ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries January 1986 / 73 Visiting a London library By Ja n e Kemp Circulation/Reference Libarian Luther College A British polytechnic library on London’s south side. W h e n I read the offer by the Library Associa tion in C&RL News, February 1985, to arrang visits in London area libraries during the summer I became interested immediately. My family and had planned to spend much of the summer in Grea Britain with at least two weeks scheduled for Lon don. Since I knew no librarians in Great Britai and had no entree to any particular libraries, thi was a wonderful opportunity to receive an in depth tour. I wrote to the executive secretary of the Associa tion early in the spring (at least one month’s notic is required) and suggested certain parameters fo my visit. I requested that a visit be arranged wit an academic library of a size similar to the smal liberal arts college library where I am employed. also wished to visit a highly automated library tha provided some computer services to patrons. At th beginning of the summer I received word that th match had been made and was told where an when to report during my stay in London. The library I was to visit was part of the Poly technic of the South Bank, a technical school lo cated on London’s southern end. Peter Cousins systems librarian, was designated as my host an guide. I was given specific instructions to exit th London Underground at the Elephant and Castl station and proceed to the library located on Lon don Road. This was the main library for the school two smaller branches were also located nearby. With these instructions in mind, I emerged fro the Underground only to be surrounded by group of recent-looking brick buildings and no signs. Af ter asking directions from several passersby, I fi nally found the library. I later discovered that thi ­ e , I t ­ n s - ­ e r h l I t e e d ­ ­ , d e e ­ ; m s ­ ­ s area of London received extensive damage during the war, which accounted for the more contempo­ rary architecture of the school and the surrounding area. Peter Cousins and I spent an afternoon talking and touring the library. I quickly learned that al­ though the Polytechnic and my college library are similar in the number of volumes held (or “book- stock”), the differences between the two are marked. He began by explaining the nature of the British polytechnic, trying to relate it to a compa­ rable American institution. Although the Ameri­ can community college or technical school is some­ what similar, the polytechnics found throughout Great Britain serve a more diverse population and are funded altogether differently. The library itself was located in a building less than 10 years old. It was small for the amount of use it received and very utilitarian in appearance. The circulation was enormous by small college standards—an average of 1,167 items were issued per day during the school terms. A staggering num­ ber of overdue notices were printed as well, reflect­ ing a relatively short check-out period for books and periodicals. Sixty percent more patrons en­ tered the library than at our college. The library staff was considerably larger than that of the small American college library. There were 17 professional librarians on the staff and 19 library assistants and secretaries. Duties which in my experience are routinely managed by non­ professional staff, were performed only by profes­ sionals. Interlibrary loans and cataloging, for ex­ ample, were seen as work suitable for professionals only. 74 / C &R L News The entire library was automated with a GEAC 8000 mini-computer with 32 ports currently avail­ able. Circulation, acquisitions, and cataloging were automated. An online catalog had been in place since 1982. Online information retrieval had been offered as a service since 1983. Searches were increasing due to the librarians promoting its use among the students and faculty. Interlibrary loans were also arranged via computer and were increas­ ing as the online information retrieval services were becoming better known. Cousins emphasized several times through the course of our visit that automation in the library had actually increased the need for human input, contrary to popular conception. Automation “sim­ ply redeployed older library skills,” as it was stated by the head of learning resources in the library’s an­ nual report. Computers were also available for patron use and had been for a number of years. Although sev­ eral of the computers were older, such as the BBC Acorn model, none had been removed because de­ mand for them was so heavy. The librarians had been trained to help orient patrons to the com­ puters and explain some features of their opera­ tion. The library staff were active in issuing a number of publications ranging from bookmarks and sub­ ject lists of periodicals to accession lists and subject lists of audiovisual materials. They also published bibliographies and a Learning Resources Bulletin for the faculty. The publications were stored on WORDPAK, the word processor attached to the GEAC mini-computer. Information was loaded directly from the online catalog onto the word processor for editing. Cousins pointed out that the publications part of the library work was seen as in- dispensible for informing both faculty and students about library services. Staff development in the library was obviously a priority of the library administration. Two librari­ ans had exchanged positions for the summer term so each could gain experience in the other’s posi­ tion. Librarians were encouraged to go on field trips, attend meetings and take courses to upgrade their skills. In the list of activities of librarians noted in the annual report, some of these experi­ ences had evidently resulted in articles and papers being produced. I came away from my library visit impressed with the way in which this library had made tradi­ tional library functions more efficient through au­ tomation. It was apparent that the library was used heavily and that the school was expected to ex­ pand. This setting seemed ideal for the sort of en­ hancements that automation achieves for contin­ ued effective service. The library visit itself was an opportunity I would recommend to others who will be in the London area during the summer. It was a wonder­ ful way to meet library staff and see a “foreign” li­ brary from the inside. My host was most hospita­ ble, eager to answer my