News from the KU Libraries
KU Libraries launch Vosper Giving Society
An inspiration to generations of librarians now inspires the name of the giving society that celebrates the generosity of KU Libraries’ benefactors.
In the midst of a brilliant career, Robert Vosper (1913-1994) spent 10 years as KU Libraries’ director (from 1951 to 1960), going on to become an internationally acclaimed champion of libraries and earning a slot in the top 100 librarians of the 20th century. Now KU Libraries pays him tribute by introducing the Vosper Society, which honors those who demonstrate interest in and support for KU Libraries’ purpose, vision and potential as an essential partner to scholarship at KU and beyond.
The society recognizes five giving levels, with baseline annual membership achieved with a gift of at least $100 or a gift in kind made during the fiscal year.
Membership supports KU Libraries in these essential areas:
Collections – preserving archival and rare items at Spencer Research Library and other collections now held at the Library Annex for future generations of scholars; and bringing new information resources, such as datasets, geospatial data, rich digital image collections and more to KU today.
Services – instructing students in how to seek out the best sources of information, answering reference questions and offering consultation to all who need advanced help navigating the information world, as well as helping KU staff and faculty contribute to emerging digitally based scholarship and publication.
Facilities – creating vital spaces within library buildings that welcome and support students, faculty researchers and the community—and adapt to their changing needs.
Vosper Society members will be invited to attend private sessions with visiting speakers and special events to visit and learn about special features of the libraries. They also will be recognized for their contribution to KU Libraries, and for making a lasting positive impact on KU by supporting the collections, services and facilities of KU Libraries.
Robert Vosper was named one of the top 100 most important people in 20th century librarianship by American Libraries, a publication of the American Library Association (ALA). The ALA lauded him “as a force for libraries and for the rights of librarians as partners in scholarly enterprise…. [H]is commitment to the library as an intellectual sanctuary was an inspiration to many.”
Vosper served as director of KU Libraries for a decade, shaping the collections with many of its most important acquisitions and establishing such innovative means to reach out to students as the Snyder Book Collecting Contest. He was especially known for his defense of intellectual freedom, notably mounting an exhibition on banned books during the height of the McCarthy era, doing so with strong support from Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy. That exhibition gained international notice, and more than 20,000 copies of its catalog were printed and distributed. It remains in demand and has been recreated in a digital version created by the libraries.
Vosper’s contributions to the field of librarianship spanned more than four decades and included several national and international leadership roles. Among these achievements, he served as president of the Association of College and Research Libraries (1955-56) and helped lead the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions from 1971 to 1977 as chairman and vice-chairman. He received many awards for his work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1969 and the prestigious Lippincott Award in 1985 from the ALA.
The importance of libraries in the fight for intellectual freedom remained a theme for Vosper throughout his life. “The Library is an open sanctuary,” he wrote in 1970. “It is devoted to individual intellectual inquiry and contemplation. Its function is to provide free access to ideas and information…. Since it is thus committed to free and open inquiry on a personal basis, the Library must remain open, with access to it always guaranteed.”
“Robert Vosper has been an inspiration to many librarians, at KU and throughout the world,” said dean of libraries Lorraine Haricombe. “At KU Libraries, we are proud to use his name to honor the growing group of contributors who continue to help us achieve excellence and support the success of the entire university.”
State of the Libraries address now available online
KU Libraries Dean Lorraine J. Haricombe hosted a campus forum to address the state of KU Libraries on Nov. 3 in the Kansas Union.
Her presentation, available here, covers highlights from the past year, provides an overview of the results from the latest LibQUAL+ assessment tool and shares the libraries’ new strategic directions for the coming year.
Galloway lifetime collection gift brings the World’s Fair to KU Libraries
A new gift has brought the world, or more specifically, the World’s Fair, to KU Libraries. Sharon Perry Galloway recently gave the Spencer Research Library a gift of extensive World’s Fair memorabilia collected with her late husband Thomas D. Galloway.
Dr. Galloway was the founding chair of the graduate program in urban planning in the KU’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, where he was a professor from 1971 to 1980. Until he passed away in 2007, Dr. Galloway was the dean of the College of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology and was nationally and internationally known for his stellar career in urban planning.
Sharon Perry Galloway, who noted that this collection was perhaps the largest of its kind in the United States, said the collection took a long time to amass. "I bought the first book for Tom the year he graduated from the University of Washington—the same year we were married," Galloway said.
The vast collection includes publicity information, maps, books, catalogs and listing materials on display and photographic brochures from several of the World's Fairs, with a particular emphasis on the 1893 exhibition in Chicago.
Karen Cook, special collections librarian at the KU’s Kenneth Spencer Research Library, said Dr. Galloway’s interest in the fair was directly related to his passion for architecture and urban planning.
“The World’s Fair in Chicago was influential in starting the idea of urban planning,” she said. Cook said the gift was of tremendous value for researchers.
“Gifts such as these allow us things we’d never be able to acquire on our own,” said Cook. “Collector’s often accumulate the material over a lifetime. They’ve put everything into building the collection with their own expertise.”
"I gave this collection to KU because Tom had great memories both of Kansas and KU, as it was his first teaching position," Galloway said. "I know Tom wanted the collection to be used by students in a hands-on, educational setting and that KU would respect the collection. Tom’s legacy and passion for urban planning will continue to live on through students and the education of urban planning at the KU Spencer Research Library."
Cook also noted the collection should interest students of American studies, history and architecture, and anyone who wants to understand an important time in American history.
The materials are currently being catalogued so they can be preserved and made available for viewing.
