Concentration

I set a new "personal best" for visiting the most number of schools in a single day with ELEVEN on my first day back to work after a very long Christmas and New Year's break.  The vacation was extended by a very uncharacteristic snowfall.  The number of calls was not due to pent up enthusiasm but rather, a concentration of schools in the Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Durham area.

My first call was to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School.  Katherine Orth is in charge of ordering books and her warm personality was a delightful start to the day.

The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham was next on the itinerary.  I had visited there in the summer but due to the retirement of Dave Connelly, Carlton Brown is now in charge of acquisitions.  Carlton is mostly an IT guy but is, as are most librarians, willing to help to get the job done.

Next door is the Duke University Law School.  Shyama Agrawal is the person who orders books but she was not in her office when I stopped by.

I next visited the Shepherd Library on the campus at NC Central University.  NC Central is another one of the fine historically black colleges and universities in North Carolina.  Vanessa Lennon is the librarian and she gave me excellent walking directions to my next stop--the Law Library on campus.

Nichelle Perry is the Director of the Law Library and she visited with me in the absence of Mitzi Townes.  It was a beautiful day and the walk from the parking deck to the Library to the Law library and back to the parking deck was invigorating.  I noted that even in Durham, the sky is still Carolina Blue!

Durham Technical Community College provides outstanding practical education in Durham.  Julie Humphrey is always a delight to visit.

It was lunchtime and I began to look for a place to eat on my way to my final stop in Durham.  In a shopping center I found Gussey's Place. Gussy's started out as a food truck serving students at Duke University.  Gus Megaloudis played professional soccer in Greece for 17 years and brought his mother's recipes with him when he came to America.  I enjoyed a real falafel and it lived up to Gus' motto, "Everything's betta with a little feta."

Apex School of Theology was founded in 1995 as Apex Academy School of Religion by the Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Perkins at the historic, Apex First Baptist Church, Apex NC, where he is the pastor. The school offers training for both pastors and laypeople.  Ms. Cynthia Ruffin is the Librarian.

In Raleigh I stopped first at Meredith College.  Gerry Sargent is the librarian and the new Director is Laura Davidson.

I had never visited William Peace University but it is a beautiful, old campus with brick paver sidewalks and old oak trees.  The library is led by Nathan Helmers and Diane Jensen is in charge of getting books.  William Peace University was founded in 1857 as Peace Institute, offering education for boys and girls in primary grades and to women from high school to college.  Once a two-year college for women, WPU has evolved into a four-year, coeducational university, offering bachelor’s degrees in more than 24 majors, minors, and concentrations.  William Peace, the founder, was a Raleigh businessman and Church elder.


St. Augustine's College is a favorite stop on my trips.  The Director is Tiwanna Nevels.

My last visit was to the campus of Wake Technical Community College.  Julia Mielish and Paula Hartman lead this fine Community College. 

I still had a long drive ahead of me to get home but as I drove I wondered what it was about that area that attracted so many schools.  Was it simply a function of being a population center?  Do, in fact, "birds of a feather flock together"?  Can an atmosphere where education flourishes be fostered or does it happen somehow organically?  Such thoughts would have been better entertained before I have visited eleven schools!

The End and the Beginning

No, this is not going to be an eschatological blog predicting the end of the world.  On my travels today, I visited the last of my schools and made my first "cold call" on a school we had not helped in some time.  Usually, the reason libraries stop using our services is because of a change in directors of acquisitions.  When that happens, I want to try to introduce our services to a new client.

I began my day with an old friend and the school I have visited most--Barton College.  I had the privilege of meeting with their library staff.  Under the leadership of George Loveland, they are seeking to streamline their work flow in order to free up more time for a momentous task of archiving historical material for the College.  After listening to their questions, I have no doubt they will be able to accomplish the work and make the library more efficient at the same time.  I hope we will be able to help them.





Smithfield is the home of Johnston Community College and was my last, first-time, call.  Jaxie Bryan is the Director and clearly has a strong hand in the direction and future of the library there.  

In the town of Smithfield, I ate lunch at "The Diner" run by Amy and Larry Holt.  Amy waits tables and Larry does the cooking.  I was one of only a few customers and while I was there a "regular" came in and asked, "Where is everybody?"  Larry said, I guess they are all at "Mule Days."  Before I knew it, my curiosity inserted itself into their conversation.  "Did you say, 'Mule Days'?" I asked.  They explained that the nearby town of Benson celebrates "Mule Days" the 4th Saturday of September each year.  The festival draws 40-50,000 people and features rodeos, a mule pulling contest, arts and crafts, vendors, street dances, carnival rides, camping, parades and bluegrass shows. A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (called a 'jack") and a female horse (called a "mare").  Smithfield is a farming

region and mules were used as work animals before the advent of tractors because mules are more patient, hardy and long-lived than horses, and are less obstinate and more intelligent than donkeys.  I say, "they explained." Actually, the "regular" explained.  Larry description of Mule Days was a bit too anatomical for this blog.

My final two stops for the day were my first two "cold calls."  Duke University Law School Library and the Fuqua School of Business Library are side-by-side on the Duke Campus.  At the Law Library I met Shyama Agrawal who is in charge of acquisitions.  Shyama is of Indian descent and my brother-in-law is from Orissa.  We talked some about India and the differences between there and here.  I was unable to see Dave Connelly next door.  Duke University is one of the finest academic institutions in the nation and is sometimes referred to as the "Harvard of the South."  They have, however, a basketball coach whose picture accompanies the word "annoying" in Mr. Webster's Dictionary.