Spring 2015
Volume 6, No. 1
DEAN RICHARD SAUNDERS
By Georgia Beth Thompson, Advisory Board Chair
Richard Saunders became Dean of the Gerald R. Sherratt Library in the fall of
2014. Dr. Saunders has many years of experience in libraries and the
publishing industry. Most recently he had served as the head of public
services and interim director of the Paul Meek Library at the University of
Tennessee at Martin. Family reasons and his passion for libraries were the
major factors in his decision to apply for the position here at SUU, where he
felt the appointment would allow him new learning opportunities.
Richard Saunders
Dr. Saunders reports being pleased with the strengths of the Sherratt Library.
Special Collections is in good shape due to the work of the employees who
worked in that division for many years, including Inez Cooper, Blanche Clegg,
Janet Seegmiller, and the staff members who assisted them. He is also
pleased with the Friends of the Library organization and its interest and
support of projects to help the Library serve the campus and broader
community. “I like the idea of the Gala. Local people who serve on the Friends
group are committed to the University and help tie the Library to the
community.”
Dr. Saunders also stated, “Although electronic media are growing and changing every day, libraries have the
challenge to integrate new materials along with print. Libraries receive materials in many forms beyond print
these days but there are still costs even though publishing formats are different and changing all the time.”
The place of the Library in the academy is changing, he notes. Print collections are still important, integration
of the information age throughout the higher education institution is important. Keeping information updated
and integrated and then utilized by students, faculty and staff are part of the challenges in the modern
university library. A key purpose of an academic library is to help students learn how professionals create and
share data and developments in whatever field they pursue, he adds.
In order to better serve the SUU campus, the dean notes that Sherratt Library will shortly need more space. As
the campus begins working to attract more students, he would like to see the Library integrate an expanded
writing center serving all disciplines as well as research-tutoring space. He points to a need for additional
areas to accommodate group study. He advocates more partnerships across the University where the Library is
involved in the learning for students, faculty, and staff.
Born in Logan, Utah, he spent his early years in Corvallis, Oregon. His family returned to Logan where he
completed his undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in history at Utah State University. After
completing his library studies at Brigham Young University, he worked at Montana State University and then
spent several years working in academic publishing. He accepted a special collections position in Tennessee in
2000 where he directed the University Museum and initially served as archivist before accepting the public
services and then interim library director’s post.
Spring 2015
Volume 6, No. 1 | 2
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
By Georgia Beth Thompson
The Sixth Annual Friends of the Gerald
R. Sherratt Library Gala took place on
October 11, 2014 and was a big success.
We honored Volunteerism in Iron
County and enjoyed getting acquainted
with over 25 volunteer organizations
represented by displays and individuals
affiliated with the groups.
Members enjoyed sharing information
about their groups. LaDawn Stoddard,
Georgia Beth Thompson
Executive Director, UServe Utah gave the
Keynote Address. We enjoyed musical
theater numbers from the Cedar Valley Community Theater and
Choral works by In Jubilo, two of the volunteer entities enhancing
our lives here in Iron County. Photos of the Gala are on page 7.
Friends of the Sherratt Library
Advisory Board
Jim Aton
Camille Bradford
Newsletter Editor
Michael Broadbent
Penny Brown
Past Chair
Beverly Burgess
Brian Burrows
Mildred Cardon
Jim Case
In January-February we surveyed the FOL Board and in FebruaryMarch the FOL membership was asked to respond to a survey. We
hope you were able to take a few minutes to reply to the
questionnaire you received electronically or in the mail. We feel that
your ideas and input can assist in strengthening the Friends
organization and help us focus on advancing the services and
collections of the Library. Once we have had an opportunity to
review the surveys, information will be shared in the Fall newsletter.
SUU Founders Week took place March 16-20. Pulitzer-prize winning
historian Joseph Ellis delivered the annual Howard R. Driggs
Memorial Lecture on March 17. Lunch on the Main for students, on
Wednesday, March 18, offered food and Founders’ stories at the
Library Plaza and on the Library Garden level, as well as at other
campus sites.
The Library has been involved in numerous projects to serve the
campus – students, faculty, staff and the broader community.
Details of these events are on page 5. Look also for the article by
Sheri Butler on page 4 updating the digitization of the Iron County
Record, a project which we hope will soon be completed.
