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Newsletter of Friends of ACU Library (2006 edition)


By Dr. Mark McCallon
Assistant Library Director

Learning Commons Update

Brown Library is undergoing a major remodeling project with the goal to develop a new concept for library services, called the Learning Commons.

It will expand the library's role beyond a repository for print and electronic resources to include new community spaces for students to work in teams on class assignments and bring together expertise to help students in all phases of academic work.  The Learning Commons will feature expanded computer work stations, technology support for students, library reference services, help from specialists in the ACU Writing Center, a copying/printing center, and a coffee shop.

The library is partnering with the Adams Center for Teaching Excellence to provide an attractive new entrance to the library and the Adams Center that will provide easier access to services for students and faculty.

During Fall 2004, the library worked with students to gather data regarding how the library could improve its services and create more attractive spaces.  Results of a survey from a marketing class showed that 70 percent of students come to the library to study in groups and many of them wanted to have more comfortable seating and spaces for group work.  Also, more than half of the students surveyed responded that they would be more likely to study in the library if food and drink were allowed or sold.  The library also consulted with an interior design class for ideas about the physical spaces and furniture in the Learning Commons.

The library began the remodeling project in May 2005 by moving 70,000 books to the lower floor of the library to create space on the main floor for the Learning Commons.  During the summer, library staff on the main floor were relocated to temporary locations in other areas of the library.  In November, construction on the Learning Commons began and will be finished in spring 2006.

Laura Baker, associate professor of library science, has been named interim coordinator of the Learning Commons.  She has represented the library throughout the planning process and helped to coordinate the development of the Learning Commons.

"Even though planning and constructing the Learning Commons has taken longer than we anticipated, it has brought many early blessings," Baker said.  "So many people have joined together on this project: the Adams Center, the entire library staff, the faculty, and the administration.  Even the students have enthusiastically given input and shown lots of patience during the construction.  The Learning Commons is about community and cooperation."

It may still be a work in progress, but we are already seeing the benefits of it.


By Dr. Greg Straughn
FACUL President

Every Gift Makes A Difference

It's true that the caption for the photograph below is an exaggeration.

Like almost every other university in America, ACU funds the bulk of the library's budget for book and periodical purchases, database subscriptions, faculty salaries, and the like.  But it's also true that, like most universities in America, the Brown Library relies on its Friends for support, advocacy and encouragement.

Your dues and donations support the library by financing special reference purchases, providing travel subventions, funding ergonomically designed furniture, along with a host of other acquisitions.  FACUL also is self-sustaining - any expenditures for printing, mailing and the like are funded by members.  You'll read later in this newsletter about a generous gift that will endow a Theological Reference Collection and the plans for renovating part of the library to house it, but it's important to remember that every gift really makes a difference and that this is the heart of support.

I am particularly excited about one new way to support the library: the FACUL Book Endowment.  Each gift of $500 will ensure that a new book is placed on the library shelf every year.  This is a great way to know your gift has a lasting value.  Each book placed in the library through the Book Endowment will bear a nameplate acknowledging it.

You're an advocate for the library any time you use the collection, and with the new Learning Commons coming to the library, there will be a lot more in the library to use.  Also, when you tell others about the collection - the Restoration Serials Index, or the Milliken Special Collections for instance - this is a great way to be a vocal advocate for the library.

Finally, one of the most unique facets of FACUL is the expectation that its Board will be in regular prayer for the library, its faculty and staff, and its patrons.  While this is an expectation outlined in the Constitution, I think it's an important trait that all members can embrace.  I encourage you to pray for the library and all those who serve and use it.

This is a great year for the university and an exceptional year for the library.  If you renewed your FACUL membership in December, you will receive a set of note cards as a thank-you gift.  I hope you will enjoy these and I want to let you know that the series will be continued this year.  If you have not taken the opportunity to renew your FACUL membership, please do so.  There is a membership form on the back of this newsletter.  It's a great and simple way to show your support, advocacy and encouragement.


By Dr. Mark Tucker
Dean of Library and Information Resources

Thoughts on the Occasion of the Friends Homecoming Reception, October 2005

I have a heart filled with gratitude.  I am grateful for Dr. Greg Straughn, president of the Friends of the ACU Library and chair of the Department of Music.  His inspirational leadership, combined with devoted service on the part of our officers and directors, has injected new energy into our efforts to strengthen support for the library - moral support and financial support.

I am grateful for president Dr. Royce Money, provost Dr. Dwayne VanRheenen, and Dr. Jack Reese of the College of Biblical Studies for the intellectual and spiritual leadership they and their colleagues provide for the university.  I am thankful that this administration understands the pedagogical potential in fresh ideas like the Learning Commons, and then has the vision and commitment to convert those ideas into spaces for academic research, collaborative learning and community - building for our students.

I am grateful for Ken Stewart and Ron Hadfield and the superb staff of Creative Services.  This group does high-quality work routinely, providing compelling images of the university, its multiple departments and myriad constituents. Creative Services is absolutely essential to the library's effort to spread the good news of how we encourage teaching and learning at ACU.

I also am thankful for our library staff and faculty.  Their commitment to working together on behalf of our students and professors is a rich asset that sometimes goes unnoticed and underappreciated.  Their love for one another and their collaborative labors on behalf of our students is uncommonly high, and it sets them apart from their professional colleagues in secular universities.  It is a joy to work with them every day.

