<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My source for what \u201cNational This or That Day\u201d it is, the Jan Tucker Show, planted the idea for this FTV when Jan mentioned that one of the things designated for April 4 is \u2018National School Library Day\u2019.\u00a0 With only so many days in a calendar year, there are usually multiple \u2018National This or That\u2019 things listed for each day, but this one stuck with me because it is also our daughter\u2019s birthday.\u00a0 This topic spurred Jan and her co-hosts into a discussion of why many schools no longer have librarians and what a terrific job the Ontonagon Township LIbrary is doing beyond a library\u2019s traditional role of just being a book repository.\u00a0 Naturally, this led me to start thinking about my personal experiences with the various libraries I have had the pleasure to use over the years.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Willard Whitman Elementary school had a small library located in the middle of the main hallway, but this is not the first library I remember visiting when I was young.\u00a0 That honor would go to the Children\u2019s Library wing at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette.\u00a0 When my older brother and sister had to do school projects at PWPL, I would be directed into the Children\u2019s wing where I would while away the time cruising the book stacks.\u00a0 It was a perfectly nice library setting, but I kept wishing away the time until I was old enough to go into the \u2018big library\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Overcrowding forced the school to convert the library at Whitman into a classroom when I was in fifth grade.\u00a0 The bookshelves were moved into the hallway so there was still a library for us to use while a new wing was being built on the south side of the building.\u00a0 I remember taking the \u2018band readiness\u2019 test in the old library room in fourth grade, but any other memories I have of the Whitman library are of finding books from the shelves once they were located in the hallway.\u00a0 My favorite reads in those days were a blue, cloth covered historical series that told the life stories of great American pioneers like Eli Whitney, George Washington, and so on.\u00a0 To this day, I have a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart for my early library experiences . . . except for one particular incident which I won\u2019t blame on the library itself.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My memory files label the one negative library remembrance as \u2018The Encyclopedia Salesman\u2019.\u00a0 Apparently a company donated a set of encyclopedias to our school library in exchange for an opportunity to do a sales pitch to families via their students.\u00a0 A man wearing a rumply suit came to our sixth grade class to invite us all to join the \u2018I Don\u2019t Know, But I Can Look It Up\u2019 Club.\u00a0 The club had a logo featuring that phrase written in a circle around a large question mark.\u00a0 Mr. Salesman began his presentation by walking around the class and randomly selecting his victims (I mean, \u2018volunteers\u2019) by asking them things like, \u201cDo YOU know how high Mount Everest is?\u201d\u00a0 We had been prompted to respond with the catch phrase, \u201cI don\u2019t know, but I can look it up\u201d.\u00a0 Upon hearing this, he would hand the \u2018volunteer\u2019 a pin-on logo button and then recite the correct answer (29,032 feet if you are wondering about Mount Everest).\u00a0 It was all going swimmingly until he stopped in front of my desk, pointed at me and asked, \u201cDo YOU know how big a baby kangaroo is at birth?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Looking up with a smile on my face, I replied, \u201cAbout the size of your baby finger nail!\u201d \u00a0 I even held up my own little finger to illustrate it for all to see.\u00a0 The poor man was so stunned that all he could think to do was reboot and start again:\u00a0 \u201cDo YOU know how big a baby kangaroo is at birth?\u201d to which I again held up my little finger and repeated the answer.\u00a0 Unbeknownst to Mr. Salesman, yours truly had just written a report about Australia and that piece of information was\u00a0 one of the things I learned during my research.\u00a0 He smiled back at me, looked over to our teacher for some help, only to see Mr. Arnsen raise his eyebrows and smile back.\u00a0 Meanwhile, my classmates were helpfully whispering none too quietly, \u201cSay \u2018I don\u2019t know but I can look it up\u2019!\u201d\u00a0 Having reached an impasse, I reluctantly offered up what he wanted to hear, he handed me a button, and read off his cheat sheet, \u201cAt birth, a baby kangaroo is the size . . .ummm . . .\u201d and then he trailed off without finishing the answer before moving on to the next victim.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the end of the session, we were given a booklet of questions that we were expected to research at the public library.\u00a0 When we returned the booklet, we would get a coupon for a certain amount off the price of a new set of encyclopedias for our home.\u00a0 What a concept:\u00a0 if mom or dad had to bring us all the way to the library, they would see the wisdom of having a handy reference set at home.\u00a0 We already had an older set of encyclopedias at our house and my mom often brought us to the library, so I knew we wouldn\u2019t be buying one.\u00a0 Mr. Arnsen gave the booklet out as homework and I was miffed that I had to spend a Saturday morning at PWPL doing \u2018homework\u2019.\u00a0 I was doubly miffed when the \u2018How big is a baby kangaroo at birth?