Terms for ten members of the FOL Board end in either May or
August, 2015. We are in the process of determining possible
reappointments or selecting new members to serve on the board. If
Continued on page 3
Janet Clark
Helen Englehart
Vice Chair
Diana Graff
Barbara Matheson
Clayton Petty
Richard Saunders
Secretary
Gerald R. Sherratt
Maria Smith
Georgia Beth Thompson
Chair
Evan Vickers
Lorraine Warren
library.suu.edu
Spring 2015
Volume 6, No. 1 | 3
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
By Richard Saunders, Dean of Library Services
Messages from administrators seem to open too frequently with a comment on
how exciting progress in some direction is being made. I don't know that
electrical plugs, old newspapers, or staff vacancies are particularly exciting, but I
am quite pleased to let the Friends know that we are making progress in all
three directions.
Richard Saunders
This issue of the Friends' newsletter brings you an update on our long-running
project to sponsor the conversion of nearly one hundred years of microfilmed
issues of the the Iron County Record to a publicly accessible, searchable digital
platform. What was going on in town near your birthday? When was the
subdivision announced? How did the high school football team really do in
dad's days? This and more you can find with just a few keystrokes.
Another article will update you on staff changes at the library. Within the past month a new Archivist has
accepted our job offer, and interest has been strong in two faculty vacancies. Finally, you will find out how
electrical cables have changed the way that library seating is used. Adopting and integrating a new technology
often requires change in patterns and habits. Nothing is simple, and we will be moving in new directions
throughout the building because of wires.
So change is happening, and the Friends are in the middle of it. Our combined efforts should improve student
use, better the community we live in, and send us further down the path of program stability, collection
growth, and fiscal solidarity.
How exciting! (There—I’ve said it).
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Continued from page 2
you have suggestions or have interest in serving on the board, you can contact me at 590-5905 or
[email protected] or Sheri Butler in the Library at 586-7947 or [email protected]
To accomplish the work of the FOL, we appreciate the support and assistance of the Library faculty and staff.
Sheri Butler and Mikki Shakespear help so much with all projects including meeting agendas, minutes, surveys,
details of and preparation for the Gala. A special thanks to Mikki and Matt Nickerson for their work preparing
and distributing the FOL board and membership surveys. We were pleased to hear that Matt was appointed
Associate Dean of the Library on January 1, 2015.
I have enjoyed reading the well-presented newsletters Camille Bradford has edited and prepared for electronic
publication for several years. It means a commitment of blocks of time on Camille’s part. Sincere thanks to
Camille for her services – editing, formatting, and preparing the newsletter – to enhance communications for
the Friends.
Thanks to those who serve as members of the Friends of the Library, including those who have been involved
on the Board. Your ideas, work, fundraising efforts, Gala planning and attending are so important to the
service we can provide for the Sherratt Library. The Gala committee will be meeting soon and planning for Fall,
2015. If you have ideas or thoughts about a Gala program which you feel would be celebratory, fun and
interesting, please share that information with either Sheri or me.
Spring 2015
Volume 6, No. 1 | 4
NEW UNIVERSITY ARCHIVIST
Sally McDonald, of Loyalton, California, has been hired to become the new University Archivist, effective April
16. She assumes the position previously held by Paula Mitchell, who became Special Collections Librarian after
the retirement of Janet Seegmiller in April 2014.
Filling the vacant Archivist position was tabled through 2014 until the search for a new dean was completed. In
October 2014 Dr. Saunders asked Paula to chair a search committee. Chaired by Paula and with the support of
Scott Lanning and Carol Kunzler, in February an offer was made to Ms. McDonald.
She earned a library degree from the University of Denver and holds professional accreditation from the
Academy of Certified Archivists. She is presently completing digital archives certification. Her experience
includes several years of professional service in various capacities at Denver Public Library, including work with
ContentDM, the same platform we use for digital images. She also has experience in exhibit design and art
conservation.
COMPLETING THE IRON COUNTY RECORD PROJECT
By Sheri Butler, Administrative Assistant
Over the past six years the Sherratt Library has coordinated an effort to raise funds to convert research access
to the Iron County Record from microfilm to publicly accessible digital database. The Record, a local
newspaper that was published from 1897 to 1982, is a key historical resource for researchers looking for
information about Iron County and its citizens.
The SUU campus administration funded the first $10,000 toward the project in 2009, just as the Friends were
organizing. Since then the Friends have taken the initiative, soliciting the project cost of contributions from
members, organizations, and local companies. Contributors to this digitization project range from $25 from
individuals, to American Pacific Corp and the Cedar City Rotary Club cumulative gifts of over $9,000 apiece.
