IL LIN IUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign Library

Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007.

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Vol. 1, No. 3

ISSN 0192-5539

Autumn 1979

b NEWSLETTER FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY FRIENDS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

American CornerTo Be DedicatedSomething very important is happening.On Saturday, September 8, the LibraryFriends are hosting a program aboutsome American literary figures. Dr. NinaBaym, Director of the School of Human-ities, will lecture in 100 Gregory Hall at 2p.m. about the authors featured in theRare Book Room's newly organized"American Corner" grouping. Dr.George Hendrick will then speak brieflyon the history of the individual items inthis collection.

Welcoming the IkenberrysAfter this brief program, new UI Presi-dent Stanley Ikenberry and his wifeJudith will greet members of the LibraryFriends at a reception in the Rare BookRoom. While refreshments are served,guests will have an opportunity to viewthe special exhibit prepared by Profes-sors George Hendrick and Lynn Alten-bernd of the English Department andPeggy Harris. Formal dedication of theAmerican Corner display is at 3:45 p.m.

The display features portraits of notedAmerican authors, and two framed holo-graph manuscripts. Included is a partic-ularly interesting series of Thoreauportraits: a crayon drawing done in1854, an 1856 daguerrotype and an 1861ambrotype. A letterfrom Mark Twain willaccompany a 1907 chromolith and an oilportrait of him.

Perhaps the single most valuable workto be included in the group is an 1889Gutekunst photograph of Walt Whit-man, which will hang near a Steichenportrait of Carl Sandburg and his wife.

Dr. George Hendrick's efforts in or-ganizing the display, and his generousdonation of frames and mats for the pic-tures, as well as the brass plaques, havemade possible the addition of the Ameri-

* can Corner to the riches of the RareBook Room.

Commerce Library Kudos(Editor's note: Frlendscript will featurevarious departments of the UI Library in thisand future issues.)

The Commerce Library was on theLibrary's second floor when EstherClausen assumed its direction in 1964,and one file held its company annualreports. At its present site, the libraryhas 40,000 holdings and an entire wall ofvertical files houses annual reports andForm 10K records on microfiche. Eachyear 4000 new monographs arrive at thelibrary, but space limitations relegatemany of the foreign-language booksdirectly to the stacks.

Some Helping HandsThe library has enjoyed the benefits ofsome special friendships. One suchfriend is Mrs. Glenn Breen, whose latehusband earned B.S. and M.S. degreesin business at UI. As a memorial to him,Mrs. Breen donated funds to buy booksnamed in response to her inquiry aboutCommerce Library needs. Hergenerosity has enabled acquisition of 20works; a bookplate in each testifies tothe gift. Recently, Mrs. Breen madeanother large and much-appreciateddonation. A 1972 finance graduate,Dean May, also targeted his gift forCommerce Library materials. Last fall, aresearch center funded by theaccounting firm Peat, Marwick andMitchell was dedicated; it houses aLEXIS terminal for research inaccounting and taxation.

Special ServicesThe Commerce Library offers valuableservice to the community with its

excellent collection of financial servicesof help to anyone making investmentdecisions. Though some area residentsuse these materials now, Ms. Clausenbelieves more people would if they knewthe staff encourages communitypatronage. References available includedaily stock guides and price indexes,Value Line Investment Survey, andmore. This service is viewed as just onethat a tax-supported institution has aresponsibility to provide to itsconstituency.

Patrons of the library appreciateReference Librarian M. Balachandran'shelp, and students are enthusiasticabout the free study guides AssistantLibrarian Jean Koch compiles forbusiness courses.

Special NeedsThe Commerce Library, of course, is notutopia. Its staff was torn betweennaming new office equipment (likeelectric typewriters), additionalfinancial service references, orreplacement of two old microfichereaders as items most needed.Moreover, more than one person hasdropped abruptly to the floor whenchairs in the browsing section havecollapsed.

Retiring next year after 25 years at theUI Library, Ms. Clausen views theCommerce Library as having notablestrengths, some serious unmet needs,and, in terms of providing first-qualitymaterials and service to users, "stillstriving."

Please remember:

Frlendscript is produced and distributed with funds from a 3-year grant of the StewartHowe Foundation. These funds weredonated in recognition of the late Mr. Howe's strong supportof the University of Illinois Library as benefactor and chartermember of Library Friends. The UI Library appreciates thissupport, and must rely on the continued generosity of thosewho recognize the importance of the Library's ability to meetthe challenges of today and the future with success.

