Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 5,000 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Next week (April 12-18) is National Library Week! First sponsored in 1958, this national observance is sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. As noted on the ALA website, “it is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support.”

In honor of this event, we’re getting a glimpse of how past generations of users, working in the pre-Internet age of the not-too-distant past, conducted research and found materials at KU Libraries.

A researcher using a microform reader, 1970s. You can still visit the
Spencer Reading Room to get some firsthand experience using a more modern version
of this tool. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 32/0 1970s Prints:
University of Kansas Libraries (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Patrons using the card catalog at Watson Library, 1981. Be sure to
take a peek at the Spencer card catalog the next time you visit our Reading Room.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 32/0 1981 Prints:
University of Kansas Libraries (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

A view of an early version of the KU Libraries electronic public catalog, 1987-1988.
Converting the old paper cards into this format was a big deal for staff and patrons,
but by today’s standards the catalog was still quite cumbersome: it could only be accessed
at designated terminals at the library, search and indexing capabilities were limited,
and graphical user interface did not exist. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 32/0 1987/1988 Prints: University of Kansas Libraries (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants

It’s been an exciting week or two in Lawrence for scholars and fans of William S. Burroughs.  Wednesday, February 5 was the centenary of the writer’s birth, and around town events and exhibitions have been exploring his writing, art, and deep ties to Lawrence.  Burroughs made Lawrence his home during the last fifteen years of his life, and now, thanks to a gift from James Grauerholz, executor of the Burroughs estate and a KU alumnus, the influential author’s last journals will join the collections of KU Libraries.

Burroughs helped revolutionize the post-WWII literary landscape with novels like Naked Lunch and Nova Express, the latter a part of his cut-up trilogy.  To celebrate the gift, five of the ten journals will be on display in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library’s lobby through February.  These notebooks, which span from November 1996 to Burroughs’ death in August of 1997, were the basis for Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs, a volume edited by Grauerholz and published in 2000.  In their pages we see literature, politics, art, and philosophy collide with everyday life.  A reference to speaking with an ailing friend, poet Allen Ginsberg  (“His voice over the phone from Beth Israel Hospital in NYC sounded very weak”), appears alongside a reminder to buy disposable razors.  The final entry (see below) offers a meditation on conflict and love.  To the left Burroughs has written:  “Love? What is it? / Most natural pain / killer what there is. / L O V E.”

William S. Burroughs’ final journal. Image courtesy of Chuck France / KU Office of Public Affairs. Click here for a larger version.

On display through February in Spencer Research Library’s lobby: five of the ten journals donated by the Burroughs estate.

In addition to the journals, the gift also includes typescripts and draft materials for the edition Grauerholz produced. Once cataloged, these “last words” of William S. Burroughs will be available for researchers and the public to consult at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library.

Elspeth Healey,
Special Collections Librarian

Reposted from the KU Libraries Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/KULibraries

Remembering Dr