many questions and to ask some of his own. I hope that the Library Associa­ tion will continue to offer this opportunity for guests to Great Britain. ■ ■ Florida State’s Pepper Library offers a unique Congressional setting May 15, 1985, marked the formal opening of the Mildred and Claude Pepper Library in Dodd Hall on the Florida State University campus. Claude Pepper, the 84-year-old Florida Con­ gressman whose political career has spanned 56 years and the administrations of eight U.S. presi­ dents, has given eloquent acknowledgement of the debt he owes his deceased wife, Mildred, for her constant support of his political career by including her name and personal papers in the Library. Con­ gressman Pepper’s extensive collection includes his official and personal papers, photographs, record­ ings, books, and memorabilia, that cover his years as Florida legislator in the late 1920s, as U.S. Sena­ tor during the 1930s and 1940s under Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, to his career as a U.S. Rep­ resentative from the 1960s to the present. They are still received as his political career continues, with materials on the aging his most current topic of concern. The Library also includes the papers, memora­ bilia, and paintings of Mildred Irene Webster Pep­ per. Together, these collections, currently over 475 feet in total volume, offer researchers the opportu­ nity to study the lives and times of two politically active individuals. The collection was donated to FSU as a tribute to his wife, Mildred, who spent many hours studying in Dodd Hall, built between 1924 and 1929 as the library for the Florida State College for Women, where she was a student in the 1930s. He met Mildred in Tallahassee, where the two lived for many years when he practiced law. He said that Mildred was the first to suggest that Dodd Hall would be an appropriate place for their records. Moreover, Florida State University was chosen be­ cause of Pepper’s family ties to North Florida and the fact that Tallahassee is the state capital. Florida State University has spent more than $800,000 restoring a portion of Dodd Hall to house the Pepper Library. Downstairs, the original li­ brary’s gothic-style high-ceilinged and walnut- 76 C &R L News paneled periodicals room has been restored for use as the reading room. Architect Herschel Shepard, whose firm handled the restoration of the old state capital in Tallahassee, was hired by FSU to prepare Dodd Hall for the Pepper Library. Shepard said the reading room was exactly as it was originally built except for the addition of ceiling fans and the substitution, for economic reasons, of slightly dif­ ferent lamps. Many of Pepper’s Congressional papers, as well as his and Mildred’s personal papers, are available in this room for students and scholars to study. There are also a variety of finding aids available to users. In addition to traditional card catalogs for books and audiovisual materials, special manu­ script registers are used for retrieving unpublished papers. In addition, many of the Library’s holdings have been entered on floppy disks—eventually to be converted to hard disk—for quick access when specific items are desired. The reading room also features a variety of vis­ ual displays that chronicle the political and private lives of Claude and Mildred. For example, anyone wishing to view a speech or an interview with Claude Pepper can do so in a special television viewing area. On the second floor, two rooms have been built to re-create Pepper’s Washington offices in the Russell Senate Office Building from 1937 to 1950, and the Rayburn House Office Building from 1963 to the present. Herschel Shepard made several trips to Washington to measure Pepper’s Senate and Replicated office o f Rep. Claude Pepper, Florida State University. House offices and studied blueprints provided by the architect of the Capitol before designing and constructing the library rooms. Visitors can walk through and see the rooms just as Pepper worked in them. His House office, for example, is filled with a re­ m arkable number of fram ed photographs, plaques, letters, and other mementos that cover his walls from chair rail to ceiling, plus much memo­ rabilia displayed on tables and credenzas. High on a wall to the left of the desk hangs a picture, auto­ graphed by Orville Wright, of the Wright brothers’ airplane making its first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903. Just above this historic keepsake hangs a photo of the Apollo 10 lunar mod­ ule, autographed by its crew, which completed the first walk on the moon in 1969. Such items illus­ trate the incredible span of history that Pepper has lived through. Congressman Pepper’s staff has collected as much of his original furniture as possible to fill the replicated offices. His restored Senate office, for ex­ ample, contains his old mahogany Senate desk, which Pepper bought years ago and used in his Mi­ ami Law Office. Other souvenirs of those years in­ clude a large stuffed rattlesnake given to him by a friend and a clock representing the New Deal era inscribed, “At the Wheel for a New Deal.” Photo­ graphs from the Pepper Collection showing the Senate office were used to replicate the furnishings. Many photos are hung on the walls in their original grouped arrangements, showing prominent states­ men (presidents, justices, world leaders), Claude and Mildred together on various trips, and the Sen­ ate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Pep­ per so admirably served. Another curious artifact displayed near the re­ stored offices is an effigy of Pepper, which was hung from an oak on the Capitol lawn in 1940. Nazi sympathizers, angered over his stinging de­ nunciations of the Third Reich, had hung the effigy then tied it to the bumper of a car and dragged it around Capitol Hill. The effigy, which has a coco­ nut head, sawdust for stuffing, and a placard with the words “Claude Benedict Arnold Pepper” on its chest, was kept by Pepper through the years and was restored for display. The Mildred and Claude Pepper Library, with its research facilities and visual displays housed in a restored scholarly setting, and the replicated of­ fices, offering visitors the opportunity to view Con­ gressman Pepper’s working environment, past and present, is indeed unique among other Congressio­ nal libraries in the country today. For further in­ formation, contact Burt Altman at (904) 644- 6204 —Burt Altman. ■ ■