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A n n o t a t i o n s

Envisioning a future with booksBy Rita Kirk

Director, Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and

Public Responsibility

Professor, Division of Communications Studies,

Meadows School of the Arts

Occasionally, a new student will walk into my office, scan the

shelves of books, both old and new, and ask that awkward question:

Have you read all these? The question is mirrored in class discus-

sions when, after a robust exchange, a student will ask, “How do

you keep up with all this information?”

Answer: I read.

Truth be told, libraries as most of us have

come to know them are changing. Online

texts, blogs and information aggregator sites

are displacing the browsing activities that

drew many of us to the library when we had

a little extra time. And maybe that’s it. Time

has become the enemy of thinking beyond

our narrow set of interests. It has stifled the

exploration of ideas merely for the sheer pleasure of it.

During our SMU-in-London program each year, we talk about

cultural differences. One of them is the widespread activity of read-

ing on the Tube (the London train system). From commuting exec-

utives to children, books are still a part of the visual landscape.

Today, as I walk across campus, spotting a single person reading a

book for pleasure is rare.

I do not bemoan our changing culture. Rather, I celebrate the

leadership of people like Gillian McCombs who envision the library

of the future. The vibrant salon or coffeehouse of other eras will

soon become alive outside the silent stacks. Perhaps we will even

learn again to seek out people with opposing worldviews so that

our thinking is challenged. Maybe we will even start carrying a book

or two with us when we leave.

In the DeGoyler, a beautiful exhibit drew my attention recently,

“Remember the Ladies!” I couldn’t help notice the elegant, prac-

ticed handwriting in letters. The quaint collection of cookbooks and

news coverage of the visionary leadership by those who pioneered

for women’s rights contextualized some of the same strug-

gles that we face today on proper roles and personal goals. I desper-

ately wanted a cup of tea and a place to talk with someone about

what we were seeing. I can hardly wait for that space. You’ll find me

curled in a comfy chair waiting for you.

Remember the Ladies! Archives of Women of the Southwest celebrates milestone

Professors and entrepreneurs, human rights activists and

mothers, women’s clubs and drill teams: the honorees of the

Remember the Ladies! campaign cover the spectrum of human

endeavor, yet share the accomplishment of having been an impor-

tant influence on the lives they touched. DeGolyer Library recognized

more than 100 remarkable women and organizations during a

special event September 23 celebrating the Archives of Women of

the Southwest.

The campaign reached its $1 million endowment goal in May

to support an archivist. A commemorative plaque in the library,

engraved with each honoree’s name, serves as a permanent

reminder of the achievement and the women who made it possible.

Established in 1993,

the Archives of Women

of the Southwest focus-

es on the historical ex-

perience of women in

Texas, with a special

emphasis on Dallas and

North Texas, as well as

Arizona, Colorado, New

Mexico, Arkansas, Okla-

homa, Louisiana and

the Spanish Border-

lands. The collection

contains records, let-

ters, diaries, speeches,

photographs, periodi-

cals, scrapbooks and

other print, audio and

video materials.

The resources document the profound impact women had on

their communities at a time when they were not fully franchised

and rarely worked outside the home. At the celebration, historian

Judy Jolley Mohraz talked about the “grit and grace” of the pioneer-

ing women who established public libraries, free kindergartens and

Rita Kirk

continued on page 2

I N S I D E

2Women’s history:

From recipes to equal rights

3Dissecting The Big Short

~Student Advisory Council

4‘Dangerous’ stories

~Susan Orlean

5In tune with Hamon

~Renaissance prints

~DeGolyer rocks

6Go behind the scenes

7Meet Sam Childers

~New Friends

8Believe it or not?

Records of the Tejas Girl Scout Council (1922-1987) are now part of the Archives of Women of the Southwest. Selections from the archives and other women’s col- lections are featured in a women’s history exhibit at DeGolyer Library (see p. 2).

C e n t r a l U n i v e r s i t y l i b r a r i e s a t s o U t h e r n M e t h o d i s t U n i v e r s i t y • v o l U M e X i v , n U M b e r 2 , F a l l 2 0 1 2

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A n n o t a t i o n s A n n o t a t i o n s

Lessons learned from The Big Short

Panelists unraveled the complexities of the financial crisis in a

discussion of The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

by Michael Lewis. Sponsored by Friends of the SMU Libraries Sep-

tember 13, the event continued a campus-wide, cross-discipline

exploration of the 2012 Common Reading selection.

