Library Champions

This week's Library Champion is Dr. Peter Boltz. Dr. Boltz visits the Dorothy W. Hightower Collaborative Learning Center & Library at least once a week. Boltz uses the library for numerous things such as looking up topics, checking out reference books, picking up interlibrary loan books, and “checking sources students have in their bibliographies.” Boltz encourages his classes to use the library. “In my speech class, students need to research their topics; in my human communication class, students need to research their speech topics.” Also in his argumentation class, Boltz says, “Students need to find opinions, editorials, etc. to discuss in class.” Boltz likes all the databases but for personal use he prefers Academic Search Complete or Research Library. One of the main reasons Boltz likes the library is “the librarians, no doubt.”

Sandra Deal event

Faculty, please let your students know about this upcoming event. Sandra Deal, Georgia’s First Lady, will be presenting the Dorothy W. Hightower Collaborative Learning Center & Library with a copy of Memories of the Mansion: The Story of Georgia’s Governor’s Mansion, a book she co-authored. The book presentation will take place on Tuesday October 24^th at 3:30 in the second floor of the Dorothy W. Hightower Collaborative Learning Center & Library. Everyone is welcome to attend this free event.

Georgia Archive Month

The Society of Georgia Archivists have declared October Georgia’s Archive month. This is a way to celebrate the historical records and other archives housed in libraries, museums, and other institutions in Georgia. There are two recipients of the 2017 Georgia Archives Month Spotlight Grant: The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum to support the Historic Jewish Atlanta Tour series and the Charles D. Switzer Library’s Georgia Room to support their “Letters of the Past” exhibit and program.

Here at the Dorothy W. Hightower Collaborative Learning Center & Library there is an extensive archive collection housed in Guillebeau Hall. Beth Pye is Gordon State College’s Archivist. Pye has been the Archivist since January 1988. Pye preserves, arranges, and provides a description of the items in the archives. “By this I mean I make sure the items are stored properly and arranged to be pulled as needed. Each item has an individual description so they can be easily located.” The Gordon State College archives include yearbooks, photographs, and other paper documents. “We also have sports equipment including footballs and a shotput,” Pye added. There are class rings, a beanie cap from the 1930’s, a uniform, a cheerleading outfit and a megaphone. All of these have associations with Gordon State College. Some archives date back to when Gordon was just beginning. Before Gordon was at its current location, there was an A&M school on this property. Pye has some archives from that period and also from when Gordon was a military college. “There are some photographs, documents, and catalogs from the A&M School, along with a class ring. We have a brooch from the military college along with some medals and plaques. Some of the plaques are from when the military college won awards for its newspaper,” Pye added. Since 2001, Pye has had a window in town for Buggy Days. The window is there “to share some of the stuff we have from the archives. Most of the content comes from the Gordon State College archives.” Some of the oldest archives are not from Gordon. “An alumnus donated artifacts from Central America. There is a bird whistle, a wolf whistle, a headdress, and a bowl,” Pye said. Anyone who is interested in seeing the artifacts can set up an appointment with Beth Pye. Pye can be reached at the Gordon State College Dorothy W. Hightower Collaborative Learning Center & Library page here.