 |
IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK: They’d
have something to say about the number of paper airplanes
thrown inside. |
Courtesy Stanford University
Archives |
There is going to be a birthday
party: games, sweets and the requisite speech about how
much the honoree has changed over the years.
But this party
won’t involve the guest of honor blowing
out a couple dozen flaming candles. And instead of a Birthday
Boy or Girl, there is a Birthday Building: Meyer Library
is turning 40.
The open-house-style event will be held from
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on December 1. Mimi Calter, the executive
assistant to the University librarian, admits it is “pretty
unusual” to hold a party for
a library. “We are doing it because we have heard from
a lot of alums who have a lot of fond memories of Meyer.”
Certainly
Meyer has changed tremendously since it was known as the
Undergraduate Library (UGLI). In the early days, it was
a haven for undergraduates hitting the books—and
quite a social center. Today it houses academic computing
and the East Asia collection. When it was born, the library
was progressive for not having a card catalog. (It kept
track of books on a primitive database and printed out
listings on reams of punch-holed computer paper.) Now dozens
of sleek computers, each many times more powerful than the
one that ran that database, line desk after desk.
A speech by
Stewart Brand, ’60, about his book How
Buildings Learn and a paper-airplane contest are expected to be two
highlights of the birthday celebration. The latter pays
homage to the days when students used to toss paper planes
(and other things) down the three-story open stairwell.
Alumni with memories of the library are encouraged to share
them here. |
