The gang's all here--retirees' lunch

 On January 5, 2024, the OSU Libraries retirees got together for lunch at the Morgan House.  This restaurant is in Dublin, OH, north of here about 20 minutes, and is named for a Civil War event.  It's a log cabin with additions moved to Glick Rd. from another location. About The Morgan House & John Hunt Morgan Near Columbus Zoo Restaurants | Dublin Ohio (morganhse.com)   Lots of back lighting, but that's my white hair in the front.  We don't talk much about libraries anymore.  I think we talked about Medicare and the drug plan changes. And cats, grandchildren and vacations.  Like all older people. From the left, Marty, Marcia, Mary Jo, Graham, Susan, Jerry, David, and me. On Februaty 2 it was my turn to host, so I chose the OSU Golf Course Dining Room.  It's close to my home and the parking is easy.

Google owns us

Thirty-five years ago, I was librarian of the Veterinary Medicine Library at Ohio State. A great job. By 1991-92 we were just learning about a strange thing called the WWW. Went to workshops where it was demonstrated, learned to write html and I began showing my students. I still remember the day in the late 90s another veterinary medicine librarian, I think she was at the University of Tennessee, said she'd found something new she liked better than Yahoo and I should try it. Google. Today Google owns us. Master of surveillance and manipulation. Now there are about 2 billion websites. Big Tech is more powerful than the President of the United States, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. What looked like freedom is now a prison and even if they opened the doors, no one would leave.

• Chart: How Many Websites Are There? | Statista

William Studer, OSUL director, 1977-1999

William J. “Bill” Studer, Director of The Ohio State University Libraries for 22 years, passed away on Thursday, October 14, 2021. Bill left an indelible mark on both University Libraries and the larger library profession and will be remembered for his vision and leadership.

Bill earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at Indiana University and launched his career at the Library of Congress before returning to IU as Associate Dean of Libraries. While there, he conducted research focused on improving service for students and scholars through computer technology. His work garnered him invitations to lead seminars at other universities and informed many of the initiatives he undertook throughout his career.

Bill’s success as Associate Dean of Libraries for IU led to his appointment as Director of Libraries for The Ohio State University Libraries in 1977. Throughout his tenure at Ohio State, Bill championed the growth and development of the Libraries. Under his leadership, University Archives, the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, the Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program, Hilandar Research Library, and the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute became part of Libraries’ special collections. He oversaw the addition of more than 600 folios to the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library’s medieval manuscript fragment collection, which students and researchers actively use.

Bill championed the idea that active and public use of special collections was at the heart of knowledge creation and sought to promote these unique resources as a way of living Ohio State’s land grant mission.

As a founder of the network of academic libraries that became OhioLINK, Bill continued to push the idea of opening access to knowledge. This statewide consortium provides access to valuable print and digital research collections for students, faculty, researchers, and staff. The model attracted interest from library leaders across the globe.

While he was director, Bill passionately advocated for the renovation of Thompson Library. At his retirement, the University committed to the project. In 2009, the three-year, $109 million renovation was complete and Thompson had been returned to its previous grandeur.

Bill is survived by his children Joshua (Margaret) Studer and Rachel Studer; sisters in law Carol Millsom, Peggy Studer, and Margaret Lippie; numerous nieces and nephews; and faithful feline companions Gigi and Charlie. He was preceded in death by his wife Rosemary (nee Lippie); parents, Victor and Sarah Studer (nee Hammersley); and brothers, Victor Studer and Arnold Studer. Friends and family will be invited to a memorial to celebrate Bill’s life and legacy at a later date. (from OSUL website)

Why retirees have problems cleaning out the files

Have you ever tried to clean out your storage or files and found out it takes days to go through one drawer or file cabinet or closet? For me, the big mistake is sitting down to read something I wrote 25-30 years ago. I don't know what happens in the offices of retired pastors who preach every Sunday and lead Bible studies or school teachers who saved reams of projects and lesson plans, but it's a nightmare for librarians like me who have attend hundreds of meetings and who had publishing requirements for promotion and tenure and saved all their notes.