I am grateful for Gaines B. Stanley Jr. and Vickie Stanley and their thoughtful generosity toward the ACU Library.  They have made possible the Gaines B. Stanley Sr. Biblical Studies Reference Collection, which honors a life of full and faithful service in Christian ministry and ministerial training.  The Stanley contribution facilitates acquisition of important reference and periodical resources that we have not been able to acquire previously.  The Stanleys also modeled in our midst a great family reunion, while sharing their love and joy with everyone around them.

Finally, I am thankful for the life of Gaines B. Stanley Sr. ('50), who has shown us all what it means to serve God in small towns and urban centers, to preach and teach and lead people in the paths of Jesus.  It is a distinct privilege to honor one of God's faithful children, and to create a special place in the Brown Library where his contributions will be permanently recognized and appreciated.


By Craig Churchill and Dr. Carisse Berryhill
Theological Librarian and Special Services Librarian

Endowed Collection Named for Alumnus at FACUL Friends of the Year Reception

At the annual Homecoming Friends of the ACU Library reception Oct. 14, 2005, Gaines B. Stanley Sr. ('50) and his wife Jean Stanley were honored with an endowment for library reference materials in biblical studies.  Friends of the Year Gaines B. Stanley Jr. and his wife, Vickie Stanley, set up the endowment fund as their Christmas gift to each other.

Speakers at the reception, including ACU president Dr. Royce Money, College of Biblical Studies dean Dr. Jack Reese, and library and information resources dean Dr. Mark Tucker, honored Stanley for his years of ministry.  Samuel Cook, ACU voice professor, sang a hymn medley.  The honoree's comments reflected on his ministry, emphasizing his wife's partnership in the work.  City Councilman Stormy Higgins presented Stanley with a proclamation designating Oct. 14 as "Gaines B. Stanley Sr. Day."  Dr. Greg Straughn, chair of the ACU music department, emceed and delivered closing remarks.

Crowding the reception in the Brown Library atrium were more than 100 well-wishers, including many out-of-town family friends and relatives.  The honorees, who reside in California, enjoyed the reunion which included all four of their children (Gaines Jr., Mike, Judy Helvey, and Tim) and their families.

The Stanleys and each of their children received a framed copy of the bookplate which will be inserted in all books purchased with the endowed funds.  Recently purchased reference works were displayed along with the bookplate and the reception program.

Refreshments and table décor for the reception were provided by the College of Biblical Studies.

"These funds are enormously useful as they expand and enhance our ability to acquire tools that are essential in supporting graduate theological research as well as promoting excellence in theological education in general," said theological librarian Craig Churchill.  "Representative purchases include the following acquisitions: The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed., rev. (Oxford, 2005); the Encyclopedia of Christianity (Oxford, 2005); Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World (Brill, 2002- ); and the Anchor Bible Dictionary on CD-ROM (Logos, 2002)."

Dr. Mark Hamilton, assistant professor of Old Testament and chairman of the Faculty Library Committee, said, "The generous gift of the Stanley family helps us strengthen our reference collection for the benefit of students and faculty.  A strong library collection is essential to the preparation of educated ministers who can use their knowledge and skills to serve the church in its ministry of reconciliation and comfort in a world that God is bringing to a state of peace through Jesus Christ.  So these are not just funds for books - important as that would be - rather, these are gifts for preparing men and women to be better teachers and leaders in the Kingdom.  For that we are all thankful."


By Dr. Mark Tucker
Dean of Library and Information Resources

The State of the Library 2006

Lately I have been explaining to people that I do not do academic work any longer.  Instead, I work with contractors, architects, interior designers, and library equipment dealers.  This shift in emphasis points to our remodeling projects.

We are creating the ACU Learning Commons on the main floor of the library, a program that requires temporary locations for the Library entrance, the Circulation and Reference departments, several technology specialists, and most of the staff of the Adams Center for Teaching Excellence.  We hired Hallett Movers to shift 70,000 volumes from the main floor to the basement, and we are in the process of acquiring compact shelving for on-site installation and off-site storage for temporarily displaced furniture.

Amidst all of this shifting of collections and services, ACU students and faculty have been checking out books under the stairs in the atrium and climbing those stairs to request help in finding additional resources.

Library staff members, some in temporary office locations, are beset with construction dust, and our meetings and conversations are interrupted with the blast of power tools.  The inconvenience that we and our students experience accompanies renewed appreciation for the skills of construction supervisor Eddie McFadden and the ACU Physical Resources team.  We also are compelled by our faith in the potential of the Learning Commons to offer a fresh and powerful tool for collaborative learning and for academic work in general.

Following completion of the Learning Commons, major changes will take place on the top floor of the library as the Government Documents Department moves to the east side of the building into renovated periodicals/documents space.  This move will facilitate the creation of the Gaines B. Stanley Sr. Theological Reading Room on the west side of the top floor.  The shake-down period for the remodeled facilities, along with training programs to begin integrating the skills of new partners on behalf of our students, will consume much of our attention in 2006 and beyond.

As our facilities undergo much change, we remain steadfastly committed to the traditional functions of libraries.  In the past year we acquired 2,000 music scores due to the resourcefulness and quick action of Dr. Greg Straughn, FACUL president and chair of the Department of Music.