What Makes a Book Rare?

Like many people, you may believe thata rare book is an old book. If so, you'reonly one-third right-sometimes. Abook may even be considered rarewithout being old at all.

For example, the UI Library has a bookcalled Hummingbirds by CrawfordGreenewalt. Published in 1960, it isn'tbound in vellum or 300 years old, but itdoes contain the first publishedphotographs of hummingbird wing-flutter, made possible by high-speedphotography. This book is scarcealready and is sure to become rare.

So, if a rare book isn't just an old bookor a scarce book, what is it? To be rare, awork must satisfy three conditions. First,it must be intrinsically important (likeHummingbirds). Second, it must also bescarce-that is, few known copies.Finally, following basic economic law ofsupply and demand, a rare work must besought. This last condition obviouslyresults from the first two, and the extentof demand determines the value of a rarework.

Rare book collecting has become"institutionalized." About 75 years ago,there were more private buyers thaninstitutions competing for rarities.Today, however, over 90% of purchasesare by institutions like the UI Library.The effect of this on a book's value-when all known copies are permanentlyheld, say, in library collections-ispredictable.

Old rare books are often so expensivethat only institutional buyers can hopeto acquire them. Sometimes, though,these organizations have funds ready tobuy a copy of, for example,Shakespeare's First Folio, but since onlyabout 40 copies of the book can befound anywhere in the world, theresimply isn't any copy to be bought.Furthermore, libraries that have bookslike these seldom put them up for sale.

Every field of human knowledge hasits incunabula and its rare works.(Incunabula is the Latin term for workspublished or created (i.e., copied)before 1501.) Both private andinstitutional collectors often specializein a particular area, like works ofchildren's illustrators. In the case of theUniversity of Illinois, the emphasis of therare collections is on works by JohnMilton, Carl Sandburg, Marcel Proust,and H.G. Wells.

Some new members of the Executive Com-mittee recently gathered in the Undergradu-ate Library courtyard. L to R: Mrs. Ezra Levin,Mr. Ed Scharlau, Dr. George Hendrick, Mrs.Donald Bitzer. New members not picturedhere: Dr. Robert Johannsen, Dean RobertRogers, Mrs. August Meyer, Jr., Mr. JamesCollier, and Mr. John Barr.

ExecutiveCommittee NotesSupport of education, as with support ofnearly everything else, has its ups anddowns. The end of the 1970s is not a timewhen one can claim that support ofeducation is up. Such cycles areinevitable. However, for all of us whorealize that the University of IllinoisLibrary is the cornerstone to thegreatness of our school, suchphilosophical observations are of littlecomfort.

Membership in the Friends is anindication by the member that one mustdo what he can in order to keep ourlibrary on top. It is of more than littleimportance that our library, the thirdlargest in the country, ranked 8th inacquisitions last year and 15th in fundsspent. Needless to say, a few years ofthat and we will see its position erode.

This fall we are going to make aspecial attempt to reach out to ouralumni and friends around the country.We hope all of our friends will help uspass the message that we don't want andwon't allow our library to be anythingbut what it is-one of the greatest in theworld. The Friends of the University ofIllinois Library is dedicated to thispurpose.

-Robert Watts, Membership Chairman

Publish and Flourish

No matter how good a library'scollection might be, it can be wastedwithout guides to assist interestedsearchers. In the past few months, threenew guides to special collections in theUI Library have been published.

Hats off, first, to Dr. AlbertoPorqueras-Mayo, professor of the UlDepartment of Spanish, Italian andPortuguese, who collaborated withIllinois State University Professor J.L.Laurenti on The Spanish Golden Age(1472-1700). Released by G.K. Hall, thework is a "Catalog of Rare Books Held inthe Library of the University of Illinoisand in Selected North AmericanLibraries."

The UI Library and Graduate Schoolof Library Science have released thefourth in the Robert B. DownsPublication Fund series, Guide to theHeinrich A. Rattermann Collection ofGerman-American Manuscripts,compiled by Donna Sell and DennisWalle.

Finally, a third boon: in mid-September the Downs series will issueDr. Marian Harman's superb guide to theUniversity Library's incunabula. Herproject was described in an earlier issueof Friendscript.

The Library is proud of these fruits ofbibliographic research devoted to itsoutstanding materials.