For instance, my notes (never published because they were for me) for "The Ohio White House Conferences on Library and Information Services--Literacy," September 27 (1990?) held at the Worthington Holiday Inn. I'm not sure why I attended--it seemed to be for public librarians, and not academic. We live in different worlds and focus on totally different problems and clientele. Ohio doesn't have a "White House" so the title means each state or region was having meetings to funnel information back to the President--George H.W. Bush--information on which any administration rarely acts, but the money would have come from the federal government. My writing style always includes off topic ideas that occur to me, so before I wrote out my notes, I commented on the poor representation of the media at this conference and I blamed my profession, not the media.

"Librarians have been notorious for not being able to market their product. Distilleries put their information on billboards in the inner city and at interstate exchanges. Librarians put notices on bookmarks which can only be picked up in libraries. Cigarette companies give away cigarettes to induce a life time addiction. Librarians give away time and effort registering voters and showing movies in hopes that the user might check out a book. Librarians sponsor National Library Week when for the cost they could probably create one of those phony commercial talk shows for cable television that are on every channel from midnight on. Targeting neighborhoods with direct mail campaigns has sold millions of dollars worth of goods, but when was the last time you received a doorhanger from the library except at levy time? Have you ever received a phone call from a telemarketer interrupting your dinner to ask if your library card in current?

There are millions of literate people who never set foot in a library. They either don't need them, don't like them, or have had bad experiences in them. They join book clubs, subscribe to magazines and newspapers; they visit book stores and book sales, but not libraries. There are also millions of literate people who are non-readers. . .

The largest, single common denominator identifying all librarians is that we are members of that particular cultural group--the readers. We are so chauvinistic we cannot imagine anyone could be happy who doesn't share this common trait. Librarians have created every imaginable network, coalition, association, and service organization to lure people into their libraries, but they haven't been able to keep libraries in the schools, not even with all the dues we pay. We can't even get a librarian appointed as the "Librarian of Congress." [note: that did finally happen under Obama--a 3-fer, Carla Hayden, black, female, librarian]."

And I went on to mention the dropping numbers (30 years ago) for literacy among children, even in families where moms read to them. Then I wrote about the activities at my public library that week for children: 4 programs involving movies, and 3 for Halloween crafts.

I went on and on for pages--have no idea what happened at the conference. This was 8 typed pages, and no information on what resulted from the meeting. There is a printed report listed on Amazon as out of stock, Jan. 1, 1990, and a copy in the OSU library.

Maybe some attitudes have changed in libraries the last 30 years. I'm no longer an insider. If there were two institutions that should have been considered essential during this shut down it was churches and libraries. Both are filled with evangelists for their passion, and both were silenced, submissive and shuttered.

Elizabeth Warren’s family lore

Even the MSM are commenting (gently) on Warren's claim to native ancestry, and her suggestion that she was given no advantage. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt--that she was just sharing family lore and in the mid-80s was completely unaware that minorities were in demand by colleges, HR, companies and honoraries. But the departments in those companies and colleges certainly knew it because they made those rules. And seeing those magic words on a registration or application certainly would have at least moved her up on the list assuming all else was equal.

I worked at Ohio State in the 80s and 90s and chatted with departmental faculty who were beating the bushes to find minorities (that's 1/32 to qualify and it's self-described) so they could be in good standing with university administration. And of course, the bigger and wealthier schools could offer the better financial package, and high school graduates were lured to an environment that guaranteed struggle and failure, whereas they might have succeeded in a different school. Minority women were a 2-fer and at interview time nearing graduation their dance cards would be full, while men languished hoping for even one interview. Of course, now 25-years later we pile category on category--first woman, first openly gay woman, first transwoman, first black transwoman, etc. A blonde, blue eyed, wealthy, privileged white woman is going to be disposable.