We further enhanced traditional printed collections with the donation by Donald G. Davis Jr. of 3,000 volumes.  The Davis collection strengthens holdings in cultural and intellectual history with special emphasis on reading, writing, publishing and libraries in the U.S. and the U.K; also ancient civilizations; the Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation periods; and Asian cultures and traditions.  Don Davis, recently retired as professor of library history in the University of Texas School of Information, identifies strongly with our institutional values and has become a generous friend, not only through his donation but also through capable and insightful service as a member of the Library Visiting Committee.

We also obtained the funds to underwrite the costs incurred in borrowing books from other libraries, a process known to most scholars as interlibrary loan or, more recently, document delivery.  Now we absorb these costs as a budgetary line item rather than passing them along for direct payment by faculty and students.

This is a vast improvement on behalf of unfettered access to the resources needed for teaching and research, and faculty members, in particular, have been vocal in expressing appreciation.  New dollars supporting document delivery came to the library as a result of surveys conducted by the ACU Quality of Life Task Force.

As we look to the university's second century, we hope to develop a program of records management, assisting departments in making decisions about appropriate formats, best practices for storage and retrieval, and potential for enduring value.  As this process matures, we will equip ourselves to converse helpfully with campus units about the documents and files they need for routine internal functions, for relegation to storage, or for preservation or re-formatting.  We plan to develop systematically those collections essential to the growth and management of the University Archives and the Center for Restoration Studies.

These actions should better equip the university to conduct its business and better prepare historians to write the history that, with God's boundless mercy, our students, faculty and friends will make in the next 100 years.  Our call to be faithful stewards and our devotion to the ACU community demand no less.


By Dr. Carisse Berryhill
Special Services Librarian

Second Stanley Gift Funds Third Floor Remodeling Project

Gaines B. Stanley Jr. and his wife, Vickie Stanley, have made a second major gift to the library to remodel the west side of the third floor of Brown Library as a reading and research area for biblical studies.  The gift honors Gaines B. Stanley Sr.  The remodeled area will include the Gaines B. Stanley Sr. Biblical Studies Reference Collection, endowed last fall by the Stanleys to honor the life and work of the senior Stanleys.

The new theology research area also will house the library's collection of circulating books in biblical and religious studies, comfortable reading and study areas, a "smart classroom" instruction area, and the offices for theological librarian Craig Churchill and his staff.  Demolition and construction will begin in the new theology area when construction on the library's main floor Learning Commons is complete.  The third floor project is scheduled to wrap up in the summer.

Meanwhile, librarians and staff from four different library departments - Government Documents, Reference, Periodicals, and Theology - will be displaced for several months, since the theology remodeling on third floor west will also involve redesigning and integrating the work areas for Periodicals and Government Documents on third floor east.  Government Documents staff will temporarily relocate to the southeast corner of the third floor and Periodicals staff to the northeast corner.

Three librarians and one staff member will relocate to northside carrels.  The reference desk and the general reference collection have been moved near the religious reference collection just west of the main staircase on the third floor.  The reference collection will return to the main floor when the Learning Commons opens.

Government Documents materials are now located on the third floor east in the center and south aisles.  The tables and chairs from those aisles are in storage for the duration of the project.


By Dr. Marsha Harper
Senior Librarian

New Challenges for Three Librarians

As change floods the library with new technology, new services, and new locations for familiar services, three librarians are also experiencing the challenge of new responsibilities.  Mark McCallon and Melissa Johnson have accepted new - and permanent - job descriptions; Laura Baker's new duties have a planned termination date.  The changes come as a result of Dr. Mark Tucker's assessment of library needs and librarians' assignments, coupled with recommendations from the 2005 Library Visiting Committee.

McCallon, confirmed as assistant director in 2003, has given up his additional position of serials/databases librarian to take over the direction of technical services: Acquisitions, Cataloging, Audio-Visuals, and Bindery.  He continues to work with the library's budget and to assist dean Tucker in a number of ways. McCallon says his biggest challenge is learning all the tasks performed by members of his departments and strengthening the interactions among them.  He has begun the latter by holding regular meetings and facilitating communications.  He has also hired a few regular staff in place of several student workers to strengthen the Cataloging Department.

Taking over as electronic services and serials librarian is Melissa Johnson.  Hired as a reference librarian in 2000 after stints as a student employee and (more recently) as a staff member, Melissa also has been active in teaching the use of the library.  She is continuing with some of the Reference and teaching duties, and with her responsibilities as the library's Webmaster, but now focuses on organizing the e-journals, enhancing access, and keeping usage statistics.  Updating and maintaining links to the journals and databases take quite a bit of her time, as does working with publishers and vendors.  The technical aspects seemed daunting at first, but Melissa is comfortable with them now and feels rewarded by the increased usage of certain databases (100 percent or more in three of them) as shown by recent statistics.  She looks forward to gaining more expertise in supervising and to working more with serials in print and micro formats.

Laura Baker is currently serving as interim coordinator of the emerging Learning Commons - a responsibility she won't be sorry to turn over to a permanent director as soon as possible.

