ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 1066 / C& RL N e w s ■ D e c e m b e r 2001 C o l l e g e & R e s e a r c h L i b r a r i e s wns e Honoring faculty Book plates to celebrate faculty achievements by Lisa German and Karen Schmidt A chievement o f tenure and promotion in rank may constitute the single most sig­ nificant event in the professional life o f a fac­ ulty member in a college or university. It is a singular honor that represents the culmination o f focused effort in teaching, re­ search and ser­ vice, and the rec­ o g n itio n o f pro m ise as a scholar and edu­ cator. It is, quite simply, the rite of passage into a com m u n ity o f scholarly privi­ lege and responsibility to the academy. For many faculty who achieve tenure and promotion in rank, the library is their labo­ ratory. At a minimum, the library and its col­ lections and services represent a record of intellectual achievement in all disciplines and an archive o f all that has collectively been attained. For a significant number o f fac­ ulty, the library is far more than a com pi­ lation o f ideas and a catalyst to intellec­ tual creativity. With this in mind, the University o f Illi­ To Read or Not To Read: Answers To A ll Your Questions About Dyslexia By Daphne M. Hurford “Our son, Dale, has dyslexia. I selected this book in honor of him and to recognize the hard work he has done to learn to read.” Brent J. Heuser, Department o f Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering Illustration 1. Sample of selection statement from faculty member. nois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Library, un­ der the leadership of University Librarian Paula Kaufman and with the support of the provost’s office, initiated a unique program o f honor­ ing faculty who attain the honor o f tenure and/or p ro m o tion in rank at UIUC. B e g in n in g with the 2000 academic year, this program al­ lows the newly tenured and/or promoted fac­ ulty member to choose a book for the UIUC Li­ brary collection, and to have a bookplate placed in the book to commemorate each faculty member’s achieve­ ment. Once the names o f faculty w h o have achieved tenure or who have been promoted in rank are known (generally in the spring), the provost and the university librarian jointly send a letter to these faculty members, alert­ ing them to the book plating opportunity and inviting them to a reception in their honor in the fall o f the current year. The provost’s of­ fice provides the library with a list o f newly A b o u t t h e a u th o rs Lisa German is acquisitions librarian and Karen Schmidt is associate university librarian for collections at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, e-mail: lgerman@uiuc.edu and karens@uiuc.edu mailto:lgerman@uiuc.edu mailto:karens@uiuc.edu C& RL N e w s ■ D e c e m b e r 2001 / 1067 The History o f Deaf People: A Source Book By Per Erikson “I selected The History o f Deaf People to commemorate my promotion to Associate Professor. I am the hearing daughter of deaf parents. I grew up in the deaf community. My goal is to raise the ‘hearing world’s’ awareness of this culture and their (sign) language through my scholarship, my teaching, and my commitment to improving the educa­ tion of deaf children living in the United States.” Jenny Singleton, Department o f Educational Psychology Illustration 2. Sample of selection statement from faculty member. tenured or promoted faculty so that a follow- up letter can be sent from the acquisitions librarian and the associate university librar­ ian for collections, laying out the procedures that will guide the faculty member in select­ ing a book for the collections. G u id e lin e s f o r c h o o s in g b o o ks The general guidelines to the faculty include the following instructions: • books that are already in the library col­ lections may be selected for a book plate, providing they have not already been book-plated in honor of anyone else; • books cannot be selected from the Rare Book and Special Collections Library (because of policies against changing the ar­ tifacts in this collection in any w ay, including the addition o f a bookplate); and • new books should cost less than $100 and should be in print or readily available from an out- of-print source. Faculty are encouraged to se­ lect titles that represent something meaningful to them, either pro­ fessionally or personally. Suggestions include books that shaped their thinking, books that inspired them to achieve success, children’s books that have held a special place in their lives, or books that they authored or co­ authored. Faculty are asked to fill out a brief form detailing information about themselves (name, department, e-mail address) and information about the books they select (author, title, publisher, pub­ lication date). Additionally, faculty are asked to provide a short state­ ment of why they chose the par­ ticular book. At the first reception for the faculty, both the books and these statements were displayed for ev­ eryone to view. These statements proved to be thoughtful and in­ spiring, and reflected many dif­ ferent experiences and feelings about this pivotal moment in their lives. Faculty are given about tw o months to make their selections know n to the acquisitions librarian, w h o makes arrange­ ments in her office to get all the items or­ dered or retrieved from the collection. The cost o f n ew books is borne by the library. In the first year