I got a compliment

on my research skills and a question on how did someone from academe ever become a conservative! And I responded:

“ I was completely apolitical until about age 55—when my husband went into business for himself and I had to start paying attention to silly things like taxes and insurance—something the state of Ohio had always done for me. I was the perfect state employee—rarely asked how Ohio  was going to meet all those pension obligations that paid 2 or 3 times what Social Security does. And frankly, being a Republican isn’t that much fun since we elect such wimps and liars!  Being a self-righteous Democrat was much nicer.  Did you see where Ohio’s Republican governor (until 2 weeks ago) has taken a job with CNN?  Just infuriates me.  What a turn coat!!!  Right now I’m using my research skills on “growing older with health and vitality.”    I think we’ve attended 6-7 funerals in the past 6 months. We called a good friend Sunday to find out why we didn’t get a Christmas card,** and he told us his wife now has Alzheimer’s.  She always handled that stuff, and he now has diabetes and congestive heart failure.  This getting old is getting old . . . .  But occasionally there’s something interesting on our group list to respond to.”

**These days, when we don’t hear from friends or relatives, we know it’s because of Trump, but we knew this guy’s politics so figured it was something else.

As far as being an academic, yes, conservatives are a dying breed on campus because “you dance with the one who brung ya’.”

University departments’ possible name changes

Michael Rectenwald a professor at NYU suggests in a comment on Facebook some academic department titles to replace those old, tired, worn out ones that have served to make our nation great. I was going to use the word "new," but looking back at things I was writing in the 1990s, they aren't new, just retreads. I was asked to leave a women's studies brown bag luncheon at OSU Main Library in the 90s because I am white.

"Non-English Literature, UnAmerican Studies, Gender-Changing Studies, Women's-and-the-Men-Who-Think-They're-Women Studies, African American (Affirmative Action) Studies, Political Pseudo-Science, History (and the dead white men who belong there), Foreign Languages (English), Fat (Shaming-Skinny-People) Studies, Religious (Atheism) Studies, etc."

Then each of those non-white, non-American studies departments can add their own "Diversity and Inclusion" sub-unit and further bloat the administrative staff of universities.  This is usually a two-fer and good for hiring women and minorities to raise the percentage for the department.a

Make new friends, but keep the old . . .

Spending time with old friends is one of the joys of retirement and my age. However, meeting new people and hearing their stories is fun too. (It's challenging for us oldsters to listen--we'd rather talk-- but it's good practice.) At our retirees luncheon on Friday at the OSU Golf Club I sat by another OSU library faculty retiree, Barbara, who had come on staff the year I retired (2000), so we'd never met. She's had a fascinating career with many twists and turns. I'd prepared packages of homemade cookies, and passed out our Christmas card with Bob's painting of the Marblehead Lighthouse in the snow.

Then on Sunday I chatted across the dinner table with a new friend from church, Carol, who told me all about the Winona Public Library where she'd worked in college. I've checked out the links she gave me--fabulous architecture, and like many community libraries it started as a lyceum and private organization with paid memberships and then a wealthy donor. Going to Minnesota is not on my bucket list, but if you're in the neighborhood, it would be worth the visit.

Today is our book club December gathering at Carolyn A.'s home.  We'll be discussing The Annotated Alice,The Definitive Edition by Martin Gardner. 

 
 I've never read Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, don't care much for fantasy, and his fascination with Alice Liddle, from what I'd read, seemed a little creepy viewed from our 21st century sensibilities.  And to make it worse, Martin Gardner was a mathematician (he died at 99 in 2013), and my skills in that area were never strong, and are now zip, nada, zilch.  But I did read in the introduction that Carroll began this whole adventure making up stories to amuse the three Liddle sisters on boat rides and later wrote them down and gathered them into a gift book. Makes me wish my mother had written down the stories she told me while braiding my hair when I was little (to keep me from screaming in pain!).  The ladies of the club are dear, and my goodness, what bibliophiles and scholars they are! And eclectic tastes.  I'd never read a mystery nor would have found Maisie Dobbs which my husband adores if it hadn't been for this lovely group. 

Wednesday is our Conestoga Christmas Party at The Boathouse at Confluence Park, which has a gorgeous view of downtown Columbus, with reception at 6 and dinner at 7. Dancing has been taken off the menu--either we're all too old or it got too expensive.  Conestoga is a friends group or auxiliary  established in 1986 to enhance support for the Ohio History Connection (aka Ohio Historical Society). To date, its members have raised over $500,000. Conestoga members participate in a wide variety of social and educational events, tours of historical sites and museums and lectures. Membership currently costs $100 for a single membership and $150 for a couple membership. Dues include admission to all regularly scheduled Conestoga social events and educational programs, as well as all the benefits of the Plus Family membership.

