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Published by the Library Staff Association of the University of Oregon Library System
No. 16, November 1999
The Night Carpenters
Sleep disorders run in my family. My siblings and I used to be prey to night terrors, sleepwalking and sleep gibbering. My mother would hear us blundering around in the dark, long after bedtime, fast asleep but unable to stay abed. My parents were used to finding one or more children asleep in odd places in the morning--under the kitchen table, at the foot of their bed, in the laundry room sitting in a basket of laundry leaning against the washing machine. We were all afraid of the dark. The hall light burned everlastingly, like a sacred flame.
Facing a breakfast table full of bleary-eyed children every morning led my mother to enforce some draconian rules. Bedtimes were moved back an hour, no drinks were allowed after dinnertime, no more Twilight Zone or Outer Limits or Star Trek for impressionable young minds. Our protests were struck down. My parents were tired of overseeing a brood of shiftless, yawning zombies.
If they only knew! The chief source of our night horrors was not the TV, but my grandparents' house in West Salem. My large extended family met there Sunday afternoons. The grownups crowded into the tiny living room to talk, while the kids sat on the floor, or squeezed themselves in the secret hiding places behind the furniture. Grandpa was a devotee of tabloid literature, and the magazine rack was a rich source of nightmares, phobias, irrational fears and superstitious dread. Grandma considered the papers trash, and tried to keep them out of the hands of her numerous visiting grandchildren. We usually found a way to get around her guard, though.
"Look--this lady has babies that are all hairy!" my five-year-old sister whispered, crawling behind the sofa where my cousins and I were surreptitiously reading. I was engrossed in the latest issue of SAGA magazine. This month's issue featured an article by a man who claimed to have a Sasquatch frozen in a big ice cube in his freezer. I studied the blurry photos closely, using Grandpa's magnifying glass, which I'd swiped from the side table. My sister's tabloid had a sprawling headline that read Terrible curse dogs Encino couple! The picture showed a couple of tiny furry -faced children and their obviously distraught parents. "That's nothing--this woman says aliens removed her ovaries!" whispered my cousin Ed, pointing out another front-page article. "What are ovaries?" asked my sister, a little too loudly. "SHHHH!" we all hissed, but it was too late. A groping grownup hand felt behind the sofa and tore the offensive literature from us, once again kiboshing our research into the supernatural.
We were aided and abetted by my Grandpa, who was a font of weird tales. Grandpa's interests were not confined to the run-of-the-mill UFO and Bigfoot stories that were the top draw for the tabloids back in the sixties. He knew about stuff that wasn't in any of the magazines, and he claimed to have first hand experience with a lot of it. Grandpa's paperback library included a lot of Charles Fort, including Lo! and The Book of the Damned. Footprints in lava, fish and rocks raining from the sky, spontaneous human combustion--he was an expert on these topics. Grandpa could diagnose poltergeist activity in a house. He told us about tiny gnomes that drilled mines through solid rock hundreds of feet deep. The thought of those tiny men digging deep into the dark earth, their grim purpose unknowable to human beings, was a source of pure dread for me.
Grandpa said that one of his uncles had met a gnome one time. This uncle went to bed dead drunk. He awoke in the middle of the night to see a little man by the head of his bed, holding his whiskey bottle and shaking his head reproachfully.
"Clyde," said the little man, "You drink too damn much."
The responsible grownups, led by Grandma, disapproved of sensational material for children, and frowned on the bad example set by Grandpa. Yet, they themselves promulgated not a few of the family legends. There was the UFO spotted by my father and uncles on a deer-hunting trip. And there was the terrible Dress Shirt of Death, which foretold the future. It was never good news:
My father owned the premonitory shirt. A working man, he had only one good suit. It was worn only for funerals, since the fiery and disputatious natures of most of the members of our clan made for more divorces than weddings in those days. The shirt hung in the closet for months at a time, unused. Once in a great while, my mother would get a hankering to wash and iron it. She'd get out her old flat iron, the kind without holes in the sole plate and an old green 7-UP bottle with a cork-and-sprinkler plug in it, and press that shirt nice and crisp as a spring cabbage. Then, within a day or two, a phone call would come. The next thing we knew, my father, solemn faced, would be putting on the shirt to wear in earnest. After this happened a few times, my mother threw the shirt away. Getting rid of it didn't stop people in our circle from dying; but it did stop my mother from getting advance notice.
We usually stayed at Grandma's until way after dark. The streetlamps cast their weird light, leaching away color. They put us all on the same footing as my Uncle Clarence, who was unable to tell a red tomato from a green one. My father's beloved '56 Chevy was transformed from baby blue to a sinister ash gray. Above the ring of stark yellow light, the sky stretched black and fathomless. A rustle in the invisible treetops froze me to the marrow. "Mothman" I whispered to my brother. He nodded, shuddering.