James Linck, Distinguished Chair in Finance in SMU’s Cox

School of Business, moderated the lively conversation. Speakers

included Cullum Clark, President, Prothro Clark Company; SMU

Treasurer Mike Condon; John Duca, Vice President and Senior

Policy Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and adjunct pro-

fessor of Economics in Dedman College; and Rita Kirk, Director of

the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility and pro-

fessor in the Division of Communication Studies, Meadows School

of the Arts.

Condon set the scene by describing the “perfect storm”: pres-

sure on Wall Street to create new instruments tied to the booming

mortgage market; ratings agencies that “were duped” into putting

their stamp of approval on toxic bonds; and a system that encour-

aged mortgage lenders and borrowers to cheat the numbers.

A distorted incentive system also fueled the meltdown, said

Linck. “If you tell me that you’re going to pay me to originate a

loan, and it doesn’t matter if the loan is defaulted on, then you’re

going to have a lot of loan originations,” he said. “And if the people

who buy the loans can then sell them and know they’ll be bailed

out, we have a system that’s bound to go crazy.”

“We privatized gain and socialized risk,” Duca said.

The housing and financial markets “feed off each other,” added

Duca. “When the bubble was building, housing prices were rising,

and the problem was hidden.” Overleveraged homeowners were

able to sell their homes for more than what they owed. But when

prices dropped, the house of cards collapsed.

The crash was not “a bolt out of the blue,” said Clark. “When

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This iconic image of Big Tex, which was destroyed in a fire in

October, is one of series of Texas State Fair photographs (1983-

1993) taken by Lynn Lennon that is now part of DeGolyer Library’s

“Texas: Photographs, Manu-scripts, and Imprints” collection.

Lennon is among the women of note featured in the “Remember

the Ladies!” exhibit.

other programs to benefit society. Mohraz, the CEO and Trustee of the Virginia

G. Piper Charitable Trust in Phoenix, Arizona, is the former president of

Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, and a former SMU faculty member.

She honored the late Judge Sarah T. Hughes, a Goucher alumna, in the

Remember the Ladies! campaign.

The archives’ primary materials have already

attracted the attention of scholars, students and other

researchers, according to Russell L. Martin III ’78, ’86,

Director of DeGolyer Library. Martin says researchers

who use the archives have an opportunity to “enlarge

their understanding of history and come away with a

deeper appreciation of the essential role women have

played in the shaping not only of the American South-

west but of our country as a whole.”

Remember the Ladies! continued from page 1

Among the longtime supporters joining Central University Libraries (CUL) in cel-ebrating the Archives of Women of the Southwest were: (standing, left to right) Becky Schergens ’62; Russell L. Martin III ’78, ’86, Director, DeGolyer Library, and Interim Assistant Dean, Scholarly Resources and Research Services, Central University Libraries; Jackie McElhaney ’62; Ruth P. Morgan, SMU Provost Emerita; Judy Jolley Mohraz; Mary Blake Meadows ’74; Nancy Martinez ’75; Lea Courington ’74 and Sandy Kraus ’76, ’80; and (seated) Lottye Brodsky; Gillian M. McCombs, Dean and Director, CUL; and Nan Snow ’75.

Gillian M. McCombs, Dean and Director, Central University Libraries (center), with panelists (from left) James Linck, who served as mod-erator, Cullum Clark, Rita Kirk and John Duca.

“We have to be

careful about the

dreams we’re sold as

an American public.

Lots of people

should have known

that the deal was too

good to be true, but

they wanted to

believe. There’s

plenty of culpability

for everyone.”

Women’s history: From recipes to equal rights

When the national women’s rights movement was pushing

for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s,

local supporters rallied around the cause as reported in Equal

Times, a newspaper published by the Women’s Center of Dallas. A

1975 copy of Equal Times is among the unexpected and enlighten-

ing materials highlighted in “Remember the Ladies! Discovering

Women’s History at DeGolyer Library.”

