Contents: (Volume 14, number 2 -- Fall 1998)
- Metaxas to Electrify on Computers and Print October 28
- Friends Fund Up-to-Date Science Reference Desk by Lisa Brainard, Reference Librarian
- Exhibition Redefines the Book by Ruth R. Rogers, Special Collections Librarian
- Donors Nurture Library Collection by Eileen D. Hardy, Collection Management Officer
- New and Old Meet by June Milton Stobaugh '66 and Ruth R. Rogers, Special Collections Librarian
- Calendar
It is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine ourselves in a world without books. Yet in the span of human history, books have been with us only briefly. Although the first characters appear in Sumerian clay tablets about 5,000 years ago, and the first books are written 3,500 years ago, books become household items just 550 years ago. The number of articles and books written doubles roughly every twenty years, yet lightning transmittal of electronic information can make printed information obsolete before it reaches a bookshelf. How seriously does the computer threaten print? And what, if anything, should we do about it?
Those who attended the 1997
Summer Symposium will remember Wellesley's Professor
Panagiotis T. Metaxas as a highpoint, dynamic and
entertaining. On Wednesday, October 28, at 4:45 p.m. in
Collins Cinema, Dr. Metaxas will look at the advantages and
disadvantages of books in "Goodbye, Gutenberg? The
Electronic Text in the Twenty-first Century." 
Sponsored by the Friends of
the Wellesley College Library, his multimedia presentation
will examine the text according to the computer: What are
electronic text, multimedia, and hypermedia? How do they
work? Using examples of electronic books published during
the last decade, Dr. Metaxas will isolate strengths and
weaknesses, then survey electronic publishing at Wellesley
through multimedia books students have written and published
as part of their coursework. He will conclude with a glimpse
into the future, trying to imagine the house with a
single-book library and many readers in the walls!
A native of Patra, Greece, Panagiotis T. Metaxas studied mathematics at the University of Athens before coming to the United States in 1985 to study computer science at Brown. In 1992 he received a Ph.D. from Dartmouth in computer science. Formerly a visiting scholar at MIT and the University of Sydney, Dr. Metaxas received the 1997 Apgar Award for Teaching Excellence for his Wellesley course, "The Art and Science of Multimedia." He has published four interactive CD-ROMs, lecture recordings on parallel computing, and student multimedia projects. Editor of the electronic Journal of Universal Computer Science (Springer-Verlag), Dr. Metaxas has developed "Electronic Thoreau," an electronic book-of-the-future based on ideas of the artist Dennis Downey, and designed multimedia walk-in tours for the Benaki Museum in Athens.
During the summer, Science Library staff welcomed to their reference area a
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custom-built reference desk funded by the Friends of the Library. This new desk, which can comfortably accommodate a librarian and two additional students or faculty users, is the Science library's first "official" reference desk. Staff have provided reference service for many years, but have never had a "station" to use as a base. A terminal at the new desk will let librarians help students search off-site databases. Incorporating new equipment (software, hardware, and wiring) is a constatnt |
Left to right: Marjorie S.Levey, Asst. Prof. of Biology; Lisa Brainard, Reference Librarian; Mary A. Nastuk, Asst. Prof. of Biology. |
Alongside the rare books, illuminated manuscripts, and precious letters housed in Clapp Library's Special Collections stands the Book Arts Collection. Although printed recently, Book Arts volumes are not likely to be found on a typical bookstore shelf. In fact, many will challenge your definition of "book." For example, Joan Collier's Trek Down the Grand Canyon (1998) is a "tunnel book' - a double-concertina structure whose three-dimensional text and images reveal themselves in sequence as the reader peers into it. Ronald King's Anansi Company (1992) is a masterpiece of color and engineering. A contemporary rendering of the Caribbean folktale of Anansi, the spider-man, the book contains fifteen silk-screened images with hand stencils accompanied by movable wire puppets. Pandora's Box, made by Peter and Donna Thomas, is a tiny, one-inch box constructed from exotic wood and marbled, hand-made linen rag paper. When the box is opened, a scroll emerges, revealing the text, a quote from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five.
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Illustration by Susan S. McBaine from Earthquake and Fire Days of 1906, by William Ford Nichols. Berkeley, California: Wild Pig Press, 1998 |
Encompassing the traditional handcrafts of papermaking, type design, printing, illustration, and binding, the Book Arts Collection is dedicated to the arts of the book. It was established in 1945 with Annis Van Nuys Schweppe's (Õ03) gift of an endowed fund for books and a printing laboratory. Fifty-three years later, the collection houses over 4,000 books and an active Book Arts Studio where students learn to set type by hand, print on nineteenth-century presses, and bind their own books. Examples of students' work are also currently on display in the fourth-floor Book Arts Lab and may be seen by calling Special Collections staff in advance at (781) 283-2129.
Don't miss our latest stationery offering, reproduced from a fifteenth-century Netherlands Book of Hours. Courtesy of the Library's Special Collections, this holiday card features an illuminated initial, with a delicate and beautifully-colored musical scene depicting Saint Cecilia. These notecards, with an inside message ("Wishing You Joy this Holiday Season"), are sold at the Wellesley College Library in boxes of eight, priced at $10.00.
The Friends of the Library full line of notecards is available at the Library and on the Web. The Wellesley College Club and College Bookstore sell selected items.
Donors Nurture Library Collection
Wellesley College exists
for women who love books and knowledge. The Alumnae Memorial
Book Fund exists to collect contributions to the Library
made in memory of such alumnae who have passed away. This
unrestricted, endowed fund acquires books recommended by
faculty, librarians, staff, and students.
