Library History Seminar XI (U Illinois)

31 October 2005
I started to write this on the start of a long flight back to Honolulu. I fly directly out of Champaign, but have three flights ahead of me. Eighteen plus hours between airports is a long time. The longest layover was in the new Detroit terminal. I hope it is not the model for airports for the future.

I am kvetching again, but the Library History Seminar was truly worth it. There were about 117 people in attendance from all over the US, Canada, as well as several from Africa, Asia, and Europe. The theme, “Libraries in Times of War, Revolution & Social Change,” was excellent, and most of the papers were very good. One of the best papers directly followed mine. Wayne Wiegand prefaced his start that every historian should be so lucky to find such a topic. I can’t wait to read the book that he and Shirl wrote on local police raid of an Oklahoma left-wing bookstore. University of Pennsylvania historian Kathy Peiss also gave a truly excellent keynote address, and shared informed comments on many of the panels.

I felt bad that I missed several friends’ papers, as there were 2 or 3 competing sessions at one time. The discussion during meals and breaks was superb. Living in Hawaii I really need to have this time to catch up with people and things at these conferences.

It was also very nice to honor Donald G. Davis, Jr. who just retired after over a quarter century of teaching at the University of Texas I School, and as editor of Libraries & Culture. By coincidence, my roommate was the new journal (renamed Libraries & the Cultural Record) editor, David Gracy. It was great to see dissertation committee members Pawley, Robbins, Wiegand, as well as other colleagues and friends. I met many new people at the conference, including Archie Dick (U Pretoria), Ilkka Mäkinen, Sharon Domier (U Mass-Amherst), Maria Gonzales (Texas-Austin), Yasuyo Inoue (Dokkyo U), Sarah Park (U Illinois), and to get to know better Martine Poulain, and Ann Curry.

I also was thrilled to see Mark Tucker (now Dean of Libraries at ACU), but who was my mentor ten years ago when I started researching library history ten years ago. He introduced me to Christine Jenkins, Don Krummel, Cheryl Malone, Linda Smith, and others at UIUC, when I was exploring Ph.D. programs. It was great to see them all there as well, along with LHRT regulars Mary Maack, Doug Raber, Barry Neavill, Daniel Ring, Gerry Greenberg, Ken Potts, and more.

My colleague Rebecca Knuth also was there from Hawaii. I was pleased to see her book, Libricide, recognized by many of the participants. She was even more pleased.

I will upload many of my photos to the Kodak.com site, although a good many did not come out, especially the ones of people speaking. [10/05 Library History Seminar XI (UIUC) Photos @ Kodak.com]

I thought it would have been an ideal photo backdrop with the book-lined walls of the Allerton Institute library. The setting and weather were ideal. I loved the few times I could walk around outside amid the falling brightly colored leaves.

Another highlight was the LHRT Auction. We raised almost $1,000 to support the LHRT Endowed Lecture. I always love building up my collection. I bought many big boxes last time when we had an auction that Sid Berger conducted at the Brick Row Book Shop in San Francisco. I bought slightly over $200 in books, of which I had shipped over. My biggest purchase was a copy of the new Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress that John Cole and Jane Aiken edited. They both signed it and donated a copy. I also bought Kelley’s histories of British libraries. I’ve never seen copies for sale in my bookstore trips. There were two items that I really wanted, but didn’t win. One was Drury’s classic collection management text, which went for over $40 (even though the spine was coming off), and the other was a mint copy of Bobinski’s Carnegie Libraries. Melanie Kimball really wanted to get this since the author has an office next door. Many of us still appreciate the book as classic, with a helpful appendix. I am grateful to those who helped make it possible, including David Hovde (donor, initial auction committee chair), Melanie Kimball (treasurer), Louise Robbins (a superb auctioneer, with help from an energetic Sheri McQueen), Gerry Greenberg, Ken Potts, Christine Pawley, and donors Don Davis, Don Krummel (an 1876 report on libraries!), Jean Preer, and others.

In other news, today is the first anniversary of the Hamilton Library flood. I enjoyed reading my students’ articles in the ALA Student Chapter newsletter, the Basement Blotter. It, of course, brought back many memories of that class.

I am so looking forward to returning to Honolulu, mostly to see Noriko, but also to normalize my sleeping schedule somewhat.