ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Personnel

G.A.Harrer

On August 1, Dr. Gustave A. Harrer assumed his new duties as Director of Libraries at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The appointment brought to a close eight exciting years during which, as head of the library system at Boston University, Dr. Harrer wrought far-reaching changes upon the Charles River campus. Under his directorship the library’s budget, holdings, salaries, and professional staff were dramatically increased; valuable collections were brought to the University; the Twentieth Century Archives were initiated; the Friends of the Boston University Libraries was revitalized as an organization; and the beautiful Mugar Memorial Library was constructed, consolidating nine departmental libraries on the campus. It was during the planning and building of Mugar that Dr. Harrer’s catholicity of knowledge and interest became legend, for rare indeed is the man who in the same morning could discourse on medieval binding and show the construction crew how to adjust a particularly intricate mechanical apparatus.

A warm, affable man with a wide knowledge of books and human beings, Dr. Harrer personifies the librarian-bookman-scholar-administrator in the best traditional sense. Linguist, musician, builder, traveller, reader, champion of civil liberties, husband, father, charming host, library consultant, and participant in civic, historic, and professional organizations, he is in that unique position of having conquered the twenty-four hour day.

Dr. Harrer received his AB (1948), MA (1950), and PhD (1953, in Germanic Languages) from the University of North Carolina and his MS in LS from the University of Illinois (1954). Beginning his academic career as assistant professor of German and Latin at Millsaps College (1949-51), he entered the world of librarianship in 1954 when he was appointed Assistant Order Librarian, University of Tennessee Libraries, and then Associate Order Librarian at the same University the next year. In 1957 Dr. Harrer was wooed to the West Coast as Chief Acquisitions Librarian at Stanford University, and in 1958 was appointed Stanford’s Assistant Director for Central Services, a post he held until his arrival in Boston in 1960.

Long active in ALA, and in the New England, California, and Tennessee library associations, Dr. Harrer has at various times served on some dozen national library committees, and has frequently contributed to professional library and academic publications. Among his honors are the American Council of Learned Societies fellowship in linguistics (University of Michigan, 1948); the Fund for the Advancement of Education faculty fellowship for advanced graduate work (1951-52); the Katherine L. Sharpe Alumni Fellowship (University of Illinois Library School, 1953-54; the Carnegie Seminar in Advanced Library Administration Fellowship (under Keyes Metcalf, 1958); and the CLR Grant for the Study of Book Number Code (1960).

Dr. Harrer’s wide experience and fine personal assets assuredly mean that the University of Florida Libraries have acquired a unique Director. Having spent eight years in the Athens of the New World, it may be assumed that with the best wishes of his many friends, Gus Harrer also takes with him to the land of Ponce de León, the Puritan Ethic.—Howard B. Gotlieb, Boston University.

Mr. Thomas

J. Donald Thomas took his bachelor’s degree from Tulane in 1948 and his master’s in library science at Columbia in 1951. His career has provided a wide variety of experience as background for his new position as executive secretary of the Association of College and Research Libraries. He has served on the staff of the documents division in the acquisitions department at Columbia; as librarian of the information service of the French Embassy in New York; as assistant librarian of Hunter

College; as reference cataloger of the Standard Oil Company central library in New York; and as assistant chief librarian for the Montreal Star in Montreal.

In the fall of 1960, Mr. Thomas came to the University of Chicago library as administrative assistant to the director. Initially he was assigned a wide variety of problems in the public service fields, technical processing, physical plant maintenance, alteration, and planning. He became the first head of the general services division of the library, a post established in 1962. In this position Thomas, first as an assistant director and later as an associ-ate director, had primary responsibility for operations of the major public services of the general library. With the close association and support of his department heads, he developed and implemented a wide variety of new and improved public services and procedures. He was, of course, heavily involved from the beginning in the concepts and the planning of the Joseph Regenstein library.