JCPenney promoted the war effort in 1942 by offering stylish apparel for “Women Who Work!” These pages are part of the JCPenney Archives in DeGolyer Library.

During World War II, members of the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, including Sarah “Ruth” Holloway, filled vital positions as radio operators, mechanics and numerous others. Her letter is dated 1943 and was mailed from “somewhere in South Carolina.” DeGolyer Library has a vast collection of wartime correspondence dating from the Civil War period.

D ean and Director Gillian M. McCombs welcomed new and returning students

to the Central University Libraries Student Advisory Council at the first meet-

ing of the 2012-13 academic year August 27. Dean McCombs filled the students in

on some changes, including new digital signage at Fondren Library Center and

new online research guides. Science Research Librarian Ben Toon followed up by

showing instructional videos that demonstrate how to use the Discover SMU

Libraries search engine and key research tools available on the CUL home page.

Then the students offered their perspectives, which included the suggestion to

promote the tools on Facebook and other sites they commonly use. The advisory

council meets each month to discuss and exchange ideas about library services,

collections and facilities.

s t u d e n t a d v i s o r y c o u n c i l s t a r t s a n e w y e a r

you see the degree to which

housing prices became unteth-

ered from people’s incomes, col-

lapse was a dead certainty, but

the timing was hard to call.”

He called the book “an inter-

esting story of our time” popu-

lated by Wall Street insiders

focused on making profits and

“indifferent to the underlying

engine of the machine” and others

who cast an analytical eye “to the plumbing” and figured out what

was happening. All of them ended up “wildly wealthy,” he noted.

The losers were “the little people who, in many cases, lost

everything,” said Kirk. “And that’s the tragedy of the book.”

“We have to be careful about the dreams we’re sold as an Amer-

ican public,” she added. “Lots of people should have known that the

deal was too good to be true, but they wanted to believe. There’s

plenty of culpability for everyone.”

View video of the discussion at youtube.com/user/SMUVideo.

Panelist John Condon described “the perfect storm” that led to the financial crisis.

2

The exhibit draws from the Archives of Women of the South-

west, as well as from the DeGolyer’s other women’s collections, to

“illuminate women’s roles in society and the manner in which they

shaped the culture, arts, education, business, social issues, law and

politics in Texas, the Southwest and beyond,” says Pamalla Ander-

son, DeGolyer’s Head of Public Services and curator of the exhibit.

Spanning more than a century of the words and images of

women, the exhibit includes many one-of-a-kind artifacts such as

letters, diaries and scrapbooks. A multitude of other resources,

from cookbooks and trade catalogs to postcards and photographs,

also bring the past into sharper focus while demonstrating the

range and depth of the DeGolyer’s collections, Anderson says.

She and University Archivist Joan Gosnell began working on

the exhibit last summer. SMU students Irina Bogdanova, Margaret

Elder and several other students who work in the library assisted

with compiling and arranging the materials.

The “Remember The Ladies!” exhibit is free and open to the

public and continues through December 14.

For more information: smu.edu/cul/degolyer.

A n n o t a t i o n s A n n o t a t i o n s

Shortly after Tom Tunks returned to teaching in fall 2011, having

completed an extended assignment in SMU administration, he

developed a new appreciation for the resources and services avail-

able to faculty and students through Central University Libraries.

“I’ve always thought the libraries were good and that

library personnel were very helpful, but now with my

return to full-time teaching, I find that we’re at a com-

pletely different level of ability to use resources in class

and for assignments,” he says. “This opens up huge possi-

bilities and frees me to do things I just couldn’t do before.”

A Professor of Music Education in Meadows School of

the Arts, Tunks served as Associate Provost for Educa-

tional Programs from 1998 to 2011. He also acted as Interim

Provost in 2006. He joined the SMU faculty in 1980 and has

“used the libraries consistently since then, both in teach-

ing and for my own research and publication.”

Now that he’s back in the classroom, Tunks values the comple-

mentary functions of two key resources he utilizes through Hamon

Arts Library: the Naxos Music Library, Hamon’s most popular

audio streaming service, and Variations, a comprehensive music

listening and viewing platform.