On Thursday the Pregnancy Decision Health Center, all locations, is having its annual Christmas get together at the Amelita Mirolo Barn in Upper Arlington about 2 miles from here. It can be rented for banquets, parties and weddings/receptions.  I've been to several events there, which is located in Sunny 95 park.  The original barn was constructed in 1838 near Reed and Fishinger roads before there was suburban development for Columbus. In December 1928, it was moved to Lane Road to replace a barn that had burned down on the McCoy family farm. It was used as storage for about 40 years. I remember driving past it many times on Lane Rd.  Residents could even purchase eggs from the location. In 2007, the City of Upper Arlington was planning the new Sunny 95 Park  and an organization was created to save the barn and move it. Mainly it was the timbers and framing--doesn't look much like the old barn. I'm just blown away by the commitment and love exhibited by the staff and volunteers of PDHC. All I do is answer the phone, greet clients, and assemble some papers and sort baby clothes. They do the really tough things, and often can only save one baby out of ten, but they don't get discouraged.

Anti-Christmas bias isn't new

 In 1993, I was still 6 years away from voting for a Democrat for president, but I could certainly sniff out bias. Came across this letter of Dec. 1993 I had written to the American Library Association which had designed cards for libraries to send to other libraries and their staff.

Dear Colleagues,

Our Library received the very clever and attractive "Season's Readings" card from our sibling library, John A. Prior Health Sciences Library.

We are in complete agreement with your goal of supporting a campaign to promote libraries, reading and literacy through the sale of these cards. However, we are somewhat puzzled and curious that in your effort to include everyone else's language and holiday, you left out English speaking Christians. We Christians (a faith claimed by 1,783,660,000) also have a December holiday. In our language (spoken by 750 million others) it is called CHRISTMAS, and the traditional greeting is, "Merry Christmas."

Perhaps next year we could be included in the festivities.

Signed by me and the library supervisor, Daniel Martin

Education has changed in the last 100 years

Those of you with connections at Ohio State may have visited the web site for Knowledge Bank (OK, maybe not). It's kind of like a treasure trove of grandma's attic, a waste dump, and incredible hidden archives. Most universities have something similar. You can find everything from ancient university published journal articles to Uncle Joe's freshman economics paper. Yesterday I looked through the 1904-1905 course bulletin (scanned) for Ohio State, beginning with Stone lab on Lake Erie. I think there were 6 department/colleges then. What is fascinating is the required high school courses to enter. French, German and Latin for the College of Agriculture. For College of the Arts, add Greek. At the other end of bizarre were lots of British literature requirements for all colleges, including the "classics," but not even a nod to American literature.

https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum—Conestoga trip

Today our Conestoga group had a tour of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum in Sullivant Hall on the OSU Campus.  I like libraries and I like art, so I was in “hog heaven.” The building is beautiful, and the “back room” peek at the moving stacks, specially designed boxes and equipment, was amazing.  It is open 1-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and is open to the public if you’d like to visit.  None of the books circulate.

The current show is "King of the comics: William Randolph Hearst and 100 years of King Features." It will be on display until March 15. Hearst bought the New York Journal in 1895 and soon dropped the price of a paper to a penny, increasing circulation 7x. When the competition collapsed, he hired their people including the best cartoonist. Soon he was shipping the Sunday comic section to other cities with his comic characters becoming national celebrities. The display is divided by decade, and anyone my age will remember a lot of these. Although some I know only from a book of cartoons my mother had from the 1940s.  It is my opinion that after the 50s, the quality of the drawings became less complex--but this is an art form about which I know nothing. But at 5 pm I sure know more than I knew at 2 pm. The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum is the largest cartoon library in the world. I think the building opened in late 2013 and is really magnificent--before that it was in the Wexner Center.

Lucy Caswell, Professor Emeritus and founding curator of the library.

Staff of the library in the stacks.

