Article by Stuart MacKinnon
Librarian; Dana Porter Library
Raymond Kurzweil said in 1992 that the book will be obsolete in the first few decades of the twenty-first century. So in the dying days of the millennium the cry went up "The Book Is Dead." The book may be dying or dead as an exclusive carrier of certain kinds of information. However, this is not the first time doom-sayers have predicted the end of the book since its beginning in the fifteenth century. Agents of the coup de grace have been touted as the telegraph, telephone, television, and tape recorder, but book production has increased alongside the new technology, and none of them have put the book to bed.
Indeed, a book is still more friendly to curl up with in bed than a computer, though within a few decades, or years, the computer may be as small and handy and just as friendly in bed. Changes underway are making the computer a much more friendly way to access certain kinds of information. Now that all computers can be linked through the Internet, and other networks, information is available at home from remote or local sources, or from CD-ROMs. A large number of high-use books are available in full-text on your computer screen, but not all books. It wouldn't be useful to put the past collections into digital form if they were not going to be in demand. As long as libraries continue to maintain their book collections, it won't be necessary to have them scanned into digital format. Libraries now focus on helping the client find the text they are looking for, at home or abroad, in paper or electronic format.
Most new books are typeset by computer, so the text can conveniently be produced on CD-ROM or paper. The materials for the CD are cheaper than paper, and the CD can provide other features like hypertext. This allows the author to include pictures, maps, illustrations, or games for an interesting mix of intertextuality, a technique dear to writers John Barth and Robert Coover. I like to read texts back to front and from the middle sideways. Some like to rearrange the writers' intentions calling this "Deconstruction." These sorts of things are more conveniently done with electronic texts.
I think the book is here to stay and university libraries will continue to collect them, but definitely their realm has changed. If there are only twenty copies of a certain edition of Keats in Canada, it is wise to care for all of them very well, as they may have to last for a few centuries.
What will remain for books is that unique relation the reader controls, of opening the book, reading and thinking and colouring at will, with only the clean page between you and the author. My own home supports thousands of books; I like having them around; they are part of the aesthetics of my life and I'd feel quite barren without them. Books will probably be around forever. If the book is dead, then I say, long live the book.
In viewing the three decades of Dr. Royce MacGillivray's career at the University of Waterloo, a picture quickly emerges of a scholar with a very long standing and well-rounded interest in the Library. Dr. MacGillivray's most recent gift resulted from his decision to retire under the terms of the University's Special Early Retirement Program and he was one of the first to arrange to donate material. Dr. MacGillivray's book and archival collections, formerly housed in his departmental and home offices, will enrich the Library's current research resources. A faculty member in the History Department, Dr. MacGillivray first came to the University of Waterloo in 1962 and worked in the Dana Porter Library as a special assistant to the then University Librarian, Doris Lewis. He subsequently was appointed to the History Department and began lecturing in September 1963.
Dr. MacGillivray was very directed in forming his personal library. Represented are his teaching and research interests, particularly Ontario's early history, focussed on Glengarry County. Dr. MacGillivray has also donated a large portion of his family's papers, diaries, and correspondence from the 1890s to the mid 1950s, which document life in that part of the province. The collection also contains seventeenth and eighteenth-century imprints which will be fine additions to the collection in the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room.
Other welcomed gifts related to his early retirement "clean out" are destined for the University Archives. This material is made up of posters, flyers, and bulletin board announcements from the turbulent 1960s announcing sit-ins, protests, and speeches. Dr. MacGillivray carefully annotated these items with such notes as "pushed under my office door" or "left on my car windshield." These items represent significant and ephemeral resources for that period in the University's history and "[he] knew these things would have a longer significance."
In addition to donating the very tangible resources, Dr. MacGillivray has also donated funds for support of library acquisitions. This wide variety of interest and assistance makes Dr. MacGillivray somewhat unique among our donors and marks him as a true "friend" of the Library.
These cooperative activities are being closely watched by other academic institutions and have been acknowledged by the provincial government. This may be the first time three separate institutions have jointly purchased an automated library system with the goal of complete integration. In a sense our respective collections will become one. University of Waterloo students will go from having three million volumes available to them, to over seven million. The students, faculty, and staff of all three institutions will become a part of one client database.
The Library is following in the University's innovative tradition by taking a bold approach in these financially challenging times. It is doing this by breaking down institutional barriers and developing new working relationships with our neighbouring institutions. The integrated library system will take us well into the twenty-first century, providing students and scholars with rich resources.
Murray Shepherd
University Librarian
Endowment funds are the Library's future. They ensure that our students today and in the years ahead will have the library materials they require for their education and research pursuits. The Library currently has five endowment funds totalling over $400,000.
We are grateful for the continuing support received from the following endowments:
Lyle S. Hallman Library Fund
In April 1992, Lyle S. Hallman, CEO of Hallman Construction and Property Management made a donation to the Library as an endowment so that students could follow the current trends in the courses they are studying. His contribution provides annual funds in perpetuity to purchase books, papers, and journals that support the education of Waterloo's undergraduate engineering students.
Sims Family Library Fund
The Sims Family created the endowment in 1995 to ensure that there remains long-term support for library acquisitions. Peter Sims has had a long involvement with the University of Waterloo and the Library. He was a founding member of the Friends of the Library and is currently the chairman of the University of Waterloo Board of Governors. He and his wife Betty along with their children Harvey, Kenneth, Ellen, Margaret, and Alison have created the endowment fund.
Helen Hogg Library Fund for Science Materials
The fund was set up by Dr. Helen S. Hogg and bequeathed to the Library after she passed away in January 1993. Dr. Hogg was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Waterloo in 1962 for her outstanding contributions to astronomy. Dr. Hogg 's career spanned over 60 years. She worked for the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill and was renowned for her research in astronomy and expertise in globular clusters.P. F. Karrow Endowment
Dr. Paul Karrow set up an endowment to support the annual subscription costs of various earth sciences and engineering journals. A professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, Dr. Karrow also has a working association with the Library. He currently is the faculty library representative for Earth Sciences and the Science faculty representative on the University Map and Design Library Advisory Committee.General Library Endowment Fund
In 1986 an anonymous donor bequeathed $70,000 to purchase books for the Library. This fund has grown substantially over the years and has been added to by staff, faculty, and retiree donations.
If you are interested in finding out more about creating an endowment fund or donating to the general library endowment, please contact Mary Stanley, Library Development Officer, 888-4567 ext. 6019 or e-mail: mstanley@library.uwaterloo.ca.
Wednesday, May 8, 1996 at 12 noon
Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages Building
Speaker: Dr. Frank Tompa
Dr. Tompa is the chair of the Department of Computer Science here at the University of Waterloo. He was also the lead researcher on a world renowned project to design an efficient system for searching the entire contents (60 million words) of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Results of the project led Dr. Tompa along with his associates to form a company, Open Text Corporation, which created a search tool that allows users to search the Internet for information and has received wide acclaim. Dr. Tompa's talk is entitled: "Exposing text: how questions for the OED lead to answers for the WWW."
All are welcome to attend.
Friends of the Library Newsletter is a publication of the University of Waterloo Library. It is scheduled to be published twice yearly and is supported by the University of Waterloo Friends of the Library association.
Editor: Ann Naese
Assistant Editor: Esther Millar
Contributors: Susan Bellingham, Stuart MacKinnon, Ann Naese, Murray Shepherd, Mary Stanley
Photography: Central Photographic University of Waterloo
Printed: Graphic Services University of Waterloo
ISSN: 1180-2480
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