Four years of microfilmed newspaper remain to be captured digitally – the images run through optical
character recognition software, and the text files cleaned up, and the image and text files linked in the pageimage and search-function databases. With a forthcoming $2,500 gift from Rotary and a number of smaller
gifts, the remaining expense has been reduced to a little over $7,000. That figure will complete the project
through the final issues in 1982. Upon completion later this summer, the multi-year fundraising effort and
project commitment will total approximately $45,000. Cedar City becomes the first Utah community to
independently fund digitization of its newspaper.
Thanks to the efforts of the Friends of the Library board members, 93% of this valuable historical collection of
news, advertising, photographs, and personal stories of Iron County is presently available to the public. You
can browse and search the Record and see what gifts from the Friends have accomplished:
http://digitalnewspapers.org.
Spring 2015
Volume 6, No. 1 | 5
LIBRARY EVENTS
By Phil Roché, Instruction/Outreach Librarian
We have many activities this semester that showcase our wonderful resources, services, collections, and of
course, our beautiful Sherratt Library building.
During the weeks of February 16 and 23 the Library hosted the inaugural university Penny Wars! activity in
which campus departments competed to raise funds in support of Camp Kesem, a wonderful facility that
provides a summer camp experience for children of cancer patients. The event was a rousing success and
$682.91 was raised during the two weeks of competition!
On March 4 the Sherratt Library hosted the SUU Photography Club Exhibition, Motion. Karl Hugh of Studio
West Photography served as judge for the event and more than 20 entries were received. These exceptional
examples of student artwork will remain on display throughout the semester on the Garden Level, so please
stop-by and see them.
Still to come are the annual Founders Week activities during the week of March 16, including Lunch on the
Main and our always popular Library Birthday Cake giveaway. Our annual celebration of National Library Week
will take place during the week of April 13. Other upcoming activities include poetry readings (dates to be
determined), recognition of our newly-tenured faculty and retiring personnel in a Titles for Tenured Tbirds/Titles for Retiring Tbirds display at the end of the semester. At our end-of-the-year Rock the Finals!
event on April 24th we’ll help students relax with free candy, healthy snacks, biofeedback, library support, and
encouragement as they prepare for final exams. All members of Friends of the Sherratt Library are welcome at
these events.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE: REVOLUTION ON THE THIRD FLOOR
As technology continues to expand, more and more students look for
places to plug in laptop computers, tablets, and phones. Personal
electronic devices and the need for electrical power have changed use
patterns within the library.
Individual study carrels, which students preferred as study spaces when
the Library was planned and built twenty years ago, now sit mostly
unused. Instead, students prefer to study interactively in small, often
collaborative groups. Tables, especially those adjacent to electrical outlets,
are now the preferred seating.
Last year the Library replaced and reconfigured outlets on the second-floor walls and third-floor pillars. Twoplug wall outlets were replaced with either four-outlet receptacles, or units with two outlets and two USB ports.
This year the Library has commissioned four-plug electrical outlets to be installed along the walls around the
third floor. Tables and carrels have been rearranged adjacent to the outlets. This may complicate close access
to the exhibit space along the southeastern wall, but the wall will still host occasional travelling exhibitions. The
new seating arrangements and power sources have proven very popular with students.
In the next few years the Library will replace long rows of carrels with different seating arrangements. Tables
will be common, but new soft-seating chairs and low tables will be scattered through the floors as well.
Spring 2015
Volume 6, No. 1 | 6
RARE VOLUMES OF SHAKESPEARE WORKS ADDED TO LIBRARY COLLECTION
By Richard Saunders
Just before the Gala in the fall of 2014, Friends of the Library
acquired two important volumes for the growing collection of
Shakespeare works held by the Sherratt Library.
The first book is the first volume of Bioren and Madan’s 1795
edition of Shakespeare’s Works (shown below), both the first
publication in English outside of England and the first
publication of Shakespeare in America. The volume is in a
modern binding, but is very unusual because the pages are
untrimmed (not cut squarely), which is the way the books were
originally issued.
The Sherratt Library already owns a partial set of the eightvolume edition (lacking v.2) in contemporary early nineteenth
century binding. The stable but fragile condition of this set
makes using it difficult. Having an individual volume allows us
to display and loan an authentic volume of this important
edition to schools and theatres without risking damage to the
delicate bindings.
The second volume is a bound collection of etchings (left),
published in England in 1787, portraying scenes from the plays.
