LSA News

No. 76, September 2006

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

Index What a Gonzo! Fashion Show Runway Reviews by Jen Lindsey and Liesl Vorderstrasse The View From Hidden Spring by Pam DeLaittre Dreaming at my Desk: Back to School by Harriett Smith Take Me Out to the Ballgame "Fact File" Winner Announced Events of Interest People in the Library

Ex Libris L'Amour models "Library Consortium Luau Chic" for Eriqué O'Gucci for Bibliotheque Institut. photo by Laura Damiani

What a Gonzo!

photos by Laura Damiani; text by Harriett Smith

This year's Gonzo Revue had nothing but highlights! The fashion show in the second half of the show was so hip it has its own article this month, but the first half of the Gonzo also had some great acts.

Aimee dances the "Kuu Home o Kahaluu"

The emcee for the Gonzo this year was Terry McQuilkin, who filled the position with aplomb. First up was an impressive Power-Point presentation revealing candid photos of some of our co-workers, and equally candid expositions of their thoughts at work. Jen Lindsey, Terry, and Liesl Vorderstrasse know us only too well!

In her last Gonzo appearance (although there are rumours that we can convince her to return after retirement), Aimee Yogi danced a heartfelt and moving hula for us, the theme of which was the pain and pleasure of returning home after a long absence. Naturally the "Kuu Home o Kahaluu" was followed by audience participation in the now-traditional "Hukilau", led by Aimee and by Erica O'Grady. One can only hope that Erica will carry on the Gonzo hula tradition next year.

Nargas Oskui recited some beautiful Persian poetry for us, giving the text first in Farsi and then in an English translation. Sohrab Sepehri's "Sedaye Paye Aab" or "The Foot Steps of Water" was contemplative and thoughtful, and some of the audience expressed a hope that Nargas would return next year with more poetry or prose to share.

Tom keeps score for "Fact File" contestants

Interspersed with other acts in the first half, Terry McQuilkin's notorious LSA News feature, the "Fact File", was brought to life with a number of willing (and unwilling) contestants. Terry was ably assisted by Tom ("Carl Kassel") Stave, who helped keep track of the contestants' scores. The coveted prize for three correct answers was a plate of Kaiping Zhang's wonderful pot-stickers, and once that was known, audience participation became rather more willing. Mark Watson had one of the hardest questions to answer, as the question involved the St. Lawrence University libraries. The university, in Canton, New York, is destined for fame, as shown by this tricky question put to Mark: "The St. Lawrence University libraries check out what items to their patrons? a) backpacks b) cell phones c) basketballs, or d) bicycles?" Turns out this forward-thinking U has a "green bikes" program, and any patron with a library card can check out a bicycle. Sounds like a great initiative for our own library!

(story continued)

Gonzo Revue's "So-Hip-It-Hurts" 2006 Haute Couture Collection

with Runway Reviews by Jen Lindsey and Liesl Vorderstrasse

M.Charlès describes the creations with eloquence

Fashionistas will note that this is a somewhat expanded version of the commentary so suavely enunciated by "M. Charlès" (a.k.a. Dan Cogan).

Welcome Akwaaba Mohr with "The Intrepid Outdoorsy Librarian"

Claude Kên-Dâhl for Akwaaba Mohr and Bibliofashionistas

The first model to grace the catwalk is Claude Kên-Dâhl, wearing librarial haute couture sportswear. This woodsy ready-to-wear garb was fashioned by a relative newcomer to the runways of the Knight Library Browsing Room, Welcome Akwaaba Mohr, designing for the eminent fashion house, Bibliofashionistas.

This fishing vest and matching hat are constructed of rigid archival corrugated board. Akwaaba Mohr shows her design virtuosity in the vest's perfect dimensions and its ingenious magnetic closure. The library tool accoutrements of exacto blades, this-item-is-checked-out flags, and night-crawler-pink ties are expertly chosen. The plastic bag book receptacle safeguards the bookish angler's indispensable reading material from al fresco elements while concurrently accentuating the ensemble beautifully.

Can't you just envision this mild-mannered weekend warrior in this magnificent apparel poised to kill something? Simply thrilling!

Akwaaba Mohr is proving a quick study. This new designer already has it all sewn up. Whether out fishing or creating metadata, this fashionable and functional vest and hat will serve even the most intrepid outdoorsy librarian.

(story continued)

The View From Hidden Spring

by Pam DeLaittre

The Alien

Spring had been wearing, exhausting and sad. We were so glad to have the grass start to grow and the lambs well. Things seemed on an even keel once more, finally.

