PAR T I I I : T H E COMMU N I T Y COL L EGE ER A , 1974- 1998
Industrial Institute, and the Western Arkansas Technical Center consortium (with 25 area public school districts) were all accomplished through state legislation that President Stubblefield devised or pushed to enactment. President Stubblefield succeeded in his efforts to expand the scope of the college because of a passionate commitment to advancing the cause of the college and because he was raised in the community and understood its people. He had an existing network of friends, and he had the tone and manner that enabled him to make new friends. Local businessmen felt comfortable with him and believed in his goals. Additionally, he felt the pressure to succeed because his own family members still resided in the area. “You can’t make decisions in a cavalier fashion if you are living and working in your own hometown,” he said.
Boreham Library One of the findings of the 1985 North Central Association evaluation was that Westark could not continue to accomplish its goals and missions without a new library. The college had just paid off the bonds on the Vines Building and now set aside $2.6 million to acquire and furnish a new library building. Officials would have liked the new building to be twice its actual size, but funding limitations of the old millage rates prevented it. The existing Holt Library was a collection of approximately 40,000 volumes that held traditional hardbound print indexes such as the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature. It was primarily a print library visited by instructors and students who were printoriented. When Holt first opened in 1960, it was perceived as a blessing to librarian George Lamb and others who suffered so long in the single-room library of the old Administration Building. As the years went by, however, Holt also became outdated. Hardworking and enthusiastic students put a great deal of effort into their research each day at Holt Library. Curtis Ivery (who became president of Wayne County Community College in Michigan), Martha Efurd, and Terri Leins taught developmental education classes there. English classes worked at open tables in the center of an often hectic reading room because too many people were trying to do
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the same thing in a very small space. Bare tile floors increased the noise level, and spurious noises were heard as students walked through the steel frame book stacks that were referred to as the “erector set.” Bookshelves lined the hallways, and periodical room shelves were packed so closely together that just one person could move through them. Sometimes things became extremely uncomfortable when the heating and cooling malfunctioned. There was no humidity control, and if the temperature got too hot or uncomfortable, someone opened a window. A manual charging system was employed in circulation. Charge cards were stamped with a number and a return-date stamp. Overdue or lost books were not easy to keep track of using this method. Overdue penalties were 10 cents a day and 25 cents a day on reserve materials, compared with 15 cents for regular overdue and $1 for reserve materials today. Holt Library obtained its first computer after joining an automated network in 1985. Some electronic cataloging began as a result of that new piece of equipment, and the library was able to do interlibrary loans electronically, a very impressive accomplishment for the time. With the name of the college placed conspicuously on a beautiful 15-foot wrought-iron gate in front of it, Holt Library would today bring back nostalgic memories to many of its former occupants, but it was clearly an outdated facility by the time the 1980s had arrived. Following completion of the new library, it was refurbished for use by the English department. Under the guidance of a committee including librarian Max Burns, the new library project was begun in 1986. What may seem curious today (in light of the Campus Green) is that the front door of the new library was positioned toward what was then the “center” of the campus, facing both the Vines and Gardner buildings and the service door of the Fullerton Student Union. After the new building was completed, librarian Wilma Cunningham and physical plant director Ed Nagy were given the assignment to relocate the library materials from the old library to the new. Joel Stubblefield requested that the library remain open so that students could check out books even during the weeks of transition from one building to another, and this imposed a serious logistical problem. Wilma Cunningham devised a method whereby the circulation desk remained at the Holt Building until