\u2019 question appeared in the booklet.\u00a0 I filled that one in without bothering to look it up.\u00a0 On the plus side, the story about my first lesson in library research served me well over the years as an introduction to library research with my own classes.\u00a0 It probably got better every time I retold it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The library at Graveraet Junior High was memorable because the librarian was the mother of one of my classmates, John LaVoy.\u00a0 It was also the only escape we had from study hall in eighth grade.\u00a0 As a band student, eighth grade was the only year I ever had a study hall.\u00a0 The sheer boredom of it all meant whenever we could get on the list, we would opt to go to the library.\u00a0 It was more of a place to escape to than a place to get any work done, but at least there were plenty of magazines to look over so Mrs L wouldn\u2019t boot us out for malingering in her library.\u00a0 Oddly enough, I can count on one finger the number of times I worked in our high school library on a report so my recall of who the HS librarian was is cloudy at best.\u00a0 The only way to report on who was in the Library Club would be to look it up in my old yearbook.\u00a0 By the time high school graduation arrived, I was familiar with libraries, but it would take one college course to elevate my indifferent attitude about libraries in general to \u2018dedicated user of the library\u2019 status.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fillmore Christopher Ferdinand Earney was his name.\u00a0 We called him \u2018Dr. Earney\u2019 to his face and \u2018FCF\u2019 for brevity when discussing his Geography classes.\u00a0 My freshman year at NMU put me in a large lecture hall class called <\/span>Cultural Geography<\/span><\/i> hosted by Professor Ivan Fende.\u00a0 The class included a one day per week small group discussion section.\u00a0 By now you have probably already guessed who my small group discussion segment moderator was: \u00a0 Dr. Earney.\u00a0 Dr. Earney was a professor who wore a suit and tie to work every day and his idea of casual dress was a Nehru jacket.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t exactly sure what to expect as I had never had a class with a lecture\/discussion format before.\u00a0 FCF told us at the first meeting that this wasn\u2019t going to be a normal discussion group.\u00a0 \u201cInstead of going over the same topics from the lectures, I would like to try something different,\u201d he told us.\u00a0 \u201cThe Geography Department is going to start a new two credit class called <\/span>Geographical Problems and Literature <\/span><\/i>that will be required for all Geography majors.\u00a0 We are going to test the outline for this class before it is added to the departmental requirements next year.\u00a0 I am going to have you pick a research topic and then we will spend time learning how to do research in the college library.\u201d\u00a0 He even arranged to have our section meet in one of the library conference rooms.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My old drummer buddy from high school, Wayne Maki, was also in this discussion section.\u00a0 When we stopped to talk outside after the first class, he commented that he already had an idea of what he would research.\u00a0 We had a week to come in with our idea and put them on an index card.\u00a0 We would be expected to share our topic with the class, including why we wanted to research that particular subject matter.\u00a0 Dr. E instructions were simple:\u00a0 \u201cMake us want to learn more about your chosen topic.\u201d\u00a0 The index cards were to be left with Dr. Earney who would return them the next week with his critique of our idea.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Wayne always had a sense of humor about things so he tweaked our interest in his topic by asking,\u00a0 \u201cDo you know there is SALT in Finland?\u00a0 Not the mineral type.\u00a0 What I am talking about are the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks that will be taking place in 1972.\u00a0 I am interested in this topic because I kind of like the idea of the world not being consumed by a nuclear holocost.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When he sat down, Wayne reminded me about something we had learned giving speeches in our high school English class:\u00a0 Always go first and set the bar high for everyone else to try and jump over.\u201d\u00a0 The nervous shuffling around me was a good indication that Wayne had done just that.<\/span><\/p>\n My topic seemed rather dull in comparison but I pressed on:\u00a0 \u201cI am going to research the reclamation of stripped mined land.\u00a0 We live in an area with open pit iron mining so I would like to learn more about the process.\u00a0 What happens to the land when the mining is done?\u201d\u00a0 As would be expected, <\/span>Cultural Geography<\/span><\/i> covered a host of topics and the fifteen of us all came up with radically different topics to research.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Dr. Earney arrived for the next class, he plunked a large banker\u2019s box of books and pamphlets in front of me.\u00a0 Before I even asked he said, \u201cI like your topic.\u00a0 I just finished writing an annotated bibliography of books and articles about the reclamation of strip mined land so I thought you might be able to use some of my research for your paper.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, I picked a topic that Dr. Earney himself had compiled enough information about to be considered somewhat of an expert in the field.