Message from the Interim Dean

We are in the thick of the semester, and it is lovely to see the libraries bustling with students, faculty, and staff. Reviewing the gate counts for the Pullman libraries demonstrates the importance of our spaces for the campus community. According to statistics provided by our Library Data Analyst Ying Lee, we had 51,684 library visitors in September. To put that number in some perspective, according to the 2020 census, Pullman’s entire population was 32,901!

Often the first visit to the library for first-year students is with a class. My colleagues Erica England and Corey Johnson do amazing work meeting with sections of English 101 and History 105 to teach information literacy skills and make the libraries welcoming. We find that if students use the library during their first year, they are more likely to do so for the rest of their time at WSU.

Students visiting the Terrell and Owen Libraries will notice hallways with posters created by undergraduate researchers for the annual WSU Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA). The displayed posters are part of a partnership between WSU Libraries and the WSU Office of Undergraduate Research to show the quality research being done by WSU undergraduates while also demonstrating WSU Libraries’ commitment to such research, according to Science Librarian David Luftig, one of the project’s collaborators.

Installation of posters created by undergraduate student researchers took place in Owen Science and Engineering Library in August. This area and another Undergraduate Research Hall in Terrell Library are a collaboration between WSU Libraries and the WSU Office of Undergraduate Research. Photo by Jaclyn Gotch.

All these library patrons mean that we regularly need to upgrade our spaces. This year, thanks to donors to our Library Excellence Fund, we will replace worn and broken furniture in the Owen, Holland, and Terrell Libraries and take additional steps to create comfortable spaces for study, contemplation, and inspiration.

I feel so fortunate to work with dedicated, talented colleagues. Earlier this month, we held a retirement party for one of our best: Bonny Boyan, assistant to the dean and personnel coordinator before that. If you worked at the libraries, Bonny was one of the first people you met. She is a responsive, knowledgeable colleague who helps every library employee. The joy she finds in her work and her support of everyone are inspiring and infectious. We are a close, supportive workplace, and colleagues like Bonny make the WSU Libraries an amazing place to work for all of us.

We are also so fortunate to have dedicated supporters such as Marilyn Kimble. More than 20 years ago, Wallis and Marilyn Kimble provided seed funding for us to digitize historic materials for the Northwest History Database, named in their honor. This project has generated a wealth of historic and genealogical information, all of it available on the open web. It has also created a community and steady work for more than 100 WSU students.

October is Medical Librarians Month, and in this issue, we have profile of our talented colleague, Ann Dyer, the director of the WSU Heath Sciences Library in Spokane, who discusses the importance of medical librarianship to providers and patients, researchers, and students.

October is also a month of transition as we move the operation of the WSU Press to the WSU Libraries. Editor-in-Chief Linda Bathgate and Marketing Manager Caryn Lawton will have offices in Terrell Library in the Reference Work Area on the first floor. During this move, the press is still publishing books. This issue we feature two exciting new publications: A Muckleshoot Poetry Anthology, featuring the work of more than 50 poets from the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation and curated by former Poet Laureate and journalist Susan Landgraf; and Celebrating Palouse Country: A History of the Landscape in Text and Images, a gorgeous volume that tells the multiple stories of the Palouse and its communities. Please consider purchasing books from the WSU Press and help us keep it alive.

Trevor