Don Thomas has clear and strong views on the operational needs of libraries, and he has constantly been alert for opportunities to improve services, efficiency, or respond in other ways to operational requirements. He is impatient with those he believes to be slow or unresponsive in such matters. His wide background of professional experience is matched by a wide range of personal interests in which Mr. Thomas displays similar vigor, authority, and knowledge. He has a great, but disciplined, affection for a reasonably wide assortment of dogs; he is a collector of early prints and engravings; he is a producer as well as a consumer of the finest in French cuisine; and still can find time to ski in both Aspen and Austria.

We are confident that with this background and this wide range of interests, ACRL will assuredly be enlivened by his disciplined and vigorous approach to many fundamental problems.—Herman H. Fussier, University of Chicago.

Mr. Little

In reviewing candidates for the position of associate director of library services at Hofstra University a few years ago, we stated that we needed a man strong enough to be receiving offers of head librarianships within three years. How precisely the successful candidate, Thompson M. Little, was chosen, is indicated in the fact that on November 1 he will become director of libraries at Ohio University, Athens, exactly three years from the day on which he joined our staff.

Tom Little s career has been marked by distinguished education and experience. After graduation from Bowdoin College, he worked briefly in an envelop factory. He quickly escaped, to attend the Columbia University school of library service, from which he graduated with honors, and received the Wheeler award, the highest honor bestowed on a student in the school. Following five years of distinguished and increasingly responsible work at the Stanford University library, as social science reference librarian and assistant chief of the humanities and social science division, Tom returned to Columbia as librarian of the school of library service. He also has taught a course in social science literature at this school from 1962 to 1968.

For the past three years at Hofstra University he has been largely instrumental in guiding the development of a rapid library expansion that has tripled the staff, quadrupled the total budget and quintupled the book budget in a period of three years. His work has been especially outstanding in revising and reshaping acquisition and cataloging procedures to absorb a radically increased load, and in supervising the move of the entire library into a new library building.

Tom Little has worked actively in state, local, and national library affairs, and was a principal speaker at the Conference on the Bibliographic Control of Library Science Literature held this Spring in Albany. He is co-editor with Carl M. White of Sources of Information in the Social Sciences, for which he is now preparing a new edition. Tom Little is highly respected by the staff, and his general intelligence, wide range of skills, and ability to stimulate staff response come to Ohio University at an especially important time in its growth, as they prepare to move into a large new library building. The entire staff at Hofstra wish him a warm farewell, and look forward to following his career upward.—Ellsworth Mason, Hofstra University.

APPOINTMENTS

Mrs. Susan Antheshas joined the staff of the University of Miami as assistant reference librarian.

Janet Areyhas been appointed reference librarian at Birmingham-Southern College.

Lee Ash,library consultant, has contracted to edit the 16-page bimonthly Hew England Library Association Newsletter, which will begin publication in January, 1969. Editorial address: 31 Alden Road, New Haven, Connecticut 06515.

Jean Barnetthas joined the staff of the University of California library, Riverside, as cataloger-bibliographer in humanities.

JosephM. Barth has been appointed audiovisual librarian at the United States Military Academy, West Point.

RichardW. Beebe has been named acquisitions librarian at the State University of New York College, Geneseo.

Lawrence Bowmanhas been named librarian of the Defiance College, Defiance, Ohio.

Mrs. NancyG. Boylan has been appointed head, government documents department at the University of Iowa libraries.

Jeraldine Byrneis now in charge of the bibliographic checking section at the University of California library, Riverside.

Phyllis Carterhas joined tbe staff of Duke University library as a descriptive cataloger.

Glyn Evans,formerly research librarian of the Royal Society of Medicine Library, London, is now head of the machine project at the School of Medicine Library, Washington University.

RonaldL. Fingerson has been appointed head, serials department at the University of Iowa libraries.

Stuart Forthis acting vice president for student affairs at the University of Kentucky.

Robert Andrew Golterhas accepted the position of assistant director of University Libraries and librarian of the J. Henry Meyer Memorial Library, Stanford University libraries.

Harold Gordonis acting director of libraries at the University of Kentucky.