“I use them both, but for different reasons,” he says. “Naxos is

a huge library of online music that I can use for my own listening

to prepare classes or for in-class presentation. No more going in to

check out vinyl records, tapes or CDs. I can also assign listening to

small classes or individual students with Naxos. No more having to

put things on reserve for them to access one at a time.”

While Naxos accommodates a limited number of listeners at

the same time, Variations adapts to more operatic figures, like the

120 undergraduates in Tunks’ “Music, the Art of Listening” class.

“The excellent staff in the Hamon has been most helpful in

loading the music I need into Variations and giving access to that

set to everyone on my class list. So if, for example, I want to have

all 120 students listen to Respighi’s Pines of Rome in preparation

for next week’s class, I can do it,” he explains. “That just wasn’t

possible before, unless all of them had bought it in advance.”

Not all important library resources are digital, he adds. For the

graduate research methods and materials class he teaches, Tunks

arranges a three-hour session with a reference librarian, who

acquaints students with search tools and shows them how to use

library resources efficiently.

“We meet in a room with computers in Fondren Library Center,

and everyone can try searches at once while the librarian helps

and guides,” he says. “I learn new things every time the librarian

teaches my class.”

Naxos, Variations hit the right notes for music professor

Author Susan Orlean kicked off her national tour for the paperback edition

of Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend at a program presented by the

Friends of the SMU Libraries October 10. In the best-selling book, Orlean con-

nects the tender narrative of a man and his extraordinary German shepherd to

a broader exploration of the emotional human-animal bond and the 20th-

century entertainment industry.

“Rin Tin Tin was Zelig-like. You didn’t know how he would figure back into his-

tory, but there he was,” she remarked about the 90-year, rollercoaster career of

the original “Rinty” and his successors. “He appeared in every format – silent

movies, talkies, comics, books, television and even radio. Not even Superman

can say that.”

One of Rin Tin Tin’s most famous silent movies, Clash of the Wolves (1925), is

included in a video series that may be checked out from the Fondren Library

Center Media Collection.

The author’s comprehensive knowledge of her subject came after months

spent poring over special collections in museums and libraries on both coasts

and in London. “I kept finding archives I didn’t expect to find,” she said.

That experience gave her an appreciation for libraries and archives that could

become the focus of her next book, she said.

“I really couldn’t have done this book without libraries, not only because of the

materials they hold but also because of the atmosphere – libraries are alive.

It’s such a different experience from researching on the Internet,” she

explained. “And I also worked with phenomenal librarians, who knew the

materials and were so organized and helpful.”

For more information: susanorlean.com

Writer Susan Orlean signed copies of her best-selling book about Rin Tin Tin during a program sponsored by the Friends of the SMU Libraries October 10.

r i n t i n t i n : t h e l i f e , t h e l e g e n d , t h e a u t h o r

Tunks values the

complementary

functions of two key

resources he utilizes

through Hamon Arts

Library: the Naxos

Music Library, Hamon’s

most popular audio

streaming service,

and Variations, a

comprehensive music

listening and viewing

platform.

4

Character actor Stephen Tobolowsky

explored the twists and turns of a

creative life during a program and book

signing sponsored by the Friends of the

SMU Libraries October 3.

Tobolowsky was on campus to pro-

mote The Dangerous Animals Club, a book

he described as “true stories from my life”

that do not appear in chronological order

but are woven together to “make sense at

the end.” He grew up in Oak Cliff, home of

the “Dangerous Animals Club” described in

the book’s first chapter, and graduated

from SMU in 1973 with a degree in theatre.

In an hour-long monologue that

qualified as performance art, Tobolowsky touched on matters both

serious and lighthearted as he threaded a theme of creativity

through a patchwork of stories. In side-splitting detail, he recalled a

first creative writing effort: when he could not find information in

an encyclopedia about Moses Austin, he borrowed details from his

mother’s early life in Pennsylvania to write a fourth-grade history

report. In a more serious vein, he talked about his understanding

of “the first light” in Genesis as “the blinding spark of creativity.”

And in a heart-pounding narrative

laced with humor and pathos, Tobo-

lowsky recounted “the most creative

day of my life” – an afternoon, decades

ago, when he was held hostage at gun-

point in a Snider Plaza grocery store.

