self portrait)
Wool and Cotton, 60" x 43"
1977

(story continued)

The View from Hidden Spring

by Pam DeLaittre

Another summer is gone but the tomatoes are still ripening into the bright red of the Romas and the golden yellow of the Lemon Boys. If you haven't tried a Lemon Boy tomato, I highly recommend them. Wonderful in salads, or mixed in with cucumbers, onions, and red tomatoes too.

Most of our corn stalks have been fed to the horses and to Anna, the cow. Anna loves the stalks so much, she closes her eyes as she chews. The stalks are sweet and juicy, the leaves still green.

Our black walnuts and broadleaf maples are already turning yellow and dropping their leaves. We've had our first hard rains, surprising our red tricolored Aussie puppy Ree (Aidan Nyree), who had never experienced it yet in her bare six months of age. We've even had our first frost. The pastures are starting to green up, shortly to go into a stasis once the nights are consistently cool.

Even with fall edging in, around our farm spring is in preparation. The rams have been putting in their brief labors of love, working only about a month and a half a year. Breeding season always begins on Labor Day at our farm. By then the nights have cooled off enough that the rams begin to bonk their heads together, making deep thuds that can be heard many feet away, signaling the beginning of the time to separate them into small flocks.

(story continued)

From the Fact File

Trees have played an important role in the religion and folklore of virtually every culture, and this month—as we witness the spectacular color changes—seems an ideal time to focus our attention on some arboreal legends. Read the ten clues below, and see if you can identify the tree described by each one.

1. The fruit of this tree appears in the folklore of many cultures. In Greek mythology a story involving Hercules includes the tree's fruit, as does one involving Paris. A Celtic legend tells of someone who by eating this fruit developed a longing for fairyland. The fruit is also depicted in artistic representations of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
2. In the Biblical account of The Flood, a dove sent out by Noah returned to him carrying a branch from this tree. Even today a branch from that tree is recognized as a symbol of peace.
3. In Greek mythology, Apollo and Athena sat in this tree, transformed into vultures as they observed fighting between Greeks and Trojans. It is believed that early manuscripts were written on tablets made of wood from this tree; indeed, the tree's name comes from the same root as the word for book in Germanic languages.
4. The Greek word for this tree, kepkis, meaning "shuttle," comes from the quivering movement of its leaves. It was thought that it was wood from this tree that was used to make the cross on which Christ was crucified, and as a result the tree "trembles" from shame to this day.
5. The tree, whose bright orange-red berries are bitter in taste (though the berries are used in jellies and syrups and for flavoring liqueurs), has numerous associations in folklore. In Norse mythology the first woman was made from this tree, and the god Thor was saved from drowning by one such tree. And in Celtic tradition, travelers carried a sprig from this tree to protect them from evil spirits.
6. One of the oldest trees cultivated by humans, it is mentioned in the legends of many cultures, including Greco-Roman, Egyptian, and Gikuyu traditions. It appears in much Christian art and iconography. Greek and Roman myth is rich with references to the tree; it was sacred to Dionysius. In Roman tradition, the she-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus was found resting under one of these trees.
7. We're looking for a particular species of the tree mentioned in the previous clue. Buddhist tradition holds that the Buddha received enlightenment while sitting under this tree. A living tree at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, is said to have grown from a shoot from the same tree under which the Buddha sat.
8. The aromatic resin from this tree has long been valued, and was one of the gifts offered by the Magi to the baby Jesus. Its oil is called "oil of Lebanon."
9. Classical mythology tells the story of the sun-god Apollo and the nymph Daphne, both of whom were wounded by Cupid, the former by a gold-tipped arrow causing its victim to fall in love, the latter by a lead-tipped causing its victim to repel love. Apollo pursues the swift-footed nymph, finally catching up with her, at which point she turns into a tree. Tell us the name of this tree, whose branches were woven into the victory wreaths of warriors and athletes.
10. The Old Testament tells the story of this tree protecting Elijah from Jezebel's pursuit. In more recent times, the berries from this tree have been used in medicine and cooking and the berries are used to flavor gin. (Indeed, the word gin and the name of this tree come from the same root.)

After you have completed this puzzle, submit your answers to Fact File. Answers must be received by November 25. The winner will be determined by the number of correct answers; in the event of a tie, a single winner will be selected by lot. The winner will receive a gift certificate worth $10.00 toward purchases at the U.O. Bookstore, courtesy of the Library Staff Association. All staff and faculty of the University of Oregon Libraries are invited to participate, although the winner of the most recent Fact File contest is ineligible to win this contest's prize.

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

The LSA Holiday Sale will be on Tuesday, December 6, 2005 from 11 a.m to 1:30 p.m. in the Knight Library Browsing Room. One thing the LSA survey found was that people want more variety at the Sale, so please consider participating as a vendor in the Sale—don't be shy about bringing in your crafts, baked goods, and rummage sale items! If you have questions, can help with the Sale in any way, or can volunteer to create a dessert to be raffled, please email Pam DeLaittre or phone her at at 6-1826. If you have rummage-sale related inquiries, please email Lisa Sieracki or phone her at 6-1834. Both Pam and Lisa would be thrilled to hear from possible Sale volunteers!

