SDSU alumna and master book artist Claire Van Vliet was honored by the university with an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree during commencement on May 18, 2002. During her visit to San Diego, Van Vliet maintained a busy schedule, touring the Brighton Press, appearing on KPBS Radio's "The Lounge," holding a book art workshop in the Art Department, and being feted at a reception in the library where her work was on exhibit. These photographs were taken during the reception.

A gathering of book artists. (left to right) Bill Kelly, Claire Van Vliet, Carole Lea Campbell, and Michael Burgess (above).

Martha McPhail Wins a Monty Award

Monty Award Winner Martha McPhail (above)

Catalog Librarian Martha McPhail is a woman of many achievements, which is why she is one of this year's Monty Award recipients. Since joining the SDSU Library in 1988, she has twice been selected as a Fulbright Scholar by the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, visiting Honduras in 1989 and El Salvador in 1999. McPhail, whose academic background includes Spanish and Latin American Studies, was a natural for these honors.

"My ability to comprehend and speak Spanish was improved greatly through immersion in Central American work and culture; this has enabled me to better assist SDSU students. I do believe I did contribute to international good will, as my genuine interest in the people and culture of Central America showed clearly to those I encountered," McPhail said.

McPhail interest and expertise no doubt was instrumental in the library acquiring the Davies Latin American/Peruvian Cataloging Project, a collection of 14,000 books pertaining to Latin America that was donated in 1993 by Dr. Thomas Davies, the director of SDSU's Center for Latin American Studies. McPhail arranged and accepted the gift and then oversaw the entire acquisition and cataloging project. SDSU now owns one of the world's preeminent collections of Peruviana.

McPhail is also active in the Special Libraries Association (SLA), having served from 1992 to 1998 as its delegate to the International Federation of Library Associations and now as its chair-elect for the Museums, Arts and Humanities Division. She is a prolific writer and has authored 22 publications and 11 presentations in both English and Spanish. She recently served on the Task Force on Aztec Identity, for which she compiled a list of resources concerning Aztec history and culture. McPhail is also a strong supporter for librarianship, as she confirmed during the awards celebration:

"I'm one of the adventurous librarians; we don't confine ourselves to the library building. We're active in our profession and in our research. My interests take me to Latin America and around the world. We hope we project a very pleasant and intellectual interface to the library and make it a welcome and enjoyable experience for our students and faculty," McPhail said.

Each April, the SDSU Alumni Association recognizes faculty and alumni for their contributions to the university and community by presenting them with the Monty Award.

Moves and Mergers Improve Library Usability

Associated Students Predident Priscilla Ocen (left) and Provost Nancy Marlin (right) cut the ribbon opening the new library/SCC entrance (above).

If you haven't been to the library lately, you'll notice some changes the next time you visit. These changes evolved from Library and Information Access's strategic planning process, which outlined means to make the library more user-friendly by relocating divisions and service points.

The first change occurred on May 3 when a new entrance on the 2nd floor of the Love Library building was opened, linking the library to the Student Computing Center (SCC). The new south entrance allows SCC users to visit the library without exiting the building and re-entering through the dome. A new circulation point at the entrance to the SCC allows patrons to check out books using the 3M SelfCheck machine and exit through a more convenient location instead of going to the main circulation desk on the 1st floor of the library and exiting through the dome.

During the summer, a series of mergers and moves took place to make the library a more functional, convenient facility for patrons. Reference personnel and materials have been consolidated into one location. Now users have one convenient location to respond to their reference needs. All reference librarians are located on the 1st floor and are available for individual consultation with library users. Science reference and government publications reference materials and the maps collection have been relocated to the 1st floor as well.

Current science periodicals and microforms were moved from the 5th floor to the Current Periodicals and Microform Center on the 1st floor, thus merging all current periodicals and microforms into one, easily accessible location. Bound periodicals, too, have been merged; bound periodicals from 1986 to present have been moved to one area on the 1st floor. Pre-1986 bound periodicals have been relocated to the 5th floor. Technical Services, including the faculty Approval Book Room, are now located on the 5th floor as well.

The library merger team (left to right) Megan Dreger, Linda Muroi, Jennifer Anderson, Anne Turhollow, Morlin Brown, Bea Briggs, and Sharon Watson (above).