As coordinator she has been working with our Learning Commons partners (Adams Center personnel and others) on planning the location, both temporary (during construction) and permanent of service points for the library, the Writing Center, Copy Center, Team 55, and the Coffee Shop.  Helping with the layout of service points, planning the timing of the moves - "Like falling dominoes," she says - and the selection of colors, carpet and furniture have all been part of her days.

Some of her major challenges: helping to change preconceptions of the new library and to build consensus, working with financial constraints, and - oh yes, keeping the daily work of the Documents Department going and continuing to serve at the reference desk and teach the use of the library.  The most rewarding part of her new responsibilities?  "Helping create a new vision of library service for ACU."


By Dr. Carisse Berryhill
Special Services Librarian

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed: 2005-06 Special Collections

ACU's Centennial reminds me of a big wedding - long months of ever-more-frenzied preparation followed by a glorious celebration.  It's the event of a lifetime, and we wouldn't want to miss a day of it.  But imagine trying to get ready for a big wedding while you are remodeling your house!  That's what our year in the library has been like.

In the "Something Old" category, Special Collections has received several large historic collections this year, including recordings and missions files from the University Church of Christ in Abilene, the personal papers of J. Harold and Roxie Thomas, the records of ACU's Department of Industrial Technology, and dozens of CDs and DVDs created by Richard Chastain from aging campus films and recordings in at-risk condition.  More than a dozen other smaller collections of personal papers or recordings also have been received for processing.

In the "Something New" category, the remodeling project has even come to us, with a new office for Dr. Mark Tucker, dean of library and information resources.  Elaine Huckabee, Tucker's administrative assistant, brightens the entrance to our reading room with her gracious greeting.  Dr. John C. Stevens has joined us permanently in an office formerly used by the Center for Restoration Studies.

For the duration of the main floor construction, we also have housed circulation supervisor Peggy Degge, who keeps an eye on the circulation desk temporarily in the library atrium.  Another short-term guest is cataloger Gary Oliver, who has used his time on the west side to finish cataloging the Lambert special collection.  We also are temporarily displaying the World's Largest Bible in our reading room.

New to the work force in Special Collections in 2005-06 are Justin Lillard and David Sessions, graduate assistants in the Center for Restoration Studies.  Also new this year are library student employees Drew Winters and Lance Ferguson.  Continuing is Lindsay Gordon-Cumming, who will graduate in May.  Returning student employee Jessica Chisholm is in Oxford this spring, but plans to return to Special Collections in the fall.

Collections newly processed this year include Robert Randolph's papers documenting the demise of Mission Journal, partially processed by Jessica Moseley last year and completed by David Sessions.  The Carl Stem papers documenting the origins of Mission Journal are being completed by Sessions.  Both these collections have been used by Travis Stanley, who is writing a thesis in the Graduate School of Theology on Mission Journal.  Meanwhile, Justin Lillard is completing a collection received from Jim Bevis and Rex Vermilion with many photos and papers from the work of Campus Evangelism in the late 1960s.

We also are making selected rare materials more Web-accessible.  In April a digital exhibit called "Here is Water: Baptismal Images from 20th Century Churches of Christ" will be uploaded to the American Theological Library's Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative.  The technical work on this project has been done by former CRS graduate assistant Rob O'Connor, supported by our ATLA grant.  Meanwhile, the library, CRS, and LINK are supplying funding to re-enable additions and corrections to the CRS Web site and to load it to a dual server, a project being completed by freelance programmer David Bavousett.

The "Something Borrowed" category has two fascinating collections.  On loan from Lou David Allen of Merkel, Texas, is a collection from the family of James Turner Barclay, a medical doctor and the Disciples' first missionary, whose work in Jerusalem was more successful medically than evangelistically.  His son, John Judson Barclay, also a physician, served as a diplomat in Cyprus.  Alexander Campbell's daughter Decima was the younger Barclay's wife.  The collection includes medical notes and accounts, three books about the geography of the Holy Land, a family Bible with genealogical notes, and a collection of fourteen original watercolor paintings and sketches of Middle Eastern scenes.

Also on loan from Don Waldrop is a photo album belonging to Forrest Waldrop.  Among the dozens of snapshots in the album are the only known photos following the fire which destroyed ACU's first administration building on North First Street in 1929.  These were an amazing Centennial discovery.  We supplied copies for use in exhibits and the Centennial book.

Research projects for the Centennial have kept us busy supplying material to ACU staff and students.  Our collections of photographs, Prickly Pear yearbooks, and Optimist newspapers have been well used.  We have also had two doctoral students visit from Ph.D programs elsewhere and several Stone-Campbell historians in for extended periods.  So, for those of you keeping up with the old bridal rhyme, you won't find us singing "Something Blue."  We have been too busy.


Through the Year with FACUL

  • Cary Branscum, a Mark Twain impersonator from Austin, entertained us all at the 2005 Lectureship dinner.
  • Our 2005 FACUL officers are: Dr. Greg Straughn ('94), president; Dr. Lawrence Ray Smith ('58), vice president; Robert Foster ('98), secretary; Howard Hodgson ('61), treasurer.
  • Board members are: Dr. John Barton, Dr. Samjung Kang Hamilton ('88), Dr. Bob McKelvain ('71), and Sharon Rathbun ('79).
  • On Friday, Oct. 14, 2005, we honored Gaines B. Stanley Sr. and his family as our Friends of the Year for a lifetime dedicated to preaching the Gospel and for a new endowment to be used for our religious reference collection.