Enarson Hall becomes Hale Hall at Ohio State University

A little back story on an OSU Today story about the renaming of Enarson Hall.  Dr. Harold Enarson (d. 2006) was the 9th president of Ohio State and really promoted programs for minorities and women, establishing the Frank Hale Center and pushing for a female president. I see in the news that Enarson Hall has been remodeled and renamed for Frank Hale. It will be the home of the Hale Black Cultural Center and the offices of Outreach and Engagement and Diversity and Inclusion. The man who was so inclusive has been excluded. Oh well, maybe they can find another building for naming rights. By today's standards (like for Gee, who got a $5.8 million retirement package after being fired for loose lips) Enarson was paid a pittance--$50,000, according to Bill Studer’s very excellent oral history now in the Knowledge Bank. http://fod.osu.edu/news/files/Hale_Hall.pdf

One of the first things I learned when returning to OSUL in 1978 (Agriculture library, USAID soft money for the ag credit collection) was not to donate memorial money to an institution whether it be a college, church or hospital. The next administration just takes the funds or room or scholarship and uses it for whatever. At that time, the Arnold Credit Library was an actual room with nice furniture and a collection in the Ag Admin building on Fyffe Rd.(We librarians would have called it a “closet library.”) The college wanted the endowment and the space, so they moved the painting of Mr. Arnold to an alcove in the Ag library, squished in some of the collection, named a paper file for him, and put me in charge of the ACTS file.   It was nice for me, and most of Mr. Arnold’s immediate family were deceased, and if anyone came looking for it, they could show the painting. I have no idea where it is now, since that was 35 years ago. A similar thing happened when I was in the veterinary library (which I think now is administratively linked to Ag). When Roberta Garrett was still the librarian there were very limited funds to buy textbooks so a fund was set up and it memorialized a number of deceased and retired faculty. By the time I got there in 1987, it was long forgotten and accumulating money in whatever office in the university oversees endowments. No one ever notified me that there was a little pot of gold waiting to be spent and growing each year. Finally, a staff member with a good memory happened to mention it to me, he did some searching, and the money was freed up to be spent as it was intended—textbooks for the library for students.

I usually disregard suggestions for memorializing. Recently, one of my close friends from childhood (we rode our tricycles together), a professor at the University of Nebraska, died. The memorial suggestion was ACLU, so if you know anything about my politics, that wouldn’t be a good match. So another friend and I went together, purchased two books of poetry by Ted Kooser, a friend of the deceased, and donated them to the public library in the town where we all graduated from high school. I hope when someone selects the book they’ll read the bookplate and wonder who was Nelson T. Potter, Jr.  If they don’t I know, they’ll enjoy the poetry. I often contribute to a nursing/retirement community in my home town (Pinecrest in Mt. Morris, Illinois) and it is either for immediate needs, like mattress replacement, or for a fund for people on Medicaid (Illinois is going broke) so the place doesn’t have to close due to irresponsible state public pension funds.

Anyway, if you want to read Bill Studer’s record of Enarson’s oral history, it’s at https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/482 , also because Enarson was a member of the Truman administration there is another oral history in the Truman library at http://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/enarsonh.htm

Enarson Hall on the OSU campus   was originally the Student Union, and named for Enarson in 1986. It was slated to be torn down, then was saved by student action and was put on the National Register and named for Enarson.   http://herrick.knowlton.ohio-state.edu/taxonomy/term/226

National Equal Pay Day, April 9, declared

According to John Goodman in his Health Alert Letter:

A recent study shows. . ."no evidence that antidiscrimination policies have made a difference, including the actions of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). . .  In addition to years of schooling and test scores, men and women differ in the amount of work they do. Men are more likely to work full-time; and among full time workers, men work 8%-10% more hours than women.  Also, men typically accumulate more continuous work experience and therefore acquire higher productivity in the labor market.  The gender gap shrinks to only 3½ % when adjustments are made for work experience, career breaks and part-time work."

My favorite equal pay story: One time I asked my boss Jay Ladd why Bruce (a librarian) made more money than I did when we had the same years of experience, almost the same name, and were both science librarians. He said, "Because he asked for more."