\u00a0 I soon found out that he was also considered the bookworm of the Geography Department and his specialty was writing annotated bibliographies of various geographical topics.<\/span><\/p>\n As I thumbed through his newest tome, I could not help but wonder how deep I would have to dig into my topic to find something that Dr. Earney didn\u2019t already know.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We spent the rest of the semester digging into every nook and cranny in the NMU Library.\u00a0 By the time we had submitted our final research papers, we knew more about research, writing, and the documentation of sources than we probably needed to know.\u00a0 I said a little \u2018thank you Doc E\u2019 in my head any time I found myself doing a research paper in my other college classes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the end of my junior year at NMU, I was scheduled to do a class audit with Dr. Hughes, the acting department head (it was a job that rotated through the department faculty every few years).\u00a0 Looking over my transcript, he said I was in fine shape for graduation but I was missing one class:<\/span><\/p>\n Geographical Problems and Literature.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>I explained that I had already done the same class work when Dr. Earney had us test fly his new class.\u00a0 Dr. Hughes reminded me that I got credit for <\/span>Cultural Geography<\/span><\/i> that semester, not <\/span>GP&L.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 <\/span>GP&L <\/span><\/i>would need to be on my schedule in the fall if I expected to graduate on time the next spring!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On the first day of class, Dr. Earney reminded everyone else about my participation in the test class.\u00a0 FCF said he was looking forward to seeing what I remembered.\u00a0 Great, no pressure!\u00a0 My plan going in was to pick a topic that was so new there would be no way FCF would have just compiled an annotated bibliography about it.\u00a0 I picked the newly emerging theory of Continental Drift.\u00a0 The week after he approved my topic, Dr. Earney brought in TWO boxes of information and informed me that, \u201cI am currently working on an annotated bibliography about Continental Drift.\u00a0 There is a form in one of the boxes so you can order a pre-publication copy for $50 if you want – that is a pretty good price for a five hundred page reference volume.\u201d\u00a0 I was thunderstruck, but not really surprised.\u00a0 Continental Drift was a new topic for me, but not Dr. Earney.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The class was easy.\u00a0 I got a good grade on my final paper because I already knew the research gig inside and out.\u00a0 I am sure that the other students (mostly freshmen) got tired of me being \u2018Mr. Know-It-All\u2019 whenever FCF stumped them and nodded my way so I could enlighten them.\u00a0 Remembering Wayne\u2019s sage advice from our freshman year, I also made sure I volunteered to be the first presenter.\u00a0 I can now look back and laugh at having my college career bookended with the same research class, albeit being taken under two different class names.\u00a0 I am also thankful that I landed in the first test run of Dr. Earney\u2019s proposed class – it was one of the most useful college classes I ever had.\u00a0 It also made a great follow-up story to the \u2018I don\u2019t know but I can look it up\u2019 tale I repeated to my students more than a few times when introducing research projects.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now that Jan Tucker has announced her retirement, I would like to add my congratulations.\u00a0 A few years ago, I asked her to do a presentation about her early days broadcasting for a meeting of the Ontonagon County Historical Society.\u00a0 To introduce Jan\u2019s talk, I went back to the summer of 1973 when I was working at the Huron Mountain Club.\u00a0 We normally came to work in June but that year, I was asked to come as soon as classes at NMU ended the first week of May.\u00a0 The cook and kitchen worker (Betty Thorton from AuTrain and Illmi Saari of Eben) were both up there in age (Ilmi was over 80).\u00a0 I was asked to be the dishwasher, busboy, and go-fer until we moved over to the bigger kitchen in the main clubhouse.\u00a0 Betty and Illmi listened to Jan everyday while we cleared the employee dining room and cleaned up between breakfast and lunch.\u00a0 A full two years before I applied for a job in Ontonagon, I knew about the comings and goings of a town I had only previously been through once when I tagged along with my dad one summer.\u00a0 Dad was on a two day detective case road trip so we ate lunch at the old A&W across the road from the pulp mill and spent the night at his brother\u2019s camp at Lake Gogebic.\u00a0 It was deja vu all over again when I had lunch at the same A&W on my job interview trip in July of 1975.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thank you Jan.\u00a0 I would like to add my congratulations and this remembrance to the growing list on Jackie\u2019s desk at WUPY.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 What is more ‘Library’ than Dick Clark breaking the Jackson 5?….ABC…why not?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My source for what \u201cNational This or That Day\u201d it is, the Jan Tucker Show, planted the idea for this FTV when Jan mentioned that one of the things designated for April 4 is \u2018National School Library Day\u2019.\u00a0 With only so many days in a calendar year, there are usually multiple \u2018National This or 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