Library Happenings

  • The Texas Library Association annual conference was held April 5-8 in Austin.  Librarians attending were Karen Hendrick, Laura Baker, Dr. Mark Tucker, Melissa Johnson and Becky Estrella.  Melissa and Becky made a presentation about selecting ergonomic furniture for library workers.
  • At the Spring 2005 awards luncheon, Marty Ketchersid was given the staff award.  Outstanding student employees: Brad Hoover, Shannon Humphrey, Beverly Mann, Arik Swindlehurst, Lacy Tooley, and Christy Weathers.  Newcomer: Annie Allison.  Second Mile: Rebecca Osborn.  Best Shelver: Casey Lewis.  Special Merit: Amy (O'Neal) Coronado.  Outstanding Volunteer: Chris Shields.
  • Marsha Harper, Karen Hendrick, Dr. Mark Tucker, Craig Churchill, Dr. Carisse Berryhill and Melissa Johnson attended the Christian College Librarians' conference at Rochester College, May 18-21.
  • Dr. Carisse Berryhill, Craig Churchill and Arik Swindlehurst attended the American Theological Library Association conference in Austin, June 15-18.
  • Library Visiting Committee members for 2005-06 were: Robin Hamilton, Abilene, chair; Craig Beard, Birmingham, Ala.; Willis Bell, III, W. Lafayette, Ind.; Dr. Hulen Bivens, Montgomery, Ala.; Dr. Don Davis, Austin; Sara Harwell, Nashville, Tenn.; Dennis Hood, Nashville, Tenn.; Kathy Jones, Odessa; Dr. George Takemoto, Baton Rouge, La.
  • At the Fall 2005 awards luncheon, Elaine Huckabee was given the staff award.  Outstanding Student Workers: Jessica Chisholm, Sarah Dunigan, James Kinzie, Emerald McGowan, Peter Nolte and Travis Stanley. Newcomer: Drew Winters.  Second Mile: Rachel Jones.  Best Shelver: Jacqueline Gipson.  Special Merit: Cassie Johnston.  Outstanding Volunteer: Barbara Tucker.

By Chad Longley
Preservation Coordinator

Library Gifts

During the 2005-06 fiscal year, the library received a total of 8,636 cash and non-cash gifts.  These gifts are an essential part of the growth of the library's collections and services.

One new endowment has been established: the Gaines B. Stanley Sr. Biblical Studies Reference Library Endowment.  This endowment was established with $100,000 given by Gaines Stanley Jr. to honor his father, Gaines Stanley Sr., for a lifetime of ministry and minister training.  This gift was supplemented by an additional $25,000 for the purchase of theological reference books until the time when funds would be available from the endowment.  Craig Churchill, the theological librarian, has already begun replacing worn-out materials and filling gaps with these funds.

Many gifts have trickled in relevant to ACU's Centennial Celebration.  Museum-type artifacts were given to Becky Estrella, the Centennial curator, and paper/photographic collections will be added to the ACU Archives.  Currently, several of these items can be seen in various displays across campus.  We hope we continue to receive donations such as these.

Other significant gifts donated this past year include large published collections from the libraries of Dr. Carroll Osburn, retired ACU professor of church history, and Dr. Don Davis, professor in the School of Information at the University of Texas.


Database Update

The library now subscribes to the America's Newspapers database from Newsbank.  This large full-text database contains articles from more than 600 newspapers around the country, including the Abilene Reporter-News and The Dallas Morning News.  The archives for the Abilene Reporter-News are searchable back to 2002 and The Dallas Morning News is searchable back to 1984.  Newspapers from all 50 states are available, including 30 Texas newspapers such as the Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News, and the Houston Chronicle.


By Dr. Marsha Harper
Senior Librarian

Five New Faces

Joining the library staff this year are five interesting, talented new people.  In Technical Services, Arik Swindlehurst is the new Acquisitions Coordinator, while Leota Baker, Shan Martinez, and Beth Purcell have signed on as Cataloging Assistants; Linda Childers is in the new position of Administrative Assistant (part-time) to Craig Churchill, Theological Librarian.

Arik, a native of Oregon, holds a B.A. from Boise State in Idaho.  Going on to earn an online Master's of Ministry degree from Pepperdine, he then decided to move to Abilene to work on an M.Div. at ACU.  As a graduate assistant to Dr. Doug Foster he was assigned to the Restoration Center, where Craig Churchill supervised his work and introduced him to acquisitions work.  When Connie White left to move to Lubbock (where she now works in the library at Texas Tech), Arik became her replacement.  He likes the flexible hours, as he continues to work on his degree, also the work itself, especially pursuing the hard-to-find items ( He is even considering going for a library degree in the future).  Arik is married with three children.  In addition to his skills with finding and acquiring publications, his colleagues and the student staff enjoy Arik's ready wit and hearty laugh.

Coming to us from the Cataloging Dept. of Abilene Public Library is Leota Baker, a native of Tye, TX.  Leota attended American Commercial College in Abilene and had business experience before entering the library world.  One of those rare persons who can juggle three additional part- time jobs, mother three teen-age boys, yet still exude a calm good humor, Leota confides that she likes change; she finds it stimulating.  Among the things she enjoys about her job with us are the Christian atmosphere, working with details, and the research she often needs to do on the gift books she processes.  Her ability to work both quickly and accurately is just one of the attributes we appreciate about Leota.