What is high school for?

"The Office of Diversity and Inclusion Bridge Program [at The Ohio State University] assists incoming freshman with transitioning from high school to college by providing academic enrichment coursework, campus involvement, community integration, and peer mentoring. The enrichment coursework includes English, research, mathematics, psychology, economics, and calculus lab. Students also participate in study skills, career, and personal development workshops."

In 1982, 30 years ago, I had a temporary contract at the OSU Libraries to work with freshmen and undergrads at what was then "West Campus." (I have pretty good research skills, but can find no record of this financial boondoggle on the internet. I may have to ask a retired colleague.) In those days, the "bridge" was real; a bus drove the young students across the river to a special campus with fine Soviet, cereal box architecture (west campus is still there but now is primarily administrative offices) which would be user friendly with advisors and grad instructors on hand to help them adjust and make it to the next year. There was even a library there called "the learning center" instead of "library." It was to make the transition easier, not just for minorities, but for freshmen who had poor skills in math and English and might need some extra help. There was even an English lab or rhetoric workshop (forgotten it's name) tucked away on another level of the West Campus Learning Center.

I think the state was proposing stricter standards for elementary and high schools, but apparently the university is still offering make-up work for the kids so that enrollment stats look better. The graduation rate from our big city high schools is poor. Don't know what the graduation rate is for a minority student who comes on campus as a freshman so unprepared for college level work, that the first year is spent catching up. Probably FERPA covers their tail on this.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion complies with the rules set forth by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) with regard to student personal and academic information. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Academic Advancement Services, utilizes the web based scheduling system, GradesFirst, to schedule retention counseling and tutoring appointments, track student participant’s academic progress, communicate with program participants, ODI staff and university professors, and generate program affiliated reports. AAS staff will utilize academic information acquired from The Ohio State University and program participants for these purposes. Student personal and academic information housed on Gradesfirst is secure and will not be shared outside of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

If anyone has some statistics on this, or even a web site I can link to about the old West Campus of the 1980s, I'd appreciate it.

Why university libraries are becoming closets

When I returned to work in the late 1970s at Ohio State University Libraries, one niggling problem was "closet libraries," which had been set up by various specialties and faculties to serve their specific needs. I guess they thought the library system was not flexible enough or knowledgeable enough to handle them.

A few disappeared. There is no longer an Agricultural Economics reading room, an Arnold Credit library, the one that served plant pathologists, or the journal collection for the veterinary medical faculty on the third floor of Sisson Hall, or other special collections (I'm more familiar with the ones west of the river). But they just popped up somewhere else. Increasingly, these collections are digital, and although they may meet in Thompson Library (recently renovated), they long ago by-passed the library.
Six digital media collections containing over 850,000 media assets that will reach over 20,000 students in 105 course sections annually.

History Multimedia Database (Humanities)
Arts & Sciences Media Manager (Humanities)
Charles Csuri Archive (Arts)
History of Art Visual Resources Library (Arts)
Huntington Archive (Arts)
Knowlton School of Architecture Digital Library (Engineering)
Related project: Praise Poetry Video Database (Humanities)

And this is just the group that has a defined mission statement (committed to cutting through the red tape, sharing resources and making things work on a grassroots level--I think they mean library) and collegial arrangements for staff, faculty and course credit. There are others.

Now it's the main library (Thompson) that has become the closet for books in special collections.

Jim Bracken appointed Dean of University Libraries at Kent State University

Assistant Director of OSU Libraries Jim Bracken will become dean of Kent State University’s University Libraries effective August 1, 2010, announced Kent State Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert G. Frank. Bracken replaces Mark Weber, who is retiring.

OSU Libraries Communications Department » Jim Bracken appointed Dean of University Libraries at Kent State University

Carol Diedrichs named Director of Ohio State University Libraries

"Carol Pitts Diedrichs has been recommended to serve as Director of University Libraries at Ohio State. Subject to approval by the Board of Trustees, her appointment will be effective Jan. 5, 2010. Diedrichs is currently serving as Dean of Libraries and the William T. Young Endowed Chair at the University of Kentucky, the flagship institution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She has vast experience in library administration and at UK provides intellectual leadership for the educational and service programs of 12 libraries; administers a budget of more than $21 million; and is a member of the Provost's Dean's Council.