o f this program, 63 faculty took part in this program. Thirty-one new titles w ere purchased for a total cost o f $1,980. Thirty-two faculty chose books already held in the library. There w ere only a fe w cases in which the books that w ere chosen had not Paul, The Apostle o f the Heart, Set Free By F. F. Bruce “The summer that I began my graduate study was one of particular stress. Packing up a family, renting our house and driving across country to the University of Southern Cali­ fornia for one year was taking its toll on me. Shortly after arriving and beginning study, I discovered this book, and it’s refreshing to my soul and mind. It is a story of a man who turns his life 180 degrees around in the opposite direc­ tion and runs a race that benefits his entire person for eter­ nity.” Michael E. Ewald, School o f Music Illustration 3. Sample of selection statement from faculty member yet been published. If the book chosen had not been published, a card with the title of the book was used as a placeholder at the reception. P u b lic r e c o g n itio n In the first year o f this program, the honored ( continued on page 1130) 1130 / C&RL News ■ D ecem ber 2001 se ries o f c atalo g s o f sc ie n ­ tific an o m a lie s, this vo lu m e c o v e r s o d d a tm o s p h e r ic a n d m arin e lights. In c lu d e d are a u ro ra -lik e p h e n o m e n a (auroral odors, transient sky b rightenings, black auroras, a n d a u ro ra l d isp lay s c o rre ­ la te d w ith th u n d e rs to rm s, e a rth q u a k e s, a n d m eteors); b all lig h tn in g (ro d -s h a p e d b all lightning, m ate ria liz a ­ t i o n w i t h in e n c l o s u r e s , g lo b e s w ith sp ik e s o r d i­ v e rg in g rays); diffuse e le c ­ trical d ischarge p h e n o m e n a ( u n u s u a l St. E lm o ’s fire, e arth q u a k e lights, lum inous a e ria l b u b b le s , a n d lu m i­ n o u s p a tc h e s o n clo u d s); lig h tn in g ano m a lie s (crow n f la s h , l ig h t n i n g f ig u r e s , sha d o w g ra p h s, a n d n e u tro n g e n e r a t i o n in l i g h t n i n g b o lts ); lo w -le v e l m e t e o r ­ like lu m in o u s p h e n o m e n a ; lo w - le v e l a n d h ig h - le v e l n o cturnal lights; a n d m arine p h o s p h o r e s c e n t d is p la y s (m arine light w heels, u n d e r­ w ater lightning, m oving a nd sta tio n a ry p h o s p h o re s c e n t bands, a n d milky sea). Each anomaly is rated for the qual­ ity of data supporting it and the degree to w hich it can or c annot be explained by cur­ rent scientific laws. $24.95. T he Sourcebook Project, P.O. B ox 107, G le n A rm , MD 21057. ISBN 0-915554-44-5. N eustadt, Germany, 1960s. Ball lightning hits a tree and fragments in to m any s m a lle r balls. From W illia m Corliss, Remarkable Luminous Phenomena in Nature. ( “Honoring faculty” continued from page 1067 faculty and their families, as well as their deans and d epartm ent heads, atte n d ed the recep­ tion. The reception w as held o n a Friday from 4 :3 0 -6 :3 0 , a n d in c lu d e d w in e a n d h o rs d ’oeuvres in the Grainger Engineering Library, an elegant cam pus setting. The provost a nd the university librarian gave brief presentations, and the rem aining tim e w as spent review ing the selections and talking to faculty a bout their choices, their academ ic careers, a n d their aspirations. This p ro v e d to be the only event o n cam ­ pu s w here the prom otion a n d /o r tenure of all faculty mem bers was recognized in a public way. Both the library a nd the provost’s office received an overw helm ing n um ber o f p osi­ tive com m ents a b o u t the process. The books, statements, and photographs of many of the faculty were displayed in bookcases for a month in the main hallway of the library. The cards w ith the statem ents w ere then p laced in a b o u n d volum e into w hich suc­ ceeding years o f statem ents will b e placed a n d w hich will be h o u se d in the University Archives. Faculty response T he faculty w h o to o k part in this cerem ony w e re routinely enthusiastic a bout the event. O ne faculty m em ber noted, “My initial im­ ) pression w as that it w o u ld be a nice, but largely empty, gesture, b ut students a nd fac­ ulty alike m entioned that they h ad seen ‘m y’ b o o k w h e n the lot of them w ere o n display in the library. Their remarks w ere usually the beginning o f a larger conversation about w hy that b oo k a n d n ot som ething else, a bout how it related to others in the display, a n d so on. So I was wrong; the program clearly did strike a chord. Given the chance to pick only o ne book, m any o f us find it interesting to see w hat is chosen, to m atch it against the p e r­ so n or the field, a n d to w onder, Are they like us, wildly different, not w hat they a p p e a r to be, a n d why?” Some o f the colleges have indicated that they are discussing adopting a version of the event w ithin the college, with books going di­ rectly to the appropriate departmental library. In this coming year, the event will continue with most of the sam e features as before. It has b een refined so that there will be a p h o ­ tographer available to obtain photographs of the honorees for later use in the library ex­ hibit. The library and provost’s office is con­ sidering how a keepsake boo k plate can be created for each faculty m em ber participating. Based on the response to this program, the UIUC Library expects to sustain this tradition for m any years to come. ■