The incident was resolved without gun-

fire, and Tobolowsky left with his groceries

and an unforgettable story to tell.

The Friends event was something of a

homecoming for the actor-writer, known

as “Tobo” to the friends he acknowledged

in the audience. Among the family he

introduced was “the most important man

in the room,” his father, physician David

Tobolowsky. Dr. Tobolowsky served as director of medical services

at SMU in the 1970s.

During a question-and-answer segment at the end of the pro-

gram, Tobolowsky was asked when he knew a story was completed,

and he replied: “As a writer your story is never finished.”

For more information: stephentobolowsky.wordpress.com

Actor Stephen Tobolowsky’s ‘dangerous’ new book

Author and actor Stephen Tobolowsky with Gillian M. McCombs, Dean and Director, Central University Libraries

Tom Tunks

Heavy metal fanfare for photoby Robert Yarnall Richie

The rock band Van

Halen trained a

heavy metal spotlight on

DeGolyer Library when

it chose a Robert Yarnall

Richie photograph for

the cover of its come-

back album, “A Different

Kind of Truth.” The dra-

matic angle on a Henry

Dreyfuss-designed New

York Central locomotive used for the album cover is among 10,000

photos in the DeGolyer’s Richie collection. The library’s connec-

tion to the photo garnered substantial local media coverage when

Van Halen played in Dallas in June, and the story was picked up by

the music community. Mentions appeared on Hair Metal Man-

sion – an online site dedicated “to the glory days of 1980s rock

and metal” – and Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles, a multichan-

nel outlet for the “metal community.” A selection of Richie images

may be viewed online at digitalcollections.smu.edu/all/cul/.

s t u d e n t c u r a t o r s

“Renaissance Technology in Print,” an exhibition in the

Hawn Gallery of Hamon Arts Library, August 20-October

14, examined the dissemination of ideas and knowledge

through the advancement of print and book production.

Art history graduate students Emily Anderson (left) and

Sarah Foltz co-curated the exhibition, earning kudos

from Sam Ratcliffe, head of the Hamon’s Jerry Bywaters

Special Collections and exhibits coordinator. The exhibit

included 19 plates from Stradanus’ Nova Reperta (New

Discoveries) depicting major discoveries and inventions

made before 1600.

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A n n o t a t i o n s

6

A n n o t a t i o n s

“Every day is different.

I really enjoy

the variety and the

opportunity to

help our patrons

obtain the materials

they need.”

M any Central University Libraries (CUL) staff

members perform their tasks in areas rarely

visited by the public, providing vital services that

have an impact on everyone who relies on the librar-

ies’ resources for research and enrichment.

Following is an introduction to three highly skilled

library professionals working behind the scenes to

ensure CUL runs like clockwork.

Order of magnitude

To meet the research needs of the SMU community,

CUL adds new materials regularly, and almost every

request passes across the desk of Geailya Armour.

Armour, a library specialist in Technology Services/

Acquisitions, orders books and other research mate-

rials, as well as a variety of media.

Faculty, students and staff work with library sub-

ject specialists to make their requests. Approved requests are then

sent to Armour. She also works with the CUL collections develop-

ment staff, which assesses user needs and determines which

materials should be acquired to meet them.

“We use the GOBI online system to order materials,” she says.

GOBI (Global Online Bibliographic Information) is a Web-based

acquisition and collection development tool offered through YBP

Library Services, a distributor of print and digital materials for aca-

demic libraries.

“However, not all materials are available through GOBI. In those

cases, we often use Amazon or other online retailers for pur-

chases,” she explains. “And, if a book is no longer available, we rely

on several vendors of out-of-print materials to find what we need.”

When a rush order is received from a vendor, it is marked with

both a “notify” and location flag and sent to the Cataloging Depart-

ment for priority cataloging and processing. The Circulation

Department then alerts the requesting student, faculty or staff

member when it is available for check out.

Even after 32 years on the job, Armour says “every day is differ-

ent. I really enjoy the variety and the opportunity to help our

patrons obtain the materials they need.”

