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Summer only appears to be a sleepy time around the SDSU Library. While you were away from campus, we’ve been busy!
Reference Services Area Renovation
I have a feeling that Reference Services is going to be “the place to be” from now on. With its new carpet, paint, and comfortable furniture, it’s a functional—but attractive—place to study or relax. We’ve added more seating, as well as more collaborative learning and individual study spaces. Many of the lesser-used reference materials were weeded out—and replaced with online reference sources—creating more open space. More student computers were added, and we expanded the art exhibits. Tables can be rearranged to suit study groups, and portable white boards are available in various areas.
Comic-Con Kids
Around 40 years ago, an amazing thing happened here in San Diego: a group of teen-age comic book fans and an aspiring graphic artist pooled their meager resources and founded what would grow into Comic-Con International! It’s a story that should be told, and who better to tell it than the remaining members of that group and others who were a part of the convention’s early, magical years.
With a $10,000 grant from the California Council for the Humanities, the library is developing an oral history project titled “The Comic-Con Kids: Finding and Defining Fandom.” The project will explore the emergence of comics, science fiction, and fantasy in the youth counterculture movements of the 1970s, with a primary focus on Comic-Con. Recording began on June 29, with SDSU student Jonathan Valdez interviewing Mike Towry and Jackie Estrada. The oral histories will be available to the public on a Special Collections-affiliated Web page that will also contain photographs, copies of original documents, and film excerpts.
SDSU Library iPhone App
Library assistant Tyler Rogers has developed an iPhone App for the library that can be downloaded from iTunes. With the app, you can view the library’s mobile catalog, see the latest titles added to the collection, find library hours on the go, view maps of the book stacks, browse the library’s book classification scheme, and send an email to the Reference Desk. Visit the SDSU Library iPhone App Web page to learn more about it.
The Papers of Richard Alf
Special Collections is the fortunate recipient of papers and documents once belonging to Richard Alf, one of the founders of Comic-Con International. Richard passed away in January 2012, and his mother, Martha, donated his collection to the library during the summer. The new collection, “The Papers of Richard Alf,” consists of approximately 20 linear feet of various materials and document types related to Comic-Con conventions, his comic book business and store, original art by Jack Kirby and Scott Shaw, and material on the Empire Sign Company and other ventures he was involved in.
Link+ Out, WorldCat In
As of May 31, the library discontinued its participation in Link+. Library patrons wishing to borrow books are now encouraged to use Circuit, WorldCat, or Interlibrary Loan.
Comic Arts Conference Poster Session
Members of the library’s Comic Arts Committee presented a poster session titled “Comics, Comic-Con, and SDSU: A Symbiotic Relationship” on July 14 at the 2012 Comic Arts Conference, which is an academic conference held in conjunction with Comic-Con International. The presentation covered the library’s Comic-Con Kids Oral History Project, the work of the Comic Arts Committee, and the comic arts collections held by Special Collections.
Last month the library’s “San Diego Fishing Industry” mural project received the Excellence in Historic Preservation Award from the City of San Diego Historical Resources Board. This is the second time one of the library’s mural projects has been recognized. The first mural restoration—“NRA Packages”—received the Governor’s Historic Preservation Award in 2008.
“San Diego Fishing Industry” is one of several murals painted by SDSU art students during the mid-1930s. Originally painted on the basement walls of Hardy Tower, it was lost for decades before being rediscovered during routine maintenance in August 2004. It was restored and moved to its new location—the Reference Services Area—in 2010.
For several weeks now, the Reference Services Area has been sealed off with plastic sheeting while the recarpeting and renovation project is underway. Today, an opening appeared in the plastic curtain, so I took a quick pic:
Construction will continue for another month. If you need reference help, please go to the Help Desk in the 24/7 Study Area. A librarian is there to assist you from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Monday-Friday.
There’s a lot going on today in the library. First, the new exhibit “Unidos Por la Causa: The Chicana and Chicano Experience in San Diego” officially opens. It’s located in the Reference Services area and runs through December 31. The exhibit displays photos, art and documents from the early years of the Chicano movement in San Diego.
Next up, in conjunction with the exhibit, is a lecture by Martin Gómez, city librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library. He’ll discuss “Archiving a Movement” at 7 p.m. tonight in Room LL430 of the library.
