ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries June 1988 / 367 INNOVATIONS More than information: A popular exhibit shows the personal side of books and information By Marjorie Markoff Cataloger of Special Collections Millersville University The preparation of interesting, informative, eye-eatching library exhibits is always a challenge. Especially in times of budgetary constraints and limited staff time, librarians need to find short-cuts for developing and organizing effective exhibits. Lucy Caswell has described four possible goals for academic library exhibits: education, increased circulation, public relations, and collection devel­ opment.1 Jane Kemp discussed the application of exhibition strategy to smaller academic libraries which may not have extensive special collections to exhibit.2 At Millersville University we recently put to­ gether a very popular exhibit which met nearly all of the above criteria and much more. In recogni­ tion of 1987 as the Year of the Reader we planned a “My Favorite Book” exhibit. Early in the fall se­ mester we distributed approximately 400 surveys to faculty and staff, asking them to name their “fa­ vorite” book and comment on their selection. W e deliberately did not define the word “favorite,” hoping to elicit some interesting and creative inter­ pretations. By m id-O ctober we had received forty-five responses— most from facu lty m em b ers— representing all of the academic units on campus. As might have been predicted, the English depart­ ment had the most entries with six, but the history department and library were close behind with four entries each. Most surprising was the fact that there was not a single duplicate title among the 1Lucy S. Caswell, “Building a Strategy for Aca­ demic Library Exhibits,” Cò-RL News 46 (April 1985): 165-68. 2Jane Kemp, “Creating Exhibits in the Smaller Academic Library,” C &R L News 46 (July/August 1985): 3 4 4 -4 6 . forty-five selections. All but two of the respondents wrote comments, some of which were quite personal, almost confes­ sional. Favorites included those books that had a significant impact on shaping an individual’s phi­ losophy of life or guiding someone in a career path, those books that were particularly meaningful at a specific stage of an individual’s life, those that stand up to many readings and re-readings, and those books that provide an enjoyable escape from the realities of everyday life. Nearly half of the se­ lected books were novels. As expected, the Bible was represented among the entries. The biology professor who selected it wrote, “It may be deemed silly to cite the Bible as the most meaningful book one has read; neverthe­ less, I can do no other.” Another professor of biol­ ogy chose something a little more unpredictable— John Steinbeck’s C a n n ery Row and S w eet Thursday— claiming that “these books started me out on a career as a marine biologist.” The history professor who named Of Time and the River as his favorite book admitted that he “can no longer read Thomas Wolfe without cringing.” His reason for naming a book he would never want to read again was that it “simply bowled me over at a particularly impressionable time in my life.” A m ath em atics professor recalled t ha t he was “forced” to read Faulkner’s “The Bear” in a fresh­ man literature course. He confessed, after many readings, that the story still “virtually brings me to tears.” Examples of favorite children’s books which contributed to the development of a philosophy of life included L . Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, Louisa May Alcott’s Little W om en‚ and Margue­ rite DeAngeli’s The Door in the Wall. Other books, 368 / C &RL News read for the first time very recently, were also named as having had a profound influence on an individual’s way of thinking. Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschw itz fit this category, as did Sohachi Yamaoka’s 26-volume novel, Tokugawa leyasu. According to the professor of economics who se­ lected the Japanese epic: “Compared to this major work of literature, D on Quixote and W ar and Peace are child’s play.” Popular literature was also represented among the titles selected. Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red O ctober and Josephine Tey’s The D aughter of Time were chosen as good recreational reading. A professor of industry and technology mentioned Ellis Peters’ The Raven in the Foregate‚ confiding, “I save these until after grades are turned in each semester, then I go back in time to 12th-century England. Alternatively, I enjoy escaping into the 23d century with the Star Trek novels.” Such honest and provocative comments added life and warmth to our usually impersonal exhibit cases. So as not to lock up the library’s copies of every work mentioned, we sought as many per­ sonal copies of books as possible. In this way, also, we collected quite a number of bright-colored pa­ perbacks and books with dust jackets which helped to make the exhibit more attractive. Although some people were unwilling to part with their “fa­ vorite” books, even for a short time, most were very cooperative in lending materials for this project. Each book was exhibited with the individual’s comments about it. The exhibit was mounted in early December when students and faculty members, preoccupied by term papers and final exams, looked forward to vacation. Many who stopped to look at the exhibit commented that they were going to read a particu­ lar book over the holidays, when they would have time. In addition, the exhibit attracted the atten­ tion of the outside community when the local newspaper featured an article about it (complete with photograph) on the back page. W e prepared a list of included titles which could be picked up by passersby near the exhibit cases. Although library staff members did all of the typing and physical layout of the exhibit, this was a relatively easy project to coordinate. Aside from the initial distribution of the survey, no research was required; most of the text was prepared by the participants; and the materials exhibited were not limited to holdings within the library’s collections. While our primary goal in undertaking this proj­ ect was to stimulate students’ interest in books and reading, faculty enthusiasm for our plans was over­ whelming. Those who participated encouraged their colleagues and students to visit the library, specifically to view the exhibit. Many who did not participate this time have asked when we are plan­ ning our next “My Favorite Book” exhibit. Others have suggested we poll students regarding their fa­ vorite books and one philosophy professor has al­ ready sent unsolicited information on his least fa­ vorite book. Admittedly, we had asked a difficult, if not im­ possible, question. The comments we received, however, reflected the thoughtfulness with which people approached the assignment, sharing their feelings and personal experiences about something that was important and meaningful to them . W hat came through most clearly in the exhibit was the fact that books are much more than a means of transmitting information. An automated finding aid for special collections By Lucy Shelton Caswell Curator Library fo r Communication and Graphic Arts Ohio State University K aren A. Smith Special Collections Cataloger Library fo r Communication and Graphic Arts Ohio State University and H annah Thomas Manuscripts Cataloger Library fo r Communication and Graphic Arts Ohio State University You may recognize this common reference desk scenario: The caller has an urgent request, “The song is from an old movie and I think the words are something like ‘You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss…’ Do you have the sheet music?” An al­ ternate scene: The researcher is preparing a book on the centennial of the Statue of Liberty. He asks to see all the editorial cartoons in the collection which depict this image. A third request: The pro­ fessor stops by to say that her class needs to see sev­ eral examples of historic photographs and she espe­ cially needs to have three or four cyanotypes on