Message from the Interim Dean
As I write this, we are preparing for finals week and the end of the semester and academic year. The Holland Library old lobby received some attention this week. My amazing colleagues Ann Saberi and Jeff Smart from the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art helped us frame and hang a series of historical photographs there. Next time you are on campus, please swing by and see them. I am excited to use the Holland old lobby this fall for a panel discussion on the legacy of President Ernest O. Holland and the architecture of the library that bears his name as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the library’s dedication.
This month it feels like the Holland and Terrell Libraries are truly the beating heart of the Pullman campus. We felt that beat in a concert put on by the Digital Audio Collective, a student club that meets in the Dimensions Lab and is advised by Jason Anderson of the libraries’ systems department. More than a hundred students attended, as did faculty from the WSU School of Music and the Department of Art. The performances included a wide range of genres, including hip-hop, electronic, and folk…all debut work from the student composers. Everyone was so excited about the event. I’m looking forward to the fall when we open a new synth lab to provide our students with more resources to create music.
The Terrell Library atrium is graced this month with a beautiful, half-sized statue model of Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal member who fought tirelessly to ensure that the U.S. government upheld the terms of treaties to Native communities. His advocacy played a pivotal role in the landmark 1974 “Boldt Decision” reaffirming Tribal sovereignty and rights.
The full-sized Frank statue will be added this year to the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C. Housed in the U.S. Capitol Building, this collection features two sculptures of notable Americans from every state. The Frank statue will replace the statue of pioneer missionary Marcus Whitman, erected in the National Statuary Hall in 1953.
This loan came about because of our friend, colleague, and an Upper Skagit Tribe member, Dr. Ryan Booth of the Department of History, who learned of the loan program by ArtsWA and the Nisqually Indian Tribe from his service on the Humanities Washington Board of Trustees. We decided to host it here in the atrium where it would be visible to the most students. I am pleased that the statue model was here for WSU President Betsy Cantwell’s welcome reception and the opening of the Native American Advisory Board to the President.
Ryan, Michael Holloman, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and WSU Department of Art professor and coordinator for drawing, and I organized a panel discussion on Native fishing and fishing advocacy April 18, the day before the university’s Pah-Loots-Puu Powwow. Three experts participated in the panel: Jeremy “JJ” Wilbur, a member of the Swinomish Tribe and a generational fisherman; Nakia Williamson-Cloud, director of cultural resources for the Nez Perce Tribe; and Jon Eli Sirois (pronounced Sigh Eye), a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.
This issue of Browse features two guest columns, one from Jeffrey Sanders of the Department of History, an amazing collaborator and friend who in graduate school first utilized our outstanding special collections and has continued to do so in his teaching and research. The other column comes from David Knowles, another library supporter and WSU alumnus whose life changed forever thanks to an economics class from faculty member and WSU’s future ninth president V. Lane Rawlins. We also feature two terrific new books published by the WSU Press.
This year marks a very tight budget for purchasing collections. Luckily, we could draw upon $125,000 in gift funds to purchase books. My colleague and the libraries’ social science reference and instruction librarian, Lorena O’English, highlighted one of her favorite purchases, In Common With: The Fish Wars, the Boldt Decision, and the Fight to Save Salmon in the Pacific Northwest by Bill Wilkerson with Don Pugnetti Jr.
According to Lorena, “Wilkerson was director of the Washington State Department of Fisheries, and the book is about the Boldt Decision on fishing rights for Native Americans in Washington State. It also covers post-Boldt issues and focuses on the negotiation, diplomacy, and collaboration between Wilkerson, Nisqually tribal leader Billy Frank Jr., and others engaging in the public policy process to settle fishing disputes, collectively manage fishing rights, and work to restore salmon populations.”
My colleague Christy Zlatos, research librarian specializing in apparel, merchandising, design, and textiles, architecture and interior design, education, human development, and psychology, purchased a stack of wonderful volumes on architecture, urban gardens, and nature in urban spaces. And for Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, rare books cataloger Julie King purchased a rare edition of Sylvia Plath’s Trois Poèmes Inédits and a Hogarth Press author’s book we did not have, Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Summer Will Show, 1936, with a Trekkie Ritchie dustjacket.
At the end of the month, I will participate in a budget hearing for the WSU Libraries. We are anticipating a challenging year ahead for WSU’s funding. Whatever happens, I am grateful for my colleagues in the libraries and the WSU Press, and our partners across WSU and beyond. We are truly thankful to all our supporters.
Trevor