But one morning, the dogs were out barking, and when I looked out the door the sheep were running around, looking terrorized. I threw on my boots and jacket while calling to Kirk to get the rifle, fearing the flock was being attacked by one of the coyotes that preyed on them from year to year. This year we had not had any signs of one, but there is a reason they are called "wily".

As I began walking over to the barn, I realized that the llama, Rush, was under our huge incense cedar (the lambing tree) thrilling his alerting noise to the sheep, and though some were trying to go to him, some were acting erratic and darting this way and that.

Then I heard its noise...........

(story continued)

Dreaming At My Desk

by Harriett Smith

Did you know why capital letters are called "upper case"? It's because in the early days of printing and book production, when the individual pieces of type were stored in their wooden trays or cases, the capital letters were conventionally set in the boxes that ran along the upper part of the case.

That's just one of the obscure and, to me, fascinating, things I learned in my preliminary reading for the rare book cataloging class I attended August 7-11 at the California Rare Book School, located on the UCLA campus. The class was taught by Deborah J. Leslie of the Folger Shakespeare Library, and I was lucky enough to be one of just nine students. The preliminary reading was at times a tough slog. For those of you conversant with the cataloging rules embodied in AACR2, let's just say reading Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books) is a little better…. Having at last got through that, I was able to turn my attention to other, less sleep-inducing, reading, including some interesting articles and books on the history of book production. There is no way I could have kept up with the class without doing the preliminary reading, as we covered an amazing amount in just five days. (And I am bound to say that once I was actually in the class and working with the rules, DCRM(B) became quite interesting, even riveting!)

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my stay in Los Angeles, and I'm sure that's due in part to reservations made far in advance at the UCLA guest house. While some of my classmates endured an hour-long bus ride to and from the campus each day, I started my day with a five-minute stroll through the Murphy Sculpture Garden on my way to the Charles E. Young Research Library, where my class and the other class running concurrently (Books of the Far West) were held. Just downstairs from us was Special Collections. Mid-week we were lucky enough to have a class session in the gorgeous Bradford A. Booth Memorial Room, which houses the Michael Sadleir collection of 19th-century fiction and contains furniture once owned by Anthony Trollope. We also got a tour of some of the uncataloged backlog held in compact shelving (there is also a great deal in off-site storage). UCLA Special Collections has a collection of early children's books; we saw the uncataloged library of children's writer and educator Maria Edgeworth in storage (the books she read, not the books she wrote), as well as a number of early Italian titles.

During the week of the class we worked with books from the 1500s to the 1900s, but primarily with those published before 1800. We learned how paper was made; how early books were constructed and published; the differences between edition, impression, issue, and state; how to formulate collation statements; and how to apply DCRM(B) rules when cataloging, among other things. Deborah J. Leslie is on the ALA Rare Book and Manuscripts Section Bibliographic Standards Committee, and she knows the rules inside out, having helped write this newest edition of them. She was an excellent teacher who could make even a week's intensive study of cataloging rules seem fascinating. And of course the early books themselves are wonderful, just as artifacts. The California Rare Book School aims to be a sort of west-coast version of the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia, and Leslie, who teaches at both, was able to use the Virginia teaching collection of books and other materials to enhance our experience. We had homework each night, and for our cataloging practicum even got to take home overnight the book we were to catalog.

Along with cataloging I got to have a little fun before doing the evening's homework. There was a reception four out of five nights, just to start with! And the UCLA campus is beautiful, with amazing Australian fig trees of different varieties, as well as eucalyptus, pine, bougainvillaea, and more. Since everything, including the shuttle busses, closed early in the summer, I was able to "justify" long evening walks to and from the Westwood area south of campus to find dinner. I discovered that the best sushi I've ever had is still at Aomatsu in Corvallis (I obviously just haven't eaten at enough sushi spots yet, but theirs is excellent), and on another night I ordered the worst Chinese food of my life using the PDA on my restaurant table (but it was still fun; tech-deprived as I am, just using a PDA at all was a first for me). Our class lunch was held at a lovely little Italian restaurant which had great food and too much of it! Fortunately by the time we walked to and from our bus stop we had digested some of it and no one actually fell asleep in class that afternoon.

Topping off the cultural experience, the morning I left I walked a bit on Sunset Boulevard and then hiked down Charing Cross Road. I guess LA might have almost everything one could ever want—but I won't be moving anytime soon. Idyllic evening strolls through the twilit campus were countered with the five a.m. news, which showed a mile of cars, stopped on the freeway. Every morning. At five in the morning! It was then that the ugly black sculptures I walked past each morning began to look really, really beautiful.