Diedrichs served at Ohio State from 1987-2003, most recently as assistant director for technical services and collections and professor." OSU Today, Oct. 9

I worked with Carol during my years as Veterinary Medicine Librarian, and I am quite happy with this choice.

And they didn't even mention Ohio State

Even Library Journal doesn't call OSUL a "research library."

If this were Jeopardy, the answer might read: “This academic tool has been around for 500 years, but is slowly being replaced by its electronic counterpart.”

Can you guess the question?

There’s no Daily Double involved, but if you asked, “What is a book?” you’re right.

Is this an overstatement? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Take a look at these facts, and you be the judge:

Princeton, Case Western, Reed, Darden School at the University of Virginia, Pace and Arizona State are partnering with Amazon to try out the Kindle e-book reader on their students.

Missouri School of Journalism students will be required to buy an iPhone or iPod this fall, so they can electronically download course material.

Columbia University added four times the number of electronic books to its collection this past year compared to traditional books.

While 99% of individual buyers still purchase traditional books, it seems the move of higher ed institutions toward e-books is picking up speed.Read whole story at Higher Ed Morning.

What Joe Branin said two years ago about Thompson Library

Last week I parked at the Vet Med campus and walked to Bricker Hall to participate in a tiny, and probably useless protest, about saving books. It was a beautiful day and I stopped to stare at and photograph the RPAC, a gimungous building with flashy, reflective pink glass and covered walkways devoted to recreation and physical fitness. Joe Branin, the director of OSUL was at the protest with his professional marketing hand-out and his dusted off fund raising bon mots used hundreds of times to sway the press and TV reporters. If ever a man could out-nuance President Obama on the golden rule and abortion, it would be Joe on the value and usefulness of the physical book, on a actual shelf, inside a bricks and mortar building. So I was interested to read what he said two years ago in an interview with Library Journal.

[After a bit of wandering, the reporter finally gets to it] What’s it like running one of the nation’s top public university libraries while simultaneously tearing it down, setting up interim space and services, and managing one of the state’s largest construction projects? “I still spend most of my time directing the library system,” OSU director Joe Branin insists, giving his staff praise for their hard work. But let’s not mince words: this massive project will define Branin’s tenure at OSU, and he is clearly proud of and invested in it. “We expect the library to be a major gathering place for faculty and students, because of its architectural beauty but also its functionality as a learning and research center,” he says.

“I’ll also continue looking for new ways we can reach out to the larger Ohio community, and make the Thompson a resource not just for the university but for learners and scholars around the state and the whole country.” Part of achieving that mission is not to be limited by space or formats. “Flexibility has been a key design principle for us,” Branin explains. “So we can modify the building as we see formats of information and use patterns change.” The new Thompson library, he stresses, will use space and technology together to offer new opportunities as well as preserving the best of traditional library service, including, of course, books. “Print resources will continue to be a significant presence, and special collections will be highlighted in ways that have never been possible.”

I've moved, withdrawn and disposed of thousands of books in my library career and I think I know how to measure and count; there's no way that a million + volumes are going back, nor is there room for growth without pulling out thousands more.

Notice, LJ never refers to OSUL as a "research library."

Joe's next and probably last job is to develop a completely digital library for the Saudis. Maybe by the time he's finished, Saudi women will be allowed to drive. After all, by the 1980s, most were allowed to attend school.

Photos of the library protest

Pretty quiet as protests go. A grad student told me someone from security stopped by and left--I guess a bunch of old folks waving signs about books isn't too threatening. I wore scarlet and gray and made my own signs. Some of the media was there--must have been a slow news day in Columbus. I did enjoy talking to some of the grad students--they are very knowledgeable about computers, but believe the books too are necessary. They don't want to wait 3-4 days to get it from Akron or Youngstown. One man married to a librarian who works in another city says her public library depends on DVDs to keep the circulation records up.

Story about the protest here.

Channel 4 story here. I'm on about 2 seconds in the video at the beginning.