Shan Martinez is something of a returnee, having worked as a student employee in Government Documents when that department was new.  Since those days Shan has graduated from ACU, taught school, visited China on a mission trip, married, lived in Colorado, and home-schooled her three children for the past six years.  They now attend Abilene Christian School and Shan is back with us, this time as a Cataloging Assistant handling new books and curriculum materials.  Shan agrees with Leota: she likes the great people and Christian environment in her job.  And, like Arik, she is thinking about a possible career in librarianship.  Shan's strong work ethic and pleasant personality make her a great addition to the Technical Services team.

The very newest face of all belongs to Beth Purcell, who was hired early in January of 2006.  She grew up in Abilene, the daughter of Drs. Kay and Vernon Williams, of the Music and History Departments, respectively.  Beth graduated from ACU and went on to Texas Tech University for an M.A. in Museum Studies.  She served as director of two small museums -- the most recent being in Colorado City, TX -- before she and her husband moved back to Abilene.  She is working for us as a Cataloging Assistant, half-time.  Beth says she is looking forward to learning about Library Science, which is a cognate of her first discipline.  She especially enjoys behind-the-scenes, hands-on work with the items (museum artifacts or books) in a collection.  We are happy to welcome her to exactly that kind of work.

Craig Churchill's new assistant, Linda Childers, grew up in Wichita, Kansas, and studied at the South Houston Bible Institute where she met her husband, Jeff Childers, now a professor in the Graduate School of Theology.  When he finished his course of study they moved to Breckenridge where Jeff preached and earned two degrees at ACU.  Their two daughters were born during their Breckenridge years.  From 1992-96 the family lived in England, where their son was born and where Jeff earned two more degrees at Oxford University.  During those years Jeff and Linda enjoyed entertaining ACU students in the Study Abroad program.  After moving to Abilene Linda has worked at several part-time jobs, including one as publisher of the Taylor Elementary School Yearbook.  Although we like Taylor Elementary, we hope to keep sweet-natured, capable Linda with us for a long time to come.


By Dr. Lawrence Ray Smith
FACUL Vice President

"What a Remarkable Woman!"
FACUL to Enhance Watson Endowment

(First in a Series: Endowment Honorees)

The FACUL Board has chosen the Watson Endowment as the first library fund they will raise to meet the new minimum of $25,000 for named endowments.

This serves as a way to strengthen the library's permanent financial resources and recognize the honorees.

Jewell Watson is the honoree for which an endowment fund was established some 28 years ago.  It supports the purchase of books for the use of English students.

Watson first came to Abilene Christian College in 1918 when the school was located on the old campus near downtown Abilene.  She left after two years, going back to her beloved Thorp Spring Christian College.  Later, in 1929, she returned as chair of the ACC English department.  She retired 30 years later as chair of the department in 1959.

Her career in education included serving as a teacher in the primary and elementary grades, principal, instructor in Latin and speech, and dormitory hostess.  She lived on the third floor of Zellner Hall for 18 years and spent another year living in McKinzie Hall after it was first built.  She loved being with young people, whether at the college or at her summer camps.

What a remarkable woman!  Jewell Watson was known as a Christian educator, a leader in Christian education, and one of the early Church of Christ members who saw the value of summer camps for boys and girls.  She opened Kamp Klebit at Thorp Spring Christian College in 1936.  But that is another chapter in her book of life with youth.

Don H. Morris, president of ACC at the time of her teaching at the college, referred to her with high respect when he said, "Miss Jewell Watson served two Christian colleges with distinction.  Besides being head of our English department at ACC, she served as dean and teacher at Thorp Spring Christian College.  She … was a leader and a Christian lady who held up the highest standards and ideals for her students."  Watson died in 1966 at the age of 78.

In 1977 Watson's sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Davis, established a library endowment in her honor for "the purchase of library books for the English department."

Dr. John C. Stevens wrote about the endowment, "It is highly likely that other friends will want to add to this fund … so [as to strengthen] the work of the English department, to which Miss Jewell Watson contributed so very much in so many ways."

Students responded to her loving service, as can be seen in the 1955 Prickly Pear, which was dedicated to her with these words:

Our minds and hearts turn to one who is unassumingly acquainted with patience, kindness, generosity, humility, courage, unselfishness and sincerity - qualities which fit into the spectrum of love … love for service; love for humanity; love for a cause.

Writing in the July 1960 Christian Woman, Margie Sprayberry, one of Watson's former camp counselors, said, "Her success cannot be measured entirely in terms of the number of years she has devoted to her work but her success is seen in the individual boys and girls with whom she has come in contact and has given Christian guidance and love."

It is our turn to show a measure of our success and appreciation for the goodness and beauty of a most remarkable woman.


By Becky Estrella
Centennial Curator

Centennial Moments

Long before our Centennial year began, ACU developed several task forces to plan and execute our Centennial celebrations.  The Centennial Collection Task Force has collected and preserved artifacts relating to the university's history.