Once, in the car on the way home, my brother whispered to me a terrible secret. He'd discovered a new type of supernatural menace, not described in Grandpa's books or in the tabloid magazines. It wasn't hairy monsters, or aliens, or the walking undead, or vortexes into which people walked and vanished forever. It was worse.
Did you ever wake up late at night, so late all the yapping dogs are asleep? So late, the very last freight train has rolled through town and left its last long sad whistle far behind? That's when you hear them knock, knock, knocking: the night carpenters, building houses for the dead, my brother whispered.
No more sweet sleep for me. Many nights after that I'd lie awake long after the house was still. I'd count heartbeats, wondering how many I had left. I'd analyze the topics of the evening, spontaneous combustion, for example. Was that tingling sensation in the toes a precursor? The heartburn--tamale pie, or an omen of impending doom? I lay frozen with fear, afraid to let down my guard. Sandy-eyed and worn out, I listened to the faint sounds of the night. And sure enough, I'd realize that far away, in some lonesome place, the night carpenters were toiling, the hollow beating of their ghost hammers echoing in my ears.
And now, the news!
Don't miss the FALL CORNUCOPIA SALE Thursday, November 18, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in the staff lounge. We hope to have many of the same donations this year as last year, such as baked goods, preserves, flavored vinegars, braided garlic, and more. Last year's door prize was such a hit that LSA is going to have another filled cornucopia. Arts and crafts will also be featured this year. If you have something to contribute, please contact Susan Mincks at 6-1937 or smincks@oregon
Get Involved with LDAG! The Library Diversity Advisory Group (LDAG) is seeking volunteers and/or nominations for four new members. If Library staff and faculty are interested in participating in the development of diversity activities and initiatives, please forward your name or your staff member's name to George Shipman by Nov. 10, 1999. LDAG is particularly hoping to gain new members from among the classified staff. Any questions should be directed to Diane Sotak, LDAG Chair.
For additional background information on LDAG, please browse our website at: http://libweb.uoregon.edu/diversity/.
--L.R. Sexton
LSA Report at October 11 All-Staff Meeting
Immediately following George Shipman's state of the library address on October 11, he turned the meeting over to Susan Mincks, LSA Chair. Susan announced that the Library Administration had agreed to donate $3 for each member who pays dues by December 31. This will make a big difference in LSA's budget, and will help us to continue providing services to the membership. We are very grateful to the Administration for this support.
We also heard brief reports from LSA committees, touching on the many activities planned for fall term as well as for the rest of this year.
Several people later expressed their appreciation for LSA's first-ever presentation at the annual meeting. Some of the comments were that it created a sense of unity among the staff, and that it helped give an overall picture of what LSA does for those who may not have the time or computing resources to attend our programs or explore our web site and newsletter. Thanks to all who gave positive feedback, and thanks to George for letting us have a few moments of everyone's valuable time for our presentation. We hope to be back next year.
Quite a few people also stopped Susan in the hall after the meeting, wanting to pay their dues immediately! The Ways and Means Committee sent out dues request letters on October 12 and 13. As of October 26, 41 members have paid their dues, and we've received an additional $48 in extra donations. So our total so far, including the $3 matching amount, is $417.
Those who still wish to pay can send or deliver their dues to Kathy Wittwer, LSA Treasurer, in Administrative Services, x3046.
Lisa Sieracki
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Been to an interesting conference? Send us a brief report for publication in the next newsletter. Thanks!
Law Library Tour
From the outside the new Law School building looks generous and collegiate with interesting patterns in brick and a twist at the south end. After walking under the massive entrance archway, twined with leaves, and in through the glass doors you'll want to spend the day inside-rain or shine.
We had no trouble finding our way to the Jacqua Law Library at the top of the open stairs, on the way passing a tall public space with views of the eastside hills. This carpeted lounge in the heart of the building is furnished with comfy chairs that together with the height of the space seem conducive to important conversations. The shapes, materials, and colors of the interior are eventful. Even the restrooms have stunning colors-jade green and fuchsia. A return trip is definitely in order to see the artwork. There is a large piece by Nancy Pobanz-an array of handmade paper bundles framed in maple in the foyer. A colorful ceramic mural by Betsy Wolfston will soon be installed in the library entryway.