This particular volume, Illustrations of Shakespeare, being a
Selection of Scenes from the Works of that Great Author, is
particularly significant.
It is a presentation copy from the publisher to a
friend’s family. The recipient, Samuel and Sarah
Watkinson, were emigrating to the United States the
same year that the Philadelphia firm of Bioren and
Madan published the first Shakespeare in the United
States. The illustrations are printed as plates (printed
on one side only), with a page of text from the play’s
scene being illustrated.
Because the binding is in relatively poor condition the
Library plans to disbind the book and mat the text and
plate pairs together for exhibition. The binding itself
will be retained, not discarded. This step will allow the
work to be seen by more people than the volume
itself.
The acquisition of both books was made possible by
an appeal to the Friends board. It responded quickly and the books were bought within days, enabling the
Sherratt Library to acquire the Taylor prints before a certain prominent Shakespearean library on the east coast.
Spring 2015
Volume 6, No. 1 | 7
SCENES FROM THE SIXTH ANNUAL GALA
President and Mrs. Wyatt greeting volunteers from
Ye Olde Catholic Thrift Shoppe.
Beverly Burgess (right) and Maria Smith (second from
right) with volunteers from Camp Kesem.
Provost Brad Cook addressing audience.
In Jubilo Women’s Choir.
Photos
Photos by
by Mikki
MikkiShakespear
Shakespear
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
CQ RESEARCHER
By Steven Irving, Interim Library Media Program Director
Photoson
byaMikki
CQ Researcher is a database that publishes articles
wideShakespear
variety of
current topics. All of the 12,000 word articles contain a summary,
overview, background, current situation, projection, chart or graph,
chronology, pro/con debate, bibliography and contact information for
further research. Updated weekly, CQ Researcher explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week.
To access CQ Researcher, visit the Sherratt Library homepage, hover over the Research button, then select the
Articles & Journals option. CQ Researcher is listed under the Frequently Used Databases on the left. A video
tutorial on using the database is available at: http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/static.php?page=tour.
Spring 2015
Volume 6, No. 1 | 8
BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: MICHAEL BROADBENT
By Georgia Beth Thompson
Michael Broadbent, a member of the
Friends of the Library Board, grew up in
Cedar City.
His earliest memories of
enjoying the city library were going there
with his mother. “We would walk from
home on 200 West to the Carnegie Library
located north of the post office, now the
City offices on Main Street. We picked out
some books in the children’s section for me
and then went upstairs to the adult section
where mother would get a group of
mysteries.
When we got back home,
mother would have me pick out one of my
books and would begin to read to me.”
Annual Membership Benefits
Patron $35


Newsletter
Borrowing and interlibrary
loan privileges
Friend $100


All Patron benefits
Invitations to special
programs and lectures
Associate $250



Michael Broadbent
All Friend benefits
Remote access to selected
online databases
Invitations to training
sessions
Sponsor $500


All Associate benefits
Use of study rooms
Fellow $1,000


All Sponsor benefits
Membership in the SUU
President’s Club
Benefactor $5,000 and above



All Fellow benefits
Six indoor weekday
Shakespeare tickets
Other benefits as
negotiated
SUU
While a student at College of Southern
Utah in the 1960s, he remembers visiting the outdoor area just south
of the Library. (That Library was in the west wing of the current
Auditorium Building.) Today the area is part of the outdoor patio of
the Adams Theater for the Shakespeare Festival. Michael and other
students used that area to study until the Library closed.
Some of the students wanted longer library hours but funding was
limited. They made a proposition to Art Challis, library director, where
they would volunteer to close the Library at 10. They studied and
learned to helped check out books. He was involved as a volunteer
librarian until he graduated in 1967.
After graduation he studied Radiation Ecology at the University of
Utah for three quarters. In 1968 he married Carol Hafen and also
joined the Navy. Upon release from the Navy, he attended the
University of California, Los Angeles where he received MS and PhD
degrees in Medical Physics. He spent most of his career in the upper
midwest.
Upon retirement, he and Carol returned to Cedar City. Michael visited
the Library, offering to be a volunteer. John Eye introduced him to the
Friends of the Library and he has been part of the friends and on the
Board for about four and a half years.
Southern Utah University
Gerald R. Sherratt Library
Friends of the Library
351 West University Boulevard
Cedar City, Utah 84720
To become a member please contact
Sheri Butler: [email protected]
435-586-7947