At the urging of Mortensen Library Board of Visitors chair Humphrey Tonkin, the Libraries established a year or two ago an ad hoc Committee on Collection Enhancement, to address a problem long recognized by the staff and by library users: because the collection is curriculum-driven (books and other materials are purchased to support the university’s curricular offerings), purchase of material of general interest, like biographies, translations of the classics, and the like, can easily slip through the cracks. Such omissions are particularly problematic for programs that cut across disciplines, like the All-University Curriculum, and also for casual users of the library and for adventurous professors wishing to try something new in the classroom.
 After reviewing ways of addressing this issue, the committee concluded that a fund to support the general collection should be established and that current needs, combined with the imperative of catching up, would call for an addition to the acquisitions budget of around $10,000 a year. The endowment required to generate such a flow of resources would amount to $250,000, a daunting prospect when the Libraries have so many needs.
Fortunately, the President’s College has come to the University’s aid. This program of non-credit courses and programming aimed at an adult audience of supporters of the University has joined with the Libraries to become their outreach organization. Members of the President’s College see the Mortensen Library as their base and are among the most enthusiastic advocates for the university’s libraries. Their programming is expected to generate a surplus each year to be contributed to the Libraries.
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So it came about that at the May 3rd Mortensen Library Board of Visitors meeting the President’s College presented the Libraries with a $10,000 gift to be used to support the general collection. In presenting the gift, Nancy Mather, head of volunteers for the President’s College, stressed the importance of the libraries to the success of the newly reorganized College.
“There is every reason to suppose,” declared Humphrey Tonkin, “that the President’s College will continue to generate at least $10,000 a year for the Libraries in the future, and this gift of $10,000 will therefore be built into the President’s College annual budget in 2007-2008 and beyond. It will give the Libraries the funding required to renew and maintain the general collection.” Between this wonderful gift and the relatively new endowment for the general collection supported by Eunice and Thomas Groark, the Libraries are well on the way to making sure our University community has the texts needed to support a well-rounded student. ■
Randi Ashton-Pritting, and Humphrey Tonkin receive gift from President’s College’s member Nancy Mather.
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| Marian Smith has attained ten years of service to the Mortensen Library Circulation Department at the University of Hartford. Marian has hired and trained hundreds of student workers and worked with several different staff members over her tenure here. Marian represents the Mortensen Library by providing leadership to student desk workers and providing customer service to our library patrons as they use the libraries’ collections. |
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Marian also maintains the library patron billing records. This aspect of her work is one of the most thankless in the library. She has to be both the enforcer and the bearer of bad news to delinquent patrons. The University and the University Libraries would like to thank Marian for all of her efforts over the past ten years and honor her with praise and good wishes.
Thank you, Marian Smith. ■
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