Angus Nesbit was our gracious and knowledgeable guide. We passed a beautifully illuminated, streamlined circulation desk with under-the-desk computer screens. As we moved through the library I was impressed by the blend of old (woodwork) and new (plug-ins). It wasn't until near the end of the hour that I realized the table surfaces are "quarter-sawn maple" formica, banded in real wood-it all looks like real wood. The honey-colored wooden desks, tables and range ends glow in the surrounding white spaces with the ample windows and skylights. The signage is very professional and beautiful, too-important for locating volumes in that large ship's hull. Not all the interior design is perfect, however: Angus told us about a Men's Room that nobody uses because the outside door opens the wrong way.
A theme of the new library if you haven't already heard is "windows." In the Maritime Law section the windows actually open. In the design stages the faculty insisted they have them in their offices, and there are a few stacks areas where such windows also reside. The technical services area, occupying a central space with windowed offices at the perimeter, as in any library, is crowded with laden book trucks, desks and computer terminals. This part of the law library did not look new. Despite a new building, the behind-the-scenes work is not new! And there is a lot more space for public service staff to cover. In Angus' office the translucent blinds that cover the east wall of windows are usually drawn; the sunny days he's forgotten, the room became uncomfortably hot.
The many windows in the new building are a direct response to the dark interior of Grayson Hall. At the south end there is a two-story window that frames a close-up view of a large deciduous tree. Inside, on the top floor, we discovered a student pleased with landing the lighthouse-like study room for himself. We ended our tour with refreshments in the circular conference room below him, wrapped around with windows facing to the south and the rest of campus to the west. We'll have to remember this room when it comes time to reserve one for meetings.
Pictures to be added later (hopefully!)
Catherine Heising
Kudos!
Nancy Slight-Gibney is the 1999/2000 president of the Friends of the Museum of Natural History.
Mary Grenci has been accepted as a trainer for CONSER's Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program (SCCTP). She will be conducting workshops on basic serials cataloging skills.
Congratulations, Nancy and Mary!
Walking across England: An LSA presentation
Connie Newman visited the library on October twenty-first to regale library staff with tales of her trek across England. She came equipped with an envy inducing slide show and a map of England, as well as a delightful sense of humor.
Connie gave us an honest account of her adventure, relating both good and
bad aspects of walking 200 miles in 18 days with four other women, 3 girls and her
son.
The
downsides included motion sickness en route to the trail, sore feet and minor
directional disagreements.
Some of the highlights of her trip included *absolutely* amazing
scenery, ancient ruins and stone circles, kittens and pigs (you'd have to
be there), great food and friendly encounters with the locals.
Listeners were awed and amused by the suspenseful tale of how Tim, Connie's son, disappeared on his 13th birthday. While the group was fairly certain he had simply gone on ahead to the next hostel, travellers approaching from that direction reported a dangerous storm in Tim's path. After careful deliberation, the hikers chose to continue up the mountain and face the storm... which they never encountered! Everyone in Connie's party safely reached the hostel and found Tim patiently awaiting them. Our speaker referred to the experience as "a rite of passage" for her son as well as herself.
After looking at slides of gorgeous countryside and listening to Connie's adventures, this presentation left me with an urge to visit every airline ticket site on the web, searching for an affordable fare to England!
Thanks to Jean Murphy and the Program Committee for bringing Connie here to speak!
Read a good book lately? Seen a great movie? Submit a review!
LSA Walk-a-Thon Team Raises $1000 for American Diabetes Association
Fourteen library staff -- plus friends and family -- signed up for team LSA to participate in this year's American Diabetes Association Walk-a-Thon fundraiser held Saturday, October 2.
Mischa Buczkowski (co-captain), Charlotte Conlin, Karen Darling, Paul Frantz, Jim Galbraith, Dennis Hyatt (co-captain), Audrey Lee, Carol Lenocker, Anne Muller, Jean Murphy, Lonni Sexton, Bruce Tabb, Heather Ward, and Sylvia Worrix collected donations totaling $1045 for the team. By combining donations the team was able to raise an additional $100 in matching fund certificates from Fred Meyer that will be given to LSA.
The 5+ mile walk along the Willamette River started at Alton Baker Park on a brisk but beautiful morning. Pre-walk warm-up gave everyone a chance to meet and to smile (through chattering teeth) for the photo op. And during the walk there were opportunities to chat at length with colleagues and some of the other 500+ walkers about really important news -- favorite restaurants, best movies, latest tips for success in the garden.
In all the Eugene walk-a-thon raised over $72,000 - exceeding goal by more than $12,000.
The LSA team sends its thanks to all the people in the library who donated their time and money to make this year a success.
Pictures to be added later (hopefully!)
Dennis Hyatt
November staff profiles:
Susan Mincks, Documents Processing Clerk and President of the LSA
Pam DeLaittre, Acquisitions Department
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