Richard Chastain and Dr. Larry Bradshaw began the process by working tirelessly to transfer old audiovisual materials to CD and DVD.  The library now houses copies of these works.  ACU alumni and friends of the university donated numerous artifacts now being stored in archival boxes to preserve them for future generations.  The library houses most two-dimensional objects, with three-dimensional objects kept in an off-campus location.  Two student workers and I have been organizing these objects and entering their descriptions into a computer program designed for museums.

Working with the three-dimensional objects led to the establishment of the Centennial Historical Walking Tour on campus.  Exhibits around the campus showcase artifacts from all aspects of university life.

One outstanding location on the 46-stop tour is the Hall of Servants in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building, where visitors can view a 160' x 10' Centennial Timeline Mural.  Created by ACU graphic designer Greg Golden, the mural and timeline cover significant events in the university's history arranged by decade.

At another remarkable stop on the tour, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs by David Leeson are display on the first floor of the Don H. Morris Center.

In the Hardin Administration Building, a kiosk outside of the President's Office contains artifacts from six of the 10 presidents of the university.  Other tour exhibits focus on campus life and the history of various departments on campus.

The jewel in the crown of the Centennial Historical Walking Tour is the Centennial Theatre.  Dr. Mark Tucker graciously allowed the conversion of the Mabee Library Auditorium into a theatre for the Centennial year.  The theatre has two photographic murals on the walls, seating loaned by University Church of Christ, and lights that cycle up and down as films are shown.  The films shown range from a 1947 recruiting film to the 2005 production of The Mission.  The more recent films are shown in HD format.  A marquee schedule outside the theatre allows patrons to pick one production or stay for the entire three-hour run.

The theatre experience is very moving; for some patrons the experience is enough to bring on waves of nostalgia.  For others, hearing "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" being sung at opening chapel will bring tears.  Every visitor to the campus should experience this blending of new technology and historic ACU stories.

When you visit the campus, pick up a Centennial Historical Walking Tour brochure and visit the exhibits.  Brochures are available in McGlothlin Campus Center, Brown Library and other offices around campus.  I hope you will take time to enjoy the history of the university in this unique way.


Sponsor a Student for FACUL

In 2005, 13 sponsors added 19 students to the FACUL membership roll (two were sponsored last year as well), paying for each student one student membership ($25) and adding $12.50 for a ticket to the Lectureship dinner.  Since this program began in 1999, 84 students have been added to our membership.  These students will remain on the mailing list for three years, establishing a connection that we hope will continue for years to come.

  • Lawrence Ray ('58) and Nancy Smith sponsored Lindsay Gordon-Cumming, junior interior design major and graduate marriage and family therapy student Joshua Schaub.
  • Al ('55) and Dale ('59) Ogren sponsored Travis McGuire, senior Bible and music major.
  • Betty Cummins ('48) sponsored Matt Hurley, senior psychology major and Kalyn Pierce, sophomore art major.
  • Austin Emery ('62) sponsored graduate Bible ministry student Rob O'Connor.
  • Bryan ('80) and Tracy ('80) Shilcutt sponsored Matthew Morgan, senior history major and Sally Stevens, sophomore English major.
  • Mary Prudie Brown ('43) sponsored Bethany Powell, senior Chemistry major; Stacy Richardson, senior English major; and Elizabeth Talley, senior English major.
  • Melissa Johnson ('94) sponsored Shalis Stevens, freshman Spanish major.
  • Mary Martz sponsored Johanna Hoshall, freshman voice major.
  • Sarah Yarbrough ('62) sponsored John Kemboi, graduate special education major and his wife, Winnie, junior psychology major.
  • George Takemoto ('59) sponsored Mary Foster, senior history major and Dereck Riedel, graduate communication major.
  • Dwain and Nita Burton sponsored Luke Jackson, freshman music major.
  • Virginia Bailey sponsored Flora Williams, junior social work major.
  • Mark and Barbara Tucker sponsored Mark White, graduate marriage and family therapy student.
  • Travis ('51) and Lois ('52) Tyer sponsored Abby Longley, junior communication major and Stewart Stevens, senior Bible major.

Friends of ACU Library Membership

Friends of ACU Library is a strong support group that works to enhance the library by:

  • Providing funds to make special purchases of materials and equipment beyond the library's budget;
  • Helping to sponsor programs and activities to strengthen the cultural experiences of the university community;
  • Networking to seek out gift collections to enrich our library holdings;
  • Attracting monetary gifts both within and outside our membership; and
  • Serving as volunteers for the library.

With a FACUL Membership you receive the following benefits:

  • A free library card;
  • The Friends Newsletter;
  • Invitations to special programs, exhibits, and activities sponsored by FACUL;
  • The privilege of being with others who love books.

We encourage you to continue your membership.  We are looking for even better ways to support our students at ACU in their quest for learning.


Book and Web Site Reviews


Reviewed by Dr. Greg Straughn
FACUL President

www.bartleby.com

The Web site www.bartleby.com takes its name from the eponymous Herman Melville short story about a scrivener who quietly bucks the mid-19th-century capitalist system by refusing to be a part of the nameless bureaucracy.  This Web site has quietly revolutionized the world of Internet publishing.

Bartleby includes more than 30 public domain reference tools (including dictionaries, thesauri, Bartlett's Dictionary of Quotations, Gray's Anatomy, and books on usage and mythology), a generous collection of verse (including Latin verse, modern verse, English and American poetry), and huge collections of fiction and non-fiction (including the complete Harvard Classics).  Shakespeare resides comfortably with Balzac and Tolstoy, while Augustine, Hume, and Emerson are neighbors.

