The Patrons’ Post
Patrons of the Pollak Library
California State University Fullerton
Volume XI Number 2 Winter 2007Patrons of the Pollak Library, California State University Fullerton
P. O. Box 4150, Fullerton, CA 92834-4150
Message from President Dorothy Heide
As we move into 2007, changes continue on campus. The new College of Business and Economics building rising on the southeast corner of campus celebrated its “topping out” ceremony on December 18th. The College is expected to welcome its more than 8,000 students in Fall 2008. The building will provide a new entrance to campus and a very impressive one. If you’ve not been on Nutwood for a while, take a drive and see. Other building projects are also moving along and some potential ones are on the drawing board.
The University’s student body also continues to grow. There were 47,000 applications for the 2006-2007 academic year and even more for the 2007-2008 year. The campus is the largest in the system and takes in the most transfer students. Reflecting the nation’s changing demographics, both the nursing program and gerontology are attracting many new students. Reflecting this growth, the nursing faculty has grown from one in 1998 to 20.
As a part of the campus’s 50th anniversary celebration, Patrons and the Library are planning to showcase the Boswell Map project. As presently conceived, the presentation will be held during the University’s
Open House and will include a demonstration of catalog searches using multiple search criteria. The results will be linked to digital images of the maps matching the selected criteria. Be sure to watch for more information on the Open House and all the other activities that will be part of the yearlong campus celebration—for example, a lecture series, an international forum and Library exhibits are in the planning stages.
If you’re interested in greater involvement in Patrons activities or if you’d like more information about joining the Patrons, please let me know either by telephone (714-637-5131) or by email ().
I hope your 2006 was all you hoped for and that 2007 will be even better!
MEMBERSHIP REPORT
By George Pollak
The changes which we made in our membership categories in spring 2006 had a significant impact. The revisions, and the new Alumni category in particular, have proved to be very popular. As a result, our membership total has increased over 25% compared to last year at this time.
Both new and renewing members are making an excellent choice by joining the Patrons. We are continuing to increase our scope of member activities, which are outlined elsewhere in this publication, and to keep
them relevant and stimulating for you. You also have the satisfaction of supporting and enhancing the holdings and stature of the CSUF Library.
Your memberships are a primary source of funds enabling us to purchase significant additions to the library’s collection.
If you have not yet renewed your Patrons membership, I hope you will do so in one of the membership categories which I’ve outlined. You and we will both be glad that you did. A membership application can be printed from our website, which can be reached from the CSUF Library’s homepage under “Information.”
Patrons of the Library Book Discussion Group
By Suzanne Serbin
The Patrons Book Discussion Group meets on the fourth Thursday of each month, 3 P.M. to 5 P.M. in the second floor conference room of Library South. We meet September through November, and January through May. The group follows two formats. On some occasions, each person may select his/her own book and give a brief report on this selection. We call this type of meeting a “wild card.” At other times a member chooses a book for general discussion and proceeds to serve as the leader.
This past September we started the year with a “wild card” and had one-hundred percent participation. In October, George Pollak led us in an excellent discussion of Dominion of War. For a change of pace, Ed Sowell chose Soul Circus as his book of the month in November, giving members a taste of detective fiction by a talented young writer.
The first meeting of 2007, on January 25, finds Lee Bellot at the helm leading the group in a discussion of Son of the Rough South, an
autobiography by our first speaker in the annual Lecture Series, Karl Fleming. Please join us if you are able. The paperback book is available in either your local library or bookstore.
If you are without a campus parking pass, please contact Suzanne Serbin, 870-4349, and she will see if one may be obtained on your behalf or to arrange a carpool. Newcomers are most welcome to attend, either as participants or listeners. Call or email Suzanne if you have any questions: .
BOOK SALE CENTER REPORT – JANUARY 2007
By June Pollak
For the past eleven years, the Book Sale Center has been selling used books from donations and excess volumes from the CSUF Library. Our very low prices of $1, $2, or $3 per book are set to help the CSUF students and others purchase books - many of which are extremely expensive when new. All proceeds from sales are designated to purchase books for the Library, vitally important in this era of tight state budgets.
Our regular hours during the spring semester will be 11 to 3 on Tuesdays, 11 to 7 on Wednesdays, and 1 to 5 on Thursdays. Please visit us!
As always, we need your donations to keep the shelves stocked in
L 199. Please call Lorraine Seelig at 714-278-2182 to make arrangements. If you are interested in joining the Patrons and Emeriti volunteers working in the Book Sale Center, please call June Pollak at 949-661-0463.
Editor’s Note: Dear Reader, Look for a late spring edition of “The Patron’s Post” with articles by Al Vogeler, Gordon Van De Water and other regular contributors.
Library Patrons Unveil 2007 Lecture Series
By Suzanne Serbin and Howard Seller
“We’re very excited about this year’s Pollak Library lecture series,” said Howard Seller, English professor emeritus, at a recent interview. “We’ve titled this series ‘Sci-Fi; Auto-Bi; Piloso-Phy’ because it covers these three major topics.”
The first lecture is Sunday, January 28 at 2 P.M. when the Patrons of the Library welcome Karl Fleming, author of Son of the Rough South. Fleming’s autobiography lives up to its title, filled with shockingly incorrect language of another place at another time. Former Newsweek reporter par excellence, Fleming recounts an important era of history, the civil rights struggle of the 1960s in the American South. He describes the savage attacks on the powerless by the powerful, a calculated, cold-blooded attempt to preserve a racist social and political order.
Pamela Mason Wagner, the Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker, comprises the “philoso-phy” portion of the Patrons’ lectures on February 25. Her most recent film My Brother’s Keeper: Personal Ethics was produced by the Fred Friendly Seminars. The audience will view the one-hour documentary and then discuss the making of this film with Mason Wagner.
The movie deals with the struggles imposed when important values and questions of fairness, loyalty, secrets and trust conflict. Among the panelists featured in the film are Charles J. Ogletree of Harvard Law School, Jill Ker Conway, author of The Road from Coorain and former president of Smith College, and US. Congressman Barney Frank.
“Our final speaker for the series is science-fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson,” said Seller. “He is considered by many to be one of America’s greatest living utopian thinkers and novelists.” Robinson’s Three Californias trilogy, which includes Pacific Edge, extrapolates three possible futures for California; one catastrophic, another dystopian, the third utopian. His acclaimed Mars novels, all of which won either Hugo and Nebula awards, are probably the most successful attempt to reach a mass audience with a post-capitalist vision. Robinson will speak on March 25.