Masland Library Blog

“I touched a book from 1816 today... what did you do?”

A few weeks ago, if you had asked me how I was doing, that very well might have been my answer. Because, unlike most people, I got to go on a tour of The Basement.

Yeah. I know. Pretty impressive, right?

To get to The Basement, you creep stealthily to the bottom of the echoey stairwell in the back of the library. At this point, you are confronted with the choice of lurking in the shadows whilst admiring leafy, green plants that may or may not be real—or you can walk boldly, confidently, smartly into through the door and into The Basement.

If you, brave adventurer, would choose this latter option, you are then confronted with a corridor that contains three more doors to three more rooms. It’s a bit of an Alice in Wonderland flashback. And, if you’re like me, you’ll most likely want to stand there for a while, puzzled. It’s deadly quiet, so when you do finally move, you may find yourself reflexively going into spy mode and creeping along the walls... or maybe that’s just me.

The room on the right is primarily, for now, used for storage. It’s the room where your most obliging library worker will go to when they retrieve records, cassettes, and other resources that you can request. But the most exciting thing is a collection of Scofield Reference Bibles. (For those of you who don’t know, C. I. Scofield founded what would become PBU in 1913. His reference Bible, first published in 1909, was an important link to the development of various features in our study Bibles today that we often take for granted. Also here is where I got to touch the book from 1816. It was a tiny pocket hymnal—the kind that people would take to church with them back in the day.

Next, the room on the left of the corridor contains the Harry Donald Hewitt Collection. Hewitt (1921-2003) was an influential Philadelphia composer and musician. The collection contains a few thousand items—ranging from scores of his music to his diaries and his letters. This was all donated to the Masland Library recently by Hewitt’s wife, Elizabeth.

However, I must admit, that the last room is my personal favourite. As you walk through the door, you immediately see a large table piled with old books. When I went in, I tried to be all solemn and professional and thus contain my excitement. But... I sighed and then started coughing. I suppose that mustiness is a usual side-effect of old books, but it is rather inconvenient. I’d love to tell you what are in these lovely books, but most of them did not seem to be in English, and I wasn’t allowed to touch them, anyway.

So, perhaps after this you’re convinced that I’m a little off kilter and think that I should just stay in the library where I belong. You feel that, if given the choice, you would rather have chosen plant inspection in the stairwell then venturing into the unknown. Because, after all, plants and old books have about the same level of interest to you and at least out there you don’t have to breathe in all that dust. Fair enough. You’re entitled to that. I’m sure the plants would love you. But, to the others: those bold, spontaneous, gallant adventurers... I’m sorry. Those doors are normally locked anyway. (Though, it never hurts to ask...)

Cheers,
abbie fehr.

Maybe next semester they’ll let me up in the attic...

Can you believe that it is already December? Turkeys have been eaten, football games won, and finals week starts Monday. When I was a student at PBU I always enjoyed finals week, meeting once a week for a class seemed the epitome of all that is good and relaxing about school, that and take home finals.

During this final week and a half of the Fall 2009 semester enjoy your time spent in the library. Bring a mug (covered of course) tea or coffee, your iPod and hoodie to bask in a spot promoted to stimulate your brain to study. All of the resources you need for that final paper or assignment are at your fingertips. Or if you are confused and in need of assistance please use the Ask-a-Librarian IM chat. We want all of our students to finish the semester well.

For those of you who have finished all of their assignments please come and check out some fiction or other light reading. We have some contemporary fiction in the PS section located on the mezzanine floor, as well as a large collection of online materials that you can read from your computers anywhere on or off campus.

Also for your reading pleasure come and check out the books on display. We try to tie in events from around campus with relevant displays of books that coordinate with those events. Currently we have Christian living books dealing with church, prayer, fasting, and all sorts of other Christian disciplines. The side profile focuses on the works of Makoto Fujimura and a Christian perspective on art.

Most of all enjoy this time before you all head home to busily engage in the wonder of the Christmas season.

LAS