I am grateful to Carol Hixson and Corey Harper for supporting my application to CALRBS, and to Mark Watson and the Library Staff Development Committee (especially Laine and Jeanette) for helping with the financial and logistical support.

LSA Night at the Ems
Take me out to the ballgame

photos by Erik Dahl and Laura Damiani

What would summer be without a trip to the ballpark? On August 24, the Library Staff Association sponsored an outing for library staff and faculty to see the Eugene Emeralds in action. Last year's event was such a big hit (pun intended) that LSA decided to repeat it this year. The turnout was excellent. We stuffed ourselves with typical ballgame fare and then settled in for the game. Did the Ems win? In all honesty, we really couldn't tell you. But fun was had by all, and that's what really counts.

The group gathers in our usual spot	Action on the field

click here for more photos from the event

Latest Fact File Winner knows her color movies

As the response to our latest Fact File contest revealed, there is apparently a lot of interest in film here in UO Libraries. No fewer than eight of you responded to the challenging of identifying ten "colorful" films. Among those who sent us perfect submissions, the winner, selected by lot, is Hilary Hart. Hilary will be receiving a gift certificate worth $10.00 toward purchases at the UO Bookstore. Thank you to everyone else who participated in this contest: Bill Murray, Ted Smith, Susan Stumpf, Leslie Bennett, Carol Lenocker, Jen Lindsey, and Elizabeth Peterson.

You can review the clues in the Fact File from the August issue of LSA News.

The Answers:

1. Pink Panther
2. On Golden Pond
3. A Clockwork Orange
4. Soylent Green
5. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
6. Blue Hawaii
7. The Red Violin (Le Violon rouge)
8. Silver Streak
9. Crimson Tide
10. Purple Rain

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

There are no LSA events scheduled for September or October at this time.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006: Please join your cycling co-workers for another great Bike-To-Lunch. We'll be cycling to Sweet Life pâtisserie, where we will be sampling the bakery's new savory dishes (sandwiches, quiche, etc.) as well as their usual incredible assortment of cakes, pies and gelato. Meet at noon at the bike racks.

People in the Library

Welcome:

Congratulations:

Goodbye:

When Carol received the 2004 Solari Faculty Fellowship, she was described as "a model of a 21st-century librarian who represents the best in team building and barrier demolishing." She has inspired those who work with her to reach high, dream, and strive for the best. We will miss you, Carol. We wish you great success and happiness in your new endeavor!

—Lori Robare

 

The Library will soon say goodbye to Susan Mincks, who is retiring from her position in Government Documents after 9 years with the UO Libraries. She has been involved in library work for 30 years and holds an A.S. degree in Library Science. Susan has been very active in LSA: she has served on the Ways and Means Committee and has been chair of both the House and Social committees, as well as serving as the LSA Chair for one year. Susan was appointed by UO President Dave Frohnmayer to the university-wide Training and Development Advisory Committee, of which she’s been a member for 6 years. Last but not least, she is in the midst of her second elected term as the Oregon Library Association's Support Staff Division’s archivist, and she plans to continue in this role after retirement. Other post-retirement plans include completing the Master Gardener’s Program offered through the Lane County Extension Office and also spending 6 months traveling in Europe with her husband. Susan says she is retiring in her 50s in order to enjoy life and give back to the community. Thanks for all your contributions to the UO Susan, and good luck in your future endeavors.

photo by Laura Damiani

 

Rick Peterson, the Student Coordinator in Circulation and Reserves and Videos will be leaving the Knight Library on Friday September 8th. In his own words, Rick will be following the gravy train north to Portland where his wife has accepted a position. Rick started working at the UO Libraries in 1999 as a student, and is looking forward to being a househusband. Congratulations and best wishes to you, Rick!

photo by Stacy DeHart

 

On August 11th, Tracy Scharn left UO Libraries to accept the position of Public Services Librarian at Columbia Gorge Community College. She had served as a Personnel Specialist in Library Payroll and Personnel Services since August 2004. In her new position, Tracy will be coordinating Reference and Information Literacy Services for CGCC's campuses in The Dalles and Hood River, as well as supporting the information needs of distance students. Tracy greatly appreciated all the mentoring and support she received from staff at the UO Libraries while pursuing her goal of becoming a librarian.

photo by Stacy DeHart

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Last updated: 8 September, 2006
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