Cataloging collections

Online databases bring some of the rare collections of DeGolyer

Library to scholars around the world. A first step in finding those

materials is a search made possible by the descriptions written

and organized by Catalog Librarian Katherine Schacht.

“For the numerous unique items, I create records for our

library catalog and input them into the OCLC, an international

database of libraries’ holdings,” explains Schacht, who has worked

at SMU for 16 years. Among the details included in an entry are the

name of the item, publisher information, a brief physical descrip-

tion and access points such as names and subject headings used

for searching.

A favorite aspect of her job is “seeing the many interesting

resources acquired by the library, ranging from rare books and

maps to popular ‘dime novels’ of the late 19th- and early 20th-

century and ephemeral materials such as trade catalogs and

broadsides.”

“I enjoy the challenge of making these materials accessible to

researchers,” she adds.

Schacht graduated from SMU in 1973 with a Bachelor’s degree

in Spanish and says her language training has come in handy

when working with some of the DeGolyer’s collections.

Her most recent project was cataloging a collection of 1880s

advertisements written by “commercial rhymist” W.N. Bryant for

business enterprises in Texas, Louisiana and the portion of Okla-

homa then called “Indian Territory.” The ads were printed in Dallas

by Jas. A. Dorsey & Co. The materials have been digitized and are

available online through CUL’s digital collections (digitalcollec-

tions.smu.edu/all/cul/).

A borrower be

“Both a borrower and a lender be” could serve as the motto of the

CUL Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. SMU’s libraries make materials

available to thousands of academic and public libraries through

the ILL system. And, when a library patron needs a book, journal

or other resource not owned by the University, ILL Specialist Billie

Stovall becomes a borrower.

CUL behind the scenes Meet three staff members creating an exceptional library experience

Sam Childers: Mining the ‘true gems’ of SMU’s libraries

Historian Sam Childers specializes in writing micro-histories in

which he focuses on “one very special event in a short time-

frame.” Capturing these brief moments in time with credible

details demands substantial research, and primary research

requires outstanding libraries like those of SMU, he says.

Childers serves as President of

Friends of the SMU Libraries, which

he joined five years ago, in part

because of the borrowing privi-

leges that come with membership

at the Associate level and higher.

“The collections of SMU’s libraries

are unparalleled resources in

North Texas, and the ability to

access them as a Friend is a very

valuable benefit,” he says.

That access played a vital role

in a recent project. While writing an article for the journal White

House History, he struck gold at DeGolyer Library with a collection

of works related to Theodore Roosevelt. “The piece is on presiden-

tial valets, and at the DeGolyer I found a book by James E. Amos,

Roosevelt’s valet,” he explains. The book, Theodore Roosevelt:

Hero to His Valet, was published in 1927, and from the title it is

clear the esteem in which the valet held his employer. “SMU’s

libraries have so many true gems like that book,” says Childers.

Childers’ résumé reflects his passion for history. A 1995 gradu-

ate of Texas Woman’s University with a B.S. in history, Childers has

served in various positions with the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey

Plaza, the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum in Atlanta and the

Old Red Museum of Dallas County History & Culture. He now

devotes his time to writing, with an emphasis on his special inter-

est, presidential history.

Among his current projects is a book on Lady Bird Johnson’s

four-day train tour of the South in 1964. “I was lucky enough to

meet Mrs. Johnson before she passed away in 2007,” he says, “and

I’ve been spending a lot of time at the Johnson Library in Austin.”

While he appreciates the technology that allows him to access

library resources via the Internet, nothing compares to the thrill of

holding a letter written by a figure like Mrs. Johnson, he says.

“There are still many resources that are available only in a physical

format, so you have to go to a library for them. We are so lucky to

have the special collections of DeGolyer Library and other SMU

libraries, which are filled with such treasures,” he says.

“But SMU’s libraries are so much more than repositories,” he

adds. “They are gathering places, welcoming environments for all

who love to learn.”

“Members of the SMU community fill out an online form, tell-

ing us what they want. They might be seeking a book, a journal

article, a conference paper, microfilm of old newspapers – the

requests cover the spectrum of materials,” says Stovall, who

started working at Fondren Library Center in 1983 in circulation

and joined the ILL in 1990. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in

humanities with a concentration in history from SMU in 2006.