Sometimes we tap the fund to make a
major purchase, such as an encyclopedia or an electronic
research tool. More typically, in 1997-98 we used it to add
over 800 new scholarly books to the collection. Each book
purchased received a bookplate memorializing an alumna who
had passed away the previous year.
The Library Gifts fund pools any small, unrestricted monetary gift that comes to the Library. Donors contribute for several reasons: to honor a friend, colleague, or relative; to mark a birthday, graduation, anniversary, or birth; or simply to support the Library and the College's mission. In 1999 nearly $10,000 in gifts will be available for purchases. Each book bought with Library Gifts bears a bookplate acknowledging the donor. By combining small gifts in the Alumnae Memorial Book Fund and Library Gifts fund, donors can make a sizable impact on the Library's collection, enhancing teaching and learning at Wellesley.
"Within the Library, the past sits comfortably with the future," said Micheline Jedrey, Vice President for Information Services and College Librarian, at a recent meeting of the Friends Steering Committee. The Committee agrees, having pledged $250,000 worth of state-of-the-art equipment and renovation for the Preservation and Conservation Facility. The equipment will assist Library staff in preservation functions like those performed by bookbinders and conservators throughout the centuries. This and other funding activities serve not only to maintain the Library's core function, but to expand its boundaries. For example, both the fall program featuring Professor Panagiotis T. Metaxas and the Science Library's new work station reflect the Library's changing role: more than a repository of books and journals, it must utilize myriad new ways to transfer information electronically. Today, as it was when Wellesley College was founded, the Library is at the center of learning. Change that delivers a better education, change that makes life more interesting, change that makes young women more productive is part of life at the Wellesley College Library.
New Faces
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Standing, left to right: Virginia Wickwire, Wilma Kassakian, Claire Broder. Kathryn Preyer, Frances Booth, Charlotte Issacs, Melissa Shaw, Mary Ann Lash, Kathleen Thompson, Lia Poorvu. Seated, left to right: Ruth Rogers, Wanda MacDonald, June Stobaugh, Micheline Jedrey. |
We wish a special welcome to our new Steering Committee members: Frances Booth CE'85 and Virginia Wickwire CE'81, who are both active in Authors on Stage, and Melissa Shaw '94, Liaison from Resources. Frances, who enjoys auditing courses at Wellesley, is a book and library advocate. She gives her local book club top priority and is eagerly anticipating the 125th year celebration of the Concord Free Library this fall. Frances will serve on the membership committee. Gina, who is stepping down after nine years as president of the Wellesley College Students' Aid Society, brings her energies to the Notecard Committee. Gina is a member of the Area Committee for the Friends of Art and the Campus Committee. She has two part-time jobs: one as interviewer in the Admissions Office at Wellesley, and the other as publisher's media escort to authors for interviews and events.
Tours a Hit!
More than 75 alumnae toured Knapp Media and Technology Center, Reference, and Special Collections during two tours the Library offered on reunion weekend. Comments ranged from "Isn't this great?" to "Could I survive at Wellesley today?" We have invited College Club members to tour the Library during Winter Term, and we will offer tours to alumnae during the 1999 reunion.
Membership UP!
We appreciate everyone who joined the Friends of the Library in 1997-98 and who is renewing her membership in this academic year. The classes of 1949 and 1956 are tied for the largest number of members, fifteen apiece. The 40's have the most members, with the 50's nipping at their heels. Special thanks to our many College Club members and to Lynne Newton, Club Manager, for featuring the Library in the Fall College Club Newsletter.
Marilyn Hatch, Special Collections Assistant and Book Arts Instructor, is designing a commemorative book to recognize Founders and Life Members. Bound with handmade paste papers and inscribed in calligraphy, the book will be displayed in the main hall of the Library. Life Members are those who have given $500 or more to the Library in one fiscal year (July 1-June 30).
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Professor Panagiotis T. Metaxas discusses "Goodbye, Gutenberg? The Electronic Text in the Twenty-first Century." Sponsored by Friends of the Library. Collins Cinema, Davis Museum and Cultural Center, 4:45-5:45 p.m. Refreshments, 4:15 p.m.
Fall Authors on Stage. To benefit the Wellesley College Library. The following authors will discuss their work: Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader; David Michaelis, N.C. Wyeth: A Biography; and Cathleen Schines, The Evolution of Jane.
Now through December 1. New Acquisitions in the Book Arts. Clapp Library, 4th floor, cases outside Special Collections.
Friends of the Library 1998-1999
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Honorary Chairperson
Diana Chapman Walsh '66
Founding Member
Mary E. Jackson '24
Co-Chairpersons
Ruth R. Rogers
June Milton Stobaugh '66
Newsletter Editor
Wanda Lankenner MacDonald '72
Steering Committee
Frances H. Booth CE'85
Claire M. Broder '61
Elizabeth K. Cabot '60
Janice G. Hunt '52
Charlotte L. Isaacs '68
Micheline E. Jedrey
Cynthia Johnson '72
Wilma M. Kassakian '68, ex officio
Mary Ann Lash '52
Lia Gelin Poorvu '56
Kathryn Preyer
Melissa Shaw '94, ex officio
Elinor Bunn Thompson'37
Kathleen Thompson CE'80
Sigrid R. Watson '47
Virginia B. Wickwire CE'81
- Comments to: Wilma Kassakian, Administrative Assistant
- Wellesley College Library
- Date created: Feb. 9, 1999
- Last modified: Feb. 9, 1999
- Expires: permanent