Library services help students find truth
By loan Herman
Of the Emerald
Inscriptions above the University library's cast iron
doors read 'Ye shall know the truth; And the truth shall set
you free.'
But finding the reams of truth shelved within Oregon's
largest library is another matter.
The University's 'library' is actually six libraries within a
library — the Main Library and its five branches: The Ar
chitecture and Allied Arts Library, Bureau of Governmental
Research and Service Library, Map Library, Math Library,
and Science Library.
The Main Library houses most of the University’s 1.6
million volumes. The Reserve Section on the first floor con
tains required course readings reserved by professors for
their students each term, says Pat Silvernail, assistant
University librarian for public services.
Adjacent to the reserve section are most of the library's
5,500 current periodicals from all over the world.
Of much value to education students is the curriculum
collection, which contains textbooks and administrative
handbooks used in state school systems.
The juvenile collection, or children's library, contains
thousands of old and modern children's classics. Although
children are welcome to read books in the small room next
to the reserve section, its primary use is for research by
students and professors.
The first-floor reference desk can be a big boost for
students beginning a research project. Although students
will learn a lot by exploring on their own, they'll save time
by using the reference desk, Silvernail says. ,
"It's astounding what kinds of things a reference area
has," she says. Literally hundreds of dictionaries,
bibliographies, directories — and even directories of direc
tories — are contained within the first floor reference area.
The reference desk also offers computer information
searches for help on research projects, Silvernail says.
Depending on the topic, students can get tailor-made
bibliographies — and sometimes students can even receive
information directly from the computer.
Computer searches can be scheduled at the main
Reference Desk and at the Science and Allied Arts and Ar
chitecture Libraries.
The Newspaper Reading Room, which contains
newspapers from all over the state, country and world, lies
at the Northeastern corner of the main library's first floor.
The library subscribes to about 100 weekly and daily
newspapers from Oregon alone, and another 100 from
around the nation and world, Silvernail says.
The Documents Section on the main library's second
Photo by Dave Kao
The main University Library building actually only bouses one of many library branches.
floor has state and federal U.S. governmental documents, as
well as foreign and United Nations documents. Documents
are not listed in the general card catalogs, but in their own
index in the Documents Section.
The Douglass Listening Room on the main library's third
floor has a large collection of recorded music and the
'spoken word.' Chaucer, Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot sit
alongside Bach, Beethoven and Brahms on both records
and tapes. The Listening Room also has two microcom
puters for education students' use.
Also on the third floor is the Microform Reading Area,
which contains college catalogs and newspapers on
microfiche, as well as American educational research from
the ERIC Clearinghouse on Education Management. ERIC'S
index is in the main reference area on the first floor.
The Architecture and Allied Arts Library — often called
the Triple A library — is located on Lawrence Hall's second
floor. The library has 35,000 volumes on all subjects within
the AAA School, including landscape architecture, fine arts,
art education, urban planning and interior architecture. It
also has a "very impressive" collection of slides and photos,
which are used heavily by AAA faculty, although students
are also welcome to view them, Silvernail says.
The Bureau of Governmental Research and Service
Library contains information on public affairs and political
issues, especially as they relate to local governments. The
index to BGRS material is at the main reference desk and
other branch libraries as well. The BGRS Library is located in
Hendricks Hall.
The University has one of the nation's 10 largest map
collections in the Map Library, including trail, bike, wall and
historic maps, as well as aerial photos and atlases. It is
located in Condon Hall.
The Math Library on Fenton Hall's second floor primari
ly contains math and computer science books.
The largest branch library is the Science Library in
Science M's basement. It contains 250,000 volumes covering
all scientific fields — biology, chemistry, physics, geology
and environmental science. Science Library holdings are
listed in the main library's card catalogs, but its index is in
the Science Library.
For further information, the library has published an
eight-page guide outlining library services. It will be
available in all the libraries throughout the academic year.
Soviet libraries exhibit barriers, treasures
by Charlene Bell
Of the Emerald
Imagine being up against a research
deadline and searching frantically for that
vital reference work in the nation's largest
library.
Despite repeated attempts to show
authorization and convince the librarian
that you need the book and will not use it to
undermine the government, she slams the
door in your face with a no-nonsense
"nyet."
Request denied, comrade.
It might sound like a far-out scenario
from Orwell's "1984," but for book patrons
in the Soviet Union this scene has been
known to take place.
But privileged citizens with the proper
authorization and political affiliation can
open the doors to Xerox machines, foreign
books and newspapers.
The place is Moscow's Lenin Library, the
Soviet equivalent of our Library of Con
gress-, where a group of U.S. librarians, on a
two-week red carpet tour of the Soviet
Union this summer, learned that for the
average Soviet citizen, "customer service"
was not part of the latest five-year plan.
Howard Robertson, President of the
University Russian and East European
Studies Center, travelled through the Soviet
Union in July as part of a unique contingent
of 40 academic, public, and summer school
librarians. Robertson is also a cataloger
bibliographer in the University library.
The contingent was the first ever to carry
out an official visit on Soviet soil.
Sponsored by America's Citizen Ex
change Council, the visit was a brainstorm
on the part of three American librarians
who had travelled to the U.S.S.R. and
hoped to bring together Soviet and
American librarians to exchange informa
tion and learn from each country's ap
proach to librarianship.
According to Robertson, the Soviets were
looking forward to the Americans' visit and
the opportunity to trade "shop talk".
Continued on page 8
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