Also at 7 p.m. is the second installment of our Mark Twain Movie Nights. We’ll be showing Part I of the Ken Burns documentary Mark Twain in Room 1500 of the Student Services Building. It’s free, so all you need to bring is yourself and some popcorn!
Read more about the exhibit in SignOnSanDiego.
Talking, laughter, cameras, and eating in Reference Services? Really? That can’t be right…can it?
Yes, it can, and yesterday around 3:30 p.m., that’s exactly what was going on as the library held the dedication ceremony for the second restored WPA-era mural, “San Diego Industry.”
Painted by student George Sorenson in 1936, the mural’s original home was in the basement of Hardy Tower, which in the 1930s housed SDSU’s first library as well as art classrooms. Damaged by renovations and lost for years behind ceiling tiles, the mural was found accidently in 2004 and underwent restoration before being relocated to its new permanent home on the wall behind the Reference Desk.
We listened to speeches by Interim Dean Jon Cawthorne, SDSU President Stephen Weber, and Professor Seth Mallios, who spearheaded the effort to restore the mural. The artist’s son, George Sorensen, flew in from Oregon to help us celebrate. The local media filmed the event to share with the rest of San Diego. We talked, laughed, and noshed on canapés and lemon bars. And the mural was dedicated. But what we also celebrated was the dedication of so many individuals—library staff, faculty, and administrators; members of our Friends of the Library; donors from outside organizations; Seth Mallios and President Weber; and many more—who saw the value in preserving a piece of SDSU’s history, who brought to fruition what seemed like an impossible task. Kudos to all of you hard-working dreamers. You pulled it off!
Want to learn more about the murals of SDSU? Here’s a few links:
The Depression-Era Murals of San Diego State University
San Diego Union-Tribune
Uncovering Local Art and Industry: The Discovery of Hidden WPA-Era Murals at San Diego State University
Enjoy some photos from Tuesday’s dedication. If you’d like to see more, visit our Flickr page.
George Sorensen was interviewed regarding his father's mural.
Seth Mallios, chair of SDSU's Anthropology Department, discusses the mural's history.
SDSU President Stephen Weber shares some thoughts about the mural.
San Diego Industry in its permanent home in the Library Addition.
Do you know why Cowles Mountain was once referred to as “S” Mountain? Did you know that the rarest species of pine tree in the United States grows only in San Diego and on Santa Rosa Island?
There’s certainly a lot I don’t know about San Diego, and I bet the same goes for you. In case you’re curious and would like to learn more, the SDSU Library’s reference librarians have assembled an informative exhibit titled “From Sand to Mesa to Sea: San Diego in Reference.” This exhibit features resources relating to the San Diego region and covers everything from history to geology to culture to potential jobs. San Diego resources–from guides to the Torrey Pines State Reserve, through San Diego trivia, to the municipal code–are organized on two bookshelves between the reference desk and the NRA Packages mural. Drop by and take a look. And please ask questions.
What the devil is going on here? A construction zone in Reference Services, are you serious?!? Why?
Can you guess?
Maybe you’ve noticed him, sitting quietly near the librarians’ offices in the Reference Services area. Maybe you’ve even given him your two cents worth…as so many others previously have…in donated coins. And maybe you’ve even wondered, why the heck is there a Buddha in the SDSU Library? Well, here’s the story…
The Burmese Buddha was presented to the San Diego State College (now SDSU) art department in 1938 by Mrs. Henry B. Clark. After being displayed in the Art Building for several years, the Buddha was placed on display in the library during the 1950s and has been transported to each new library building since. The statue has been stolen twice, once in 1969 by a student because of a bet and once in 1970 by someone unknown. When the statue was recovered in 1970, it was found burned and with some of its jewels missing.
We don’t know why…or when…it started, but people began leaving “donations” with the Buddha. Librarian Robert Fikes said, “People were already leaving money on it when I arrived, and that was 33 years ago.” Usually the donations are pennies, with the odd nickel or dime tossed in the mix, but I have noticed a stray Junior Mint or flower petal now and then. As to why people leave money…my guess is, in hopes that the gods will intervene for some poor soul who put off their research paper until the last minute!
No one seems to know what becomes of the money, either. One theory is, the Buddha’s stash functions as a “penny tray” similar to what you see on store and restaurant counters. People in need of cash “take a penny,” while those with some spare change “give a penny.”
Next time you’re cramming for a particularly difficult test, try buying a little karma…leave a penny with our Buddha and join a long-standing SDSU tradition!
SDSU Library 