Construction Update


President Steve Schutt looking over the construction site with Mike King of Turner Construction at the beginning of the summer.

Construction for the library renovation and expansion is proceeding right on schedule. BiblioFiles readers will recall that the new addition, currently under construction, will be completed six short months from now, in April 2004. At that time we'll vacate the old Donnelley Library, and construction will begin on a total renovation of that facility. The renovation work is expected to take a little over four months, and the new library will be ready for occupancy in time for the 2004 fall semester.

As of this writing, concrete has been poured for all floors and foundation walls of the new addition, with the exception of a small part of the penthouse. Brickwork on the exterior of the building will begin around the middle of October and should take about one month to complete. Exterior windows will be installed by the first week of December, which will completely seal off the building from the elements so that interior work can proceed over the winter months.

Late last spring an interior design committee began working with Joe Rondinelli, Interior Design Specialist with Shepley Bulfinch, the architectural firm for the project. (See below for a profile of Joe Rondinelli.) The committee, composed of students, faculty, staff, and trustees, began work on choosing furniture, colors, fabrics, and other design features for the building. They worked on the design throughout the late spring and summer and have just recently arrived at a design scheme. They are eager to share it with the community, and the design choices have been placed on boards currently on display in Donnelley. We encourage your comments and suggestions.

If you have other questions concerning our construction project, please contact Jim Cubit at x5054.

New Printing Policies

For several years we have been concerned about the exponential increases in the money we have had to spend to buy paper and toner for our laser printers. Especially galling was the fact that so many printouts were never picked up and ended up in the recycling bin.

This fall we've implemented a print management system in the computer labs and in the Library which will allow us to introduce a print quota system. Each student will be able to print 300 free copies per academic year. Seniors who are writing honors theses will receive 400 free copies. Once the free print quota is used, additional copies can be purchased at a cost of five cents each.

Background Information

For several years we have attempted to stem the steady rise of printing costs in the computer labs and library through user education and other means. In spite of these attempts, our printing costs were continuing to rise at an alarming rate. Staff and students were also concerned about the huge number of printouts that were never picked up and ended up in the recycling bins. The amount of waste was truly alarming. It was clear that more drastic measures were needed to control the costs of printing.

Our printing budget for the past three years follows:
2000 approximately $10,000
2001 approximately $12,000
2002 approximately $15,000

It is obvious that we can't continue to support 20% increases in printing costs at our current level of funding. It is our hope that that the new print management software will allow us to save as much as $10,000 in printing expenses this year. This is money that we may be able to use to support other LIT initiatives.

For more information, please feel free to contact a member of the LIT staff.

Grants and Gifts Help Library Collection Grow

The Freeman Foundation grant awarded to the College for the development of Asian Studies included over $14,000 for collection development. Librarians and Asian Studies faculty selected and purchased more than 200 items, including a large number of videos related to Asian theater and dance. Some representative books are: U.S. Orientalisms: Race, Nation, and Gender in Literature, 1790-1890 by Malini Johar Schueller; Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture edited by Timothy J. Craig; and Islam in China: Religion, Ethnicity, Culture, and Politics by Raphael Israeli. The Freeman Foundation gave an additional $1,000 for collections related to each of six courses being developed for Asian Studies.

Complete list of Freeman Foundation books and videos

Pride Lake Forest made a generous gift to the Library by donating over $2,500 for the purchase of books and videos related to lesbian, gay, and transgender studies. Students from Pride made recommendations and worked with a librarian in making selections, which included the films Boys Don't Cry and Go Fish along with the books Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities, edited by Dawn Atkins and Toward Acceptance: Sexual Orientation Issues on Campus, edited by Vernon A. Wall and Nancy J. Evans.

Complete list of Pride Lake Forest books and videos

David W. Dangler, a long-time resident of Lake Forest and Chicago, gave nine rare books to the College this summer. Mr. Dangler was an avid book collector and a member of the prestigious Caxton Club, an organization devoted to bibliophilia. The books he gave the library are, for the most part, handpress books from the 20th century. They include an illustrated copy of Hugh MacDiarmid's masterpiece A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle and an edition of A Letter in Praise of Verona, the 15th century manuscript by Barduzzi,. Several of the books are beautifully illustrated, with images by Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, and Georges Barbier. A selection will be on display next to the Reference Desk during the Fall 2003 semester.