Charles Hicksis now acting head of the acquisitions department at the University of Miami library.

Mrs. Patricia Hitchingsis now head of reference services at Hamilton Library, Edinboro State College, Pa.

DonaldC. Hoffmeister has joined the staff of the State University of New York College, Geneseo, as circulation librarian.

Marcia Jebbis now associate librarian in the reference department, Cornell University libraries.

Mrs. DorisJ Jensen has joined the staff of the Cornell University libraries as assistant librarian, law library.

Diane Johnsonis a new staff member of the government publications department, University of California library, Riverside.

RichardM. Kolbert has been appointed head, acquisitions department at the University of Iowa libraries.

CarolineD. Ladeira has joined the staff of the Cornell University libraries as assistant librarian, serials and binding department.

WilliamT. Lane has been appointed reference librarian at the State University of New York College, Geneseo.

Dr. Hwa-Wei Lee,chief librarian of Hamilton library, Edinboro State College, Pa., will be on leave during 1968-69 to serve as the library director of the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand on an appointment by the Agency for International Development.

WilliamC. Leonard has accepted appointment as head of the graphic arts service and instructor in library administration at the University of Oregon.

Mrs. Bonnie Meyer Ledbetteris now a cataloger at Birmingham-Southern College.

LeslieH. Meyers has joined the staff of the reference department, Cornell University libraries.

Dennis Leeperis the new head of reader services, Hamilton Library, Edinboro State College, Pa.

Mrs. Kenneth Lisbergis a new staff member at the School of Medicine Library, Washington University.

Venita McPhersonis a new staff member in the reference department at the University of California library, Riverside.

ThomasL. Mann has been appointed acting assistant reference librarian at Wisconsin State University, Whitewater.

JohnH. Martin has accepted the position of acquisitions librarian at the School of Medicine Library, Washington University.

Mrs. Cherie Montgomeryis now circulation librarian at the School of Medicine Library, Washington University.

JudithA. Proctor has joined the staff of the Cornell University libraries as assistant librarian, serials and binding department.

Joseph Schwartzis now director of reader services and assistant librarian at the University of Minnesota Library, Duluth.

Nasser Sharifyhas been named dean of the graduate library school, Pratt Institute.

Stanley Skarzynskihas joined the staff of the Hamilton Library, Edinboro State College, Pa., as a bibliographer.

Louise Stewartis now head, acquisitions section, University of California library, River-

StuartA. Stiffler has been appointed librarian at Findlay College.

Mahhardi Supraptais now an assistant catalog librarian, Cornell University libraries.

Elizabeth Van Leuvenis now the Russian bibliographer-cataloger at the University of California library, Riverside.

Virginia Veithas joined the staff of the Jackson Library, Stanford University libraries, as a cataloger.

Mrs. LanceC. Vinson is a new cataloger at Bowdoin College’s Hawthorne-Longfellow library.

Saul Weinsteinhas been named acting chief librarian for 1968-69 at Hamilton library, Edinboro State College, Pa.

Mrs. Emma Williamshas assumed the duty of assistant to the chief librarian at Hamilton library, Edinboro State College, Pa.

DonaldG. Wilson has been appointed acting university librarian at the University of California library, Riverside.

Clifford Würfelhas been named head of special collections at the University of California library, Riverside.

Mrs. Margaret Carter Ziemanbecame reference assistant at Georgia Institute of Technology on September 1.

RETIREMENTS

Philip Hofer,collector and bibliographer, has retired after 30 years of service as curator of the department of printing and graphic arts in the Harvard College library. Mr. Hofer founded this department, the first of its kind in a university library, with his own collection of 10,000 books and manuscripts in 1938.

NECROLOGY

Miss Ruby E. Dare, librarian of Greenville College, Greenville, Illinois, succumbed to a massive stroke on August 8, 1968 at the age of 63.

IN MEMORIAM

Contributions to a Rudolph H. Gjelsness Scholarship Fund are being received by the University of Michigan department of library science.

The New York public library has established an Archibald P. De Weese Memorial Book Fund.