The Library Is Looking...For funds to purchase microfilms ofimportant newspapers for the UILibrary's collections. The Library hasamassed a research collection of severalmajor newspapers, but backfiles are stillneeded. For example, holdings of theLouisville Courier-Journal have gaps forthe years 1868-1910 and 1934-39. Onereel of microfilm alone costs about $20,and the complete file would cost severalthousand dollars to acquire.

The Newspaper Library is heavilyused, and to give service to its patrons,needs more microfilm readers. Thereare currently only 12 readers-one per5300 rolls of film-and 22,000 rolls areused each year. These machines costabout $1000, but no budget allowancefor a reader here has been made thisyear.

For more information, please call Wil-liam Maher, Newspaper Librarian,217/333-1509.

If you would like to help the Library witha donation or gift, please call.

The Librarian's ViewMany people have been worried aboutthe application of the federal guidelineson heating and air conditioning publicbuildings to libraries. We at the UILibrary share the concern and haveindeed taken the beginning steps torequest a waiver from the guidelines.Books deteriorate if they are not kept ata temperature of 65-680F, and at a rela-tive humidity of 45-50%-these levelsare more stringent than those allowedby the federal guidelines. If the nation'slibrary resources were kept within thefederal guidelines, we would see seriousdeterioration in this most valuable ofcultural resources.

As of now, we have asked the Univer-sity to make a formal request for waiver.The Illinois Association of College andResearch Libraries committee of liaisonwith the Illinois Board of Higher Educa-tion is asking thatthe IBHE request sucha waiver for all academic libraries in thestate of Illinois. Thus we do hope andexpect that the request (with a cogentargument about the preservation ofinvaluable resources) will be made andbe granted.

As you know, Illinois' general librarystacks are not air conditioned. We dohave air conditioning for the rare booksand special collections. The materials inthe Reference Library and departmentallibraries housed in the main building,and the books and journals in the stacksare facing serious deterioration prob-lems. We hope that when the gloriousday arrives that a remodeling project isfinally approved by the state legislature,we will be able to protect these materialsas we should. But until then, we try toretard deterioration of materials in thegeneral stacks as much as possible.

-Hugh Atkinson, University Librarian

The Philip E. Mosely Collection on Russian-American Relations, donated to the UIArchives last year by Mrs. Ruth Mosely,includes this picture of the late Dr. Mosely,Professor of International Relations atColumbia. The Archives has a special exhibitof collection highlights, which Mrs. Moselywill view when she visits the campus in earlySeptember.

Off to a Good StartTrue, Friendscript may only be in itsinfancy, but its future looks very bright.At a recent workshop for newsletter edi-tors during the American Library Asso-ciation annual meeting in Dallas, judgescited Friendscript as having one of thebest-designed front pages and beingamong the best-produced newslettersof the publications evaluated. Wethought we were doing well, but itsalways nice to know someone elsethinks so, too...

Milton Scholar Dies

Harris Fletcher's Legacy

The University, the Library, and theFriends recently lost a gifted scholar andgenerous benefactor in the death ofHarris Fletcher, UI Professor of Englishand Dean of the College of Liberal Artsand Sciences Emeritus. Fletcher wasone of the world's eminent authoritieson the 17th-century English poet JohnMilton.

From the time he joined the UI facultyin 1938 until he retired in 1963, Fletcherdevoted himself to the study of Miltonand to acquiring works by and aboutMilton for the Ul Library. His was themajor effort behind the compiling of theLibrary's collection of 3000 works byand about Milton, which is today one ofthe finest anywhere. Through his efforts,the Library now owns the world's largestcollection of Paradise Lost editions and17th-century editions of all Milton'sworks, as well as a large body ofmanuscripts and reference and criticalworks on Milton.

Mr. Fletcher himself contributed manyscholarly critical works on Milton, suchas The Intellectual Development ofMilton and Milton's RabbinicalReadings. He also edited the 4-volumeComplete Poetical Works. In 1958,Sigma Delta Chi awarded him the BrownDerby as the faculty membercontributing most to the universitycommunity in recent years. The MiltonSociety of America also recognized hisdistinguished scholarship by naminghim an Honored American Scholar.

Students and scholars studyingEnglish literature now and in the futurewill benefit from the great legacy HarrisFletcher has left us of his work and theMiltonia held at the UI Library.

friendscriptAppears quarterly, in March, June, Sep-tember and December. Editor: LindaHoffman. Office of Publication: 249Armory Bldg., University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign, Champaign IL 61820.Application to mail at second-class post-age rates is pending at Urbana, Illinois.POSTMASTER: send address changes toFriendscript, 249 Armory Bldg., Universityof Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,Champaign IL 61820.