Roman Letters Mystery Revealed

What are those plaques behind the Reference Desk?

The two lithostones behind the Donnelley Reference Desk covered in letters are in fact a sample of a calligraphic hand developed by Father Edward M. Catich. Father Catich was a professor at St. Ambrose College (now St. Ambrose University) in Davenport, Iowa. He was also an expert on the Trajan letter, which is the lettering on Rome's Trajan Column. Although Father Catich's letters look a great deal like the computer font "Trajan," they are in fact not the same. That font was developed by Carol Twombly in the 1990s.

The Trajan column was a tribute to Roman Emperor (AD 98-117) Marcus Ulpius Traianus. Father Catich used gold to signify letters that existed on the column and in the Roman alphabet; he had to create the non-Roman letters HJKUW, and those are in silver. The plaque on the right shows the brushstrokes for this font as well as a large "SPQR." This is yet another reference to ancient Rome and is in fact the aspect of the plaques that prompts the most questions from students (who've seen an SPQR tattoo in the film Gladiator). It is an initialism of the Latin senatus populusque Romanus (the senate and the people of Rome). These initials appear all over that ancient city: on manhole covers, as antediluvian graffiti, and on modern Roman tourism websites - a sort of equivalent to "USA" stickers and sentiments.

These plates were donated by the Donnelley family in 1965. They are rumored to be shockingly heavy, and are secured to a side of the elevator shaft with heavy steel bolts.

Research Interests of New Faculty

Linda Horwitz, Assistant Professor of Communications, wrote her dissertation at Northwestern University on "Transforming Appearance into Rhetorical Argument: Rhetorical Criticism of Public Speeches of Barbara Jordan, Lucy Parsons, and Angela Y. Davis." She is currently working on a number of projects, including 1) the rhetorical construction of the Statue of Liberty as an American icon and the subsequent rhetorical use of the icon, 2) the use of the musical genre in television dramas, 3) the changing meanings of poker as a trope in pop culture and how the changes parallel a move from America as a culture of opportunity to one of opportunist, and 4) rhetorical widowhood.

Lori Del Negro, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, based her thesis on five and a half years of field work in the Meteorological Chemistry group of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Aeronomy Lab. It's titled "Aerosol formation and photochemical processes involving stratospheric reactive nitrogen," and it examines the impact of nitrogen species on ozone formation and destruction in the stratosphere. The primary focus of her current research is assessing the emission of methyl chloride and methyl bromide, two volatile gasses with significant Ozone Depletion Potentials that are produced naturally in soils. Specifically, the goal of the research is to identify and quantify some human perturbations to this naturally-occurring chemistry in the context of land-use and climate change.

Douglas Light, Professor of Biology, studies how cells maintain their proper size and how cells regulate the movement of substances across their membranes. His dissertation was titled "Potassium-Selective Ion Channels in a Simian Virus Transformed Hamster Pancreatic Beta-Cell Line." The project used a cell line to elucidate how insulin secretion by the pancreas is regulated. His PhD advisor was Dr. David Levitt of the Department of Physiology at the University of Minnesota. Professor Light also did a three-year post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Physiology at Dartmouth Medical School with Dr. Bruce Stanton as his advisor. He studied how the kidney regulated body elimination of salt.

David Park, Assistant Professor of Communications, wrote his dissertation on "Putting the World on the Couch: Cultural Authority as a Dimension of Mid-twentieth Century Popular Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis." His advisor was Larry Gross at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Park's past research included interpersonal effects of computer-mediated communication, public intellectuals, popular psychology, and politically-oriented weblogs.

Richard Pettengill, Assistant Professor of English, conducts research on dramaturgy. He wrote his dissertation on "Mediatization and Reception in Peter Sellars' The Merchant of Venice." His advisor was David M. Bevington, Professor of English at the University of Chicago. Professor Pettengill has worked as a dramaturg on theater productions in Chicago.

