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Writers in the Library: Literary programming on a shoestring

by Steven R. Harris

A cursory examination of the library lit- erature would lead one to believe that literary programming is the exclusive prov- ince of public libraries. However, academic libraries are uniquely situated to provide in- teresting and dynamic literary functions to their campuses and to a wider public audi- ence. Most academic libraries have strong lit- erary collections and an interested audience who is eager to participate in arts program- ming.

At the University of Tennessee (UT) Libraries, we have worked hard to reach out to our literary community and to develop a series of programs that serve their interests. A few years ago, the then Dean of Libraries Paula Kaufman decided that having a writer- in-residence would be a valuable experiment to try at the University Libraries.

She spoke with Marilyn Kallet, director of the Creative Writing Program in the Department of English,¹ to solicit names of possible appointees to such a position. The idea was to select an up-and-coming author, someone who was interested in making an effort to write full time.

The library planned to provide the writer with a small stipend and a study carrel, complete with computer and network connection, from which to work. The position would be renewable for an undetermined number of years, with the intent to select a new writer for the assignment periodically.

In 1998, around the same time that I became UT English literature librarian, the library appointed Brian Griffin to the post of writer-in-residence. Although a Tennessee native, Griffin was a graduate of the Master of Fine Arts program at Virginia, where he had worked closely with Peter Taylor. He had recently won the Mary McCarthy Award for Short Fiction for his collection of short stories Sparkman in the Sky^z Griffin was also very active in the local Knoxville Writer’s Guild.³

UT seems to be unique in having a formal and permanent writer-in-residence. To my knowledge, the only other academic library that has a similar program is at North Carolina State University, where Kaye Gibbons has served as author-in-residence for many years.

After a year or so of getting all four of our feet on the ground, Griffin and I began to think of ways we could work together to promote the literary arts in the library, at the university, and within the community.

One thing we had both noted was that, despite having a graduate creative writing program, UT did not seem to offer a regular venue for students in that program to present their works. With the blessing of the library administration and a lot of assistance from the library Friends and Joe Rader, the coordinator of library out- reach, we began to formulate a plan for an ongoing reading se- ries that would take place in the John C. Hodges Library, the main library on campus.

About the author

Steven R. Harris is English literature librarian atthe University of Tennessee, e-mail:steven-harris@utk.edu

A bookmark schedule for the Writers in the Library's 2001-02 year.

Writers in the Library

For lack of a better idea, we de- cided to call the series “Writers in the Library”⁴ and began mod- estly with five readings during the first year. Griffin contacted most of the prospective authors, but people in the Creative Writing Program proved to be invaluable in helping us develop a slate of readers. Writing faculty suggested several notable students at the university, many of whom had won writing contests in the De- partment of English. Members of the faculty also agreed to partici- pate in the series themselves.

As with any program plan, there were a number of logistical problems to solve. We wanted to select a time for the events that would not conflict with other literary events in Knoxville. Many writing courses at UT are taught in the evening, and the Knoxville Writer’s Guild holds regular meetings on the first Thursday of each month. We considered those two groups to be our primary audience and did not want to schedule against them. After being warned off of Thursday or Friday evenings by several people (we are, after all, the number one party school in the nation), we settled on Monday as the best night for the series.

We then had to select an appropriate location. The Hodges Library has a fine auditorium, with a seating capacity of 150. That space, however, is often booked months in advance. We, therefore, initially scheduled all of our events in the faculty lounge of the library, which has a mix of plush seating and office chairs. Our facilities team did an excellent job of arranging the furnishings to comfortably seat about 50, with standing room in the back. Over the next two years, the standing crowd spilled out into the library foyer on several occasions.

Griffin and I took a rather ca- sual (nay, fly-by-night) attitude toward publicity. We really did it with little more than two weeks lead time for each event and no monetary support from the li- brary at all, other than the time we expended, the paper we used for printing fliers, and the use of library fax machines to send press releases to local media.

Griffin’s previous life as a wedding photographer came in handy when we needed public- ity stills of authors. I scanned the photos he shot and inserted the digital images into Word docu- ments to create our fliers. I often did not even use a photocopier to reproduce the fliers, but sim- ply printed dozens (or hundreds) of copies directly from a laser printer. We usually posted the fliers ourselves at local coffee shops and restaurants, or stuffed them into mailboxes in the En- glish department. We also tried to get the series listed in various community calendars and announced on local radio.

Our first reading, featuring three student poets from the Creative Writing Program, took place on October 25, 1999, with about 40 people in attendance. During the first year, Writers in the Library featured students (or recent students) and faculty exclusively; for the second year, we branched out to include more writers from the community and even writers on the library staff. We also hosted an evening of “slam” poets that proved to be very popular. It has become our normal practice to end the year with a reading by a member of the creative writing faculty. These faculty programs have all been very well attended, drawing large numbers of colleagues and students of the writer.

In his three years as writer-in-residence, Griffin managed to consult with dozens of students, host all of the readings in our series, write a substantial portion of a novel, and start a novel-writing contest in conjunction with the Writer’s Guild and the University Press? After all that work, he needed a break, and in 2001 the library appointed Pamela Schoenewaldt as the new writer-in- residence. Schoenewaldt is a recent émigré to Knoxville, having lived for many years in Naples, Italy. In 1995, she won the Chekhov Prize for Short Fiction from The Crescent Review.

Year three

We began our third year of the Writers in the Library series with a reading that featured both the incoming and outgoing writer-in-residence. In planning this year’s series, Schoenewaldt drew heavily on Griffin’s experience to round up an extensive roster of authors, many from the Writer’s Guild and the Knoxville writing community in general. The series is expanding from five to nine readings during the academic year. We have also gotten additional publicity support from the Libraries to create a bookmark that lists the entire agenda of authors and dates. With a schedule of events prepared ahead of time, we were able to book the library’s auditorium for many of the readings.

Although she had been so instrumental in developing the Writers in the Library series, Paula Kaufman moved on to become dean of libraries at the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign, in 1999, before our series even began. Interim Dean Aubrey Mitchell, and our new Dean of Libraries Barbara Dewey, however, have strongly supported the series and encouraged its continued development.

In planning Writers in the Library, we have relied exclusively on our own wits and UT resources (material and intellectual), but there are a number of organizations around that can help a librarian develop a reading series. ALA’s “©yourlibrary” program provides ideas and funds to qualified applicants.⁶ Poets House also works with libraries to establish literary events?

We decided to go it on our own, partly out of laziness, partly out of ignorance, but mostly because we took a lot of pleasure in developing the ideas ourselves and shepherding them through to a finished product. It has truly been one of the most enjoyable aspects of my time at UT. I encourage everyone to develop a similar literary program at their libraries. It provides a great way to become familiar with local writers and to form important bonds with library supporters throughout the community.

Notes

1. Information on UT’s Creative Writing Program in the Department of English can be found at http://web.utk.edu/%7Eenglish/ creative.htm.
2. Brian Griffin, Sparkman in the Sky & other Stories (Sarabande Books, 1997).
3. The Knoxville Writer’s Guild is on the Web at http://www.knoxvillewritersguild.org/.
4. The Writers in the Library Web site is at http://www. lib. utk.edu/announce/ writersinthelibrary/.
5. Information on the Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel is online at http://www. knoxvillewritersguild.org/tennprize.htm.
6. Visit https://cs.ala.0rg/@y0urlibrary/.
7. Poets House can be found at http:// www.poetshouse.org/. ■