I wish to be a member of Library Friends. Please use my tax-deductiblegift to strengthen the great collections at the University of Illinois Libraryat Urbana-Champaign.

Enclosed is my membership contribution:

E Life Member ($1500)O Subscribing Member ($50)" Benefactor ($1000) 0 Contributing Member ($25)l Patron ($500) 0 Student Member ($5)

" Sponsor ($100)

Name

Address

City State __ Zip

Univerfity of Illinois Library FriendsPlease send this card with your check payable to University of Illinois Foundation, 224 IlliniUnion, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801.

CalendarExhibitsAugust 21-September 7"Selected Notable Acquisitions, 1978-1979." Rare Book Room.

September 1-30"The Philip E. Mosely Collection:Russian-American Relations, 1922-1972." University Archives.

September 8-October 29"American Literature: 19th & 20th Cen-turies." Rare Book Room.

October 1-31"Student Fashions: A Pictorial Record."University Archives.

November 1-30"Edmund J. James and AcademicResponsibility: 75 Years Later." Univer-sity Archives.

December 1-"Greeting Cards Over Time." UniversityArchives.

EventsSeptember 8Dedication of Rare Book Room's Ameri-can Corner permanent display. Dr. NinaBaym and Dr. George Hendrick, speak-ers. 2 p.m., 100 Gregory Hall. Reception,2:45 p.m. and dedication, 3:45 p.m., RareBook Room.

November 11-1425th annual Allerton Park Institute:"Organizing the Library's Support:Donors, Volunteers and Friends." Spon-sored by the UI Graduate School ofLibrary Science. Allerton House, Monti-cello. Illinois.

Allerton Institute PlannedOf special interest to the Library Friendswill be the 25th annual Allerton ParkInstitute, sponsored by the UI GraduateSchool of Library Science, to be heldNovember 11-14 at Robert Allerton Parknear Monticello, Illinois. The topic ofthis year's institute is "Organizing theLibrary's Support: Donors, Volunteersand Friends." Fourteen specialists invarious aspects of fund-raising,volunteer work and librarianship willdiscuss such topics as annual givingprograms, library friends' publications,research collection development,organizational management andnetworks.

The planning committee is headed byDr. D.W. Krummel, and includes otherswho have been active in the University ofIllinois Library Friends. Furtherinformation about the institute isavailable from Ed Kalb, 116 Illini Hall(217/333-2881).

A National Friend of OursFriends Coordinator Joan Hoodattended the American Library Associa-tion annual conference in Dallas thissummer, and returned as a member ofthe national board of the newly-formedFriends of Libraries USA.

At the ALA Friends' meetings, repre-sentatives of friends groups throughoutthe country voted to establish the organ-ization, which will work to developfriends' groups and to promote excel-lence in library service.

Mrs. Hood said, "I am excited aboutthe potential of this group for develop-ing an organizational structure whichwill be of benefit to communities as wellas academic libraries. This will be animportant goal, and the U of I hasa greatopportunity to be at the forefront of thisdevelopment."

Yale Discovers Illinois RichesTwo visitors of the UI Library from YaleUniversity discovered materials herethat they did not expect to find. During afour-day visit in late April, Timothy Cristand Janice Hansel examined Illinois'holdings in preparation for publicationof the second edition of Short-TitleCatalogue of Books Printed in England,Scotland, Ireland, Wales and BritishAmerica and of English Books Printed inOther Countries, 1641-1700, first pub-lished by Donald Wing in 1948 andknown as Wing's STC.

During their visit, the researchersnoted about 5000 items published in thischronological period while working ontheir revision of volume two of Wing'sSTC. They were most favorablyimpressed by UI's extensive holdings ofWing-period works, and approximately30-40% of the 5000 items they examined

here will be listed in the new edition withthe University of Illinois cited as a loca-tion .

Crist and Hansel were even more plea-santly surprised when their researchfurther revealed about 50 titles and edi-tions previously unlisted in STC andexamined at Illinois for the first time.These titles will appear in the secondedition as new entries.

The University Library often accom-modates researchers like the recent vis-itors from Yale and frequently affordsthese scholars unexpected and pleasantsurprises. The citation of Illinois as animportant source for location of bookspublished between 1640 and 1700 is, ofcourse, only appropriate-and just onemore indication to the rest of the worldof the UI Library's eminence in holdingsof old and rare works.

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