Anna Trumbore, Assistant Professor of History, wrote her dissertation on "Relations between Bishops and Religious Houses in Aquitaine, ca. 877 to ca. 1040." She studied at Columbia University with Professor Robert Somerville. She is currently turning her dissertation into a book on bishops in southwest France, and she is writing an article about communities of canons in southwest France in the tenth century. She has also organized a session for the International Medieval Conference in Leeds on rethinking the Viking invasions in France and Belgium, and the effect they had on certain religious houses in Aquitaine during the late ninth and early tenth centuries.

Joe Rondinelli, Interior Design Specialist

Joe Rondinelli, who leads the interior design team for the Lake Forest College Donnelley Library Renovation and Addition, joined Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott in 1995. He was Director of Interior Design from 1999 to 2002 and was named Senior Associate last year. He is a member of the firm's Education Practice Group, with expertise in interior design for college and university facilities.

"One of the most rewarding experiences I have as an Interior Designer is to be part of a team that helps an institution realize its vision for a building," Joe said recently, when he was asked about his experience in interior design. "My role involves problem solving for both the functional and the aesthetic. In this process of discovery, my role often includes orchestrating the passion and ideas of those who use the building. I embrace this intimate interaction, allowing it to inform my creative process.
Joe Rondinelli leads the Interior Design team at Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott for the new Donnelley Library. He is shown here before a photo of Yale University's Gilmore Music Library, also designed by SBRA.

"The new Donnelley Library includes a 24-hour Computer Lab, a coffee bar, Instructional Labs, and Group Study Areas as well as access to technology throughout the building. All of these resources are intended to support and enrich the academic experience. Aesthetically, the interior is accented with bright, spirited colors complemented with natural beech wood, soft cream whites and other rich neutrals. Furniture was selected to support a diverse range of activities.

"For me, the success of a project is that it ultimately reflects the spirit of the institution and that it brings delight to all who use it. I believe we accomplished that for the Donnelley Library project."

In addition to working on the Donnelley Library, Joe has recently led the firm's interior design team for the Gilmore Music Library at Yale University, Avery Library at Columbia University, the Baker/Berry Library at Dartmouth College, and the Perkins Library at Duke University.

Joe served on the jury for the Best of NeoCon 2002 and 2003, the premier interior design furniture show in the U.S. He was also Adjunct Assistant Professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology's Department of Interior Design. His articles have been published in Contract magazine and College Planning and Management. Joe received his BS degree in Interior Design from the College of Design, Architecture and Art at the University of Cincinnati. He is a member of the International Facilities Management Association, where he served as Program Committee Chair, and more recently as Vice President for Activities for the Boston Chapter.

- Provided courtesy of Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott

Help with Smart Classroom Technology

Questions about the use of the equipment in our smart classrooms, including Meyer Auditorium, should be directed to Karen Blocker (x6218). Karen can also make arrangements to have “portable” technology brought to classrooms that do not yet have permanent installations of equipment. Please remember to plan ahead and give Karen as much advance warning as possible.

Websites to check out

Current and past issues of BiblioFiles:
library.lakeforest.edu/bibliofiles

Photos of the library construction:
library.lakeforest.edu/bibliofiles/construction

Library building plans:
library.lakeforest.edu/bibliofiles/building

Interior design schemes:
library.lakeforest.edu/bibliofiles/interior

LIT BiblioFiles

Vol. 4 No. 1
Published through the Library and Information Technology
department of Lake Forest College.

Managing editor ... Rebecca Miller
Copy editor ... Cory Stevens
Technical Support ... Nancy Bohm
Editorial Staff ... Marylin Bell, Nancy Bohm, Jim Cubit,
        Rebecca Miller, and Cory Stevens

Visit the Donnelley Library home page at library.lakeforest.edu
Articles may be reprinted provided proper attribution is given.
Email comments and questions to bibliofiles@lfc.edu
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