The online collection is searchable by keyword, but there are also handy topical searches and author/title searches as well.  In short, there's enough material here to keep you reading for years ... just their purpose.  Now you have no excuse for all those classics you were meaning to get around to reading.


Reviewed by Robert Foster
FACUL Board Secretary

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
By Malcolm Gladwell
(NY: Little, Brown, 2005) 277 pages, $25.95

"You can't judge a book by its cover."

Yet everyone does.  People make decisions based on "hunches," decide they dislike someone within a few minutes, "automatically" respond to fearful situations, some plunging ahead and others beating a retreat.

Malcolm Gladwell explores this phenomenon, called "thin slicing," in his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.  Thin slicing refers to the unconscious ability to find patterns in situations and behaviors in narrow slices of experience.  Thin slicing cuts two ways.  Sometimes it prevents someone from making a big, perhaps fatal, mistake; at other times it proves detrimental or even fatal.

Gladwell begins by relating the story of the J. Paul Getty Museum in California acquiring a rare statue known as a kouros in the early 1980s for the asking price of close to $10 million.  The museum hired a renowned geologist to confirm the statue's age and checked the accompanying documentation to determine its authenticity before taking the plunge.  Only one problem - the statue was a fake.

Several experts raised this suspicion well before the statue went on display in 1986, but their objections seemed vague - something wrong with the fingernails or that it looked "fresh" (a negative for ancient artifacts).

Still, one cannot scientifically verify these impressions.  Further investigations indeed showed the statue was a forgery, proving in this instance the initial hunches of the experts more reliable than the initial conclusions of science.

Later, Gladwell rehashes the New Coke debacle from the perspective of thin slicing.  In the early 1980s executives at Coke had reason for concern; Pepsi narrowed the gap of those claiming exclusive product loyalty from 18 percent for Coke and 4 percent for Pepsi in 1972 to 12 percent and 11 percent respectively.  Furthermore, Pepsi consistently beat Coke in head-to-head taste tests, even those run by Coke!  So Coke created New Coke, which they found beat Pepsi by 6 to 8 percent in taste tests, every time.  The result?  Disaster.  Coke was forced to bring back Classic Coke only a few months later while New Coke virtually disappeared.  The problem, according to Gladwell and the experts he consults, is that thin slicing proves of little value in such taste tests, especially when conducted on persons without expertise in testing food products.  Home tests, where people take a case home and drink the whole can, often completely contradict taste tests, and prove more valuable in the long run.

Blink is not a how-to book but instead a delightful exploration of the world of the unconscious.  And at times it also provokes thought on moral issues.  For example, Gladwell presents findings of the Race IAT (Implicit Association Test), which show that 80 percent of those taking the test havepro-white associations; people more automatically associate positive characteristics with "white" persons rather than "black" persons.  However, when someone taking the IAT views a series of images and articles on figures like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Colin Powell before the test, their "automatic" positive associations with "blacks" increase.  These and other similar illustrations make this book not only entertaining, but in my mind, important.


Reviewed by Dr. Tom Lee
Professor of Biology, FACUL Board Member

Review of The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809-1882
(NY: Harcourt, Brace, 1959), 253 pages.

Charles Darwin's autobiography was first published in 1887, five years after his death.  Darwin's family, attempting to protect his posthumous reputation, had deleted all the passages they considered too personal or controversial.  This present complete edition did not appear until 1959, 100 years after the publication of The Origin of Species.

This is an interesting book on the life of a man who has had a great influence on western thought and biology in particular.  Darwin describes himself in very humble terms and he is genuinely astonished at the impact that Origin of Species had on the minds of many.

His early life was spent in school and trying to decide what career he would be best suited for. He tried medicine and the clergy.  His family was wealthy.  His father was a doctor and his mother's family owned Wedgwood Pottery.  His father had a strong influence on his life; Darwin describes him as an intelligent man with a good memory about the character of the people he served in his medical practice. Darwin's father seems to have been universally admired and respected.  His father was opposed to Charles's voyage on the HMS Beagle.  However, a persuasive uncle was able to change his father's mind and he allowed Charles to go.

One of the most exciting discoveries I made from reading this book was that the young Charles Darwin attended a lecture of the birds of North America by John James Audubon.  One other person who help guide Charles throughout his life was Charles Lyell, who wrote Principles of Geology, one of only three books (other than the Bible and Milton's poems) that he brought with him on the five-year voyage of the Beagle.

The voyage on the Beagle - which Darwin describes as the most important event in his life - is not covered all that well in this book because it is in The Voyage of the Beagle.  Darwin does discuss some of the discoveries he made during the trip, mostly geologic discoveries.  For example, he relates to the reader the discovery of a fossilized giant ground sloth from Patagonia.

There is a chapter on Charles Darwin's religious faith, which seems to have suffered after the loss of his daughter Anne Elizabeth Darwin at age 10.  The death of this girl was not covered well in the autobiography.

The end of Darwin's life seems somewhat sad.  After his trip on the Beagle he suffered from sickness on and off the rest of his life.  This debilitation kept him from his work many times and from socializing as much as he would have liked.