Although every effort is made to borrow items, there are occa-

sions when archival materials are not circulated, she explains. “In

such cases, faculty members, in particular, often work with col-

leagues at other universities to obtain the materials they need.”

Overnight shipping, Web-based tools and membership in net-

works such as the Greater Western Library Alliance, which SMU

joined earlier this year, expedite the process, she says. Articles are

often available online within 24 hours.

“We’re so fortunate that our administration has provided us

with the best equipment and up-to-date software,” she says. “That

helps us get materials to those who need them so quickly.”

Stovall has been lauded for her knowledge and resourcefulness.

For example, in his book The Spanish Frontier in North America

(Yale University Press, 1992), the late historian David J. Weber stated:

“…The efficiency of Billie Stovall in our Interlibrary Loan Office saved

me costly and time-consuming travel to other collections.”

She also has been recognized by the Art History Department for

helping student researchers, and her name has appeared in the

acknowledgements of several graduate theses and dissertations.

Behind the scenes continued from page 6

Working behind the scenes: (from left) Katherine Schacht, Geailya Armour and Billie Stovall.

7

Sam Childers

w e l c o m e n e w f r i e n d s

New members of Friends of the SMU Libraries who have joined as

of October 22, 2012:

Kelly BaxterMr. and Mrs. Michael M. BooneAnn CarpanBrooke ClementJawana ColemanJanis CravensJoanne EarlyLee FordDiana GrumblesBrenda GuytonMichelle HahnNicki Nicol Huber

Laura JohnstonDavid MartindaleMichaux Nash, Jr.Ann RichardsGill RichardsKerry S. RobichauxZoltan SzentkiralyiNeil Thomas, Jr.Cynthia WardKaren WeinerNancy Yates

Visit smu.edu/friends for more information about membership

in Friends of the SMU Libraries.

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C E N T R A L U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R I E S

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A n n o t a t i o n s is published twice a year by the Central University Libraries, which retains the right to determine editorial content and manner of presentation. The opinions expressed in Annotations do not necessarily reflect official University policy. Letters and comments are welcomed. Send to:

AnnotationsCentral University LibrariesSouthern Methodist UniversityPO Box 750135Dallas, Tx 75275-0135

Dean and Director of Central University LibrariesGillian M. McCombs

EditorsAmy Carver ’94Paulette Mulry ’83

To support Central University Libraries visit smu.edu/giving/libraries or contact Paulette Mulry at 214-768-1741 or [email protected]\.

Annotations is produced by SMU’s Office of Public Affairs

EditorPatricia Ward

PhotographersKevin Gaddis, Jr.Jeffrey McWhorterKim RitzenthalerClayton Smith

SMU will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, or veteran status. SMU’s commitment to equal opportunity includes nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

I N S I D E

Celebrating the Archives of Women of the Southwest

Rin Tin Tin and ‘Dangerous Animals’

Singing the praises of Hamon resources

Believe it: Offbeat objects from special collections

130400/1212

Library Contacts DeGolyer Library/Special Collections 214-768-2253

Fondren Library – general library information 214-768-7378

Fondren Library

Information Desk 214-768-2326

Circulation/Reserve 214-768-2329

Government Information Resources 214-768-2331

Friends of the SMU Libraries 214-768-1939

Hamon Arts Library 214-768-2894

Norwick Center for Digital Services 214-768-4584

Website Central University Libraries: smu.edu/cul/

Believe it or not, this 32-inch TI-001 Disk “Platter,” ca. 1972

(below), contains only 100 megabytes of storage capacity,

meager by today’s standards but among the most robust options

of its day. The platter and other components of the then state-of-

the-art Texas Instruments Advanced Scientific Computer (ASC)

were among the weird and wonderful treasures borrowed from

Central University Libraries’ diverse collections for the exhibit

“SMU, Believe It or Not?” The exhibit in Fondren Library Center ran

June 25 through September 10.

Among the 25 items in the exhibition were souvenir playing

cards (below left) distributed

to train passengers (DeGolyer

Library, Ephemera Collection);

and pencils used to promote

Dallas and Texas businesses

(DeGolyer Library, Advertis-

ing Pencil Collection).