The LSA Holiday Potluck will be in the Knight Library Browsing Room on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. As always, there will be festive music, seasonal decorations and good cheer to go around. Please bring your favorite dish to share with your co-workers. Cards and pens will be available so you can list what's in your creation (e.g. "vegan" or "has peanuts"). All dishes should be table-ready with serving implements, and breads should be pre-sliced in a suitable bowl or basket. Microwaves will be available for heating your dishes. Family are welcome (please make sure to bring a little extra food if you bring guests). If you'd like to help with the potluck, will be bringing a turkey/ham, or can bring greenery for decorations, please email Raina Smith or phone her at 6-1837. Former employees who need transportation to the potluck should email Stephanie Midkiff or phone her at 541-346-1661.

NON-LSA EVENTS

Worn down by the dreary, dark, rainy weather? Pretend to go far away to the warm and sunny Caribbean—join us, the Library Velocipedians, for lunch at Cuban restaurant Blue Luna Club on Friday, November 18, 2005. The average temperature in Cuba in November is in the mid-70s to the 80s and it happens to be the dry season. No doubt the restaurant will be just like Cuba! Meet us at noon at the bike racks, rain or shine.

Announcements:

Library Staff Association dues are still only $6—an unbelievable value! Your dues help support a host of activities from the Holiday Potluck to the May Tea, and provide funding for the organization to function effectively. LSA treasurer Pam DeLaittre will be happy to accept your dues at any time. She's in Acquisitions, part of Collection Development and Acquistitions; she can be contacted at by phone at 6-1826 or via e-mail.

LSA has a new vice chair! Dave Baker of Access Services has agreed to become the staff association's vice chair in addition to serving on the Ways & Means Committee. Thanks, Dave, and congratulations! (This is the guy you gave your Ems money to....and we hear it was well-spent!)

People in the Library

Welcome:

Kudos

UO Libraries recently announced that Laura Willey and Barbara Butler are the recipients of Richard and Mary Corrigan Solari Faculty Fellowship Awards. In addition to the esteem of their colleagues, winners receive an award of $3,000 to fund professional development and their names are added to an honorary plaque in the lobby of Knight Library.

L-R, Laura Willey and Barbara Butler proudly display their awards

In their work for the Libraries, Laura and Barbara have a demonstrated a strong commitment to a fundamental tenet of the library science profession, equal and open access to library resources. Their efforts have strengthened the relationship between the Libraries and user communities on campus, across the state, and beyond.

In more than twenty years of service to the Libraries, Laura Willey, Access Services Circulation/Reserve & Videos Supervisor, has distinguished herself as an interested and involved staff member, an insightful and innovative collaborator, and a professional and personable colleague.

Laura's deep concern for the Libraries and the quality of its services is reflected in her many accomplishments. Over the past ten years, Laura has played a leadership role in the development of many of the libraries' most exciting new services, participating in the Orbis Borrowing Implementation Team, the E-reserves Implementation Team, the Free Public Borrower Card Committee, the 24/7 Implementation Team, and the Document Delivery Initiative, among many others.

In thirteen years of service to the Libraries as the Science Librarian at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Barbara Butler has worked tirelessly to expand access to information resources for students and researchers of marine biology in Oregon and around the world.

During her tenure as the one and only librarian at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Barbara developed the library into a fully operational branch of the UO Libraries. In 1999, she helped guide the design and construction of a new facility, the Loyd and Dorothy Rippey Library. A strong advocate for resource sharing, Barbara served as chair of this organization's Resource Sharing Committee from 1996 to 2003. In that capacity she helped develop and implement the IAMSLIC Z39.50 Distributed Library. As a result of her efforts, all members of this international organization, including those institutions from resource poor countries, may now share library resources.

—Nathan Georgitis

Goodbye:

I'd like to thank everyone I've worked with for the last three years, for their patience and good humor in helping me to learn my job. When I started I was so fresh out of library school, I barely knew what WorldCat was--my colleagues in reference were wonderful at bringing me up to speed without making me feel stupid. The folks in CDA have been terrific--competent and no-nonsense in getting things ordered and renewed, and gentle when I messed things up at my side. The staff in access services have answered millions of questions for me, found lost books, put up with my habit of failing to pick up Summit loans, and not yelled when I made the gate alarm go off. The librarians in the branches, and in Documents and Music and the other specialized desks, have picked up countless reference questions I couldn't begin to answer. Carol Goodyard has co-managed our student employees here with me for the last year and a half, and she's been terrific to work with. Annie Zeidman-Karpinski co-taught a class with me last year, and we both lived to tell about it. I realize I'm not accepting an Oscar here, but one of the things I've loved best about my job is the people I've worked with, and I think the library could do better at recognizing greatness in its staff. To everyone who's taught me anything in the last three years (which is everyone): thank you, and kudos.” Congratulations, and Good luck Karen!

 

On September 29, Matt Mensik of Access Services, Circulation/Reserves and Videos left the Knight Library to move to Seattle. Good luck and best wishes, Matt.

photo by Nathan Georgitis

Staff photos by Stacy DeHart unless otherwise indicated

Been to an interesting conference?

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

Last updated: 6 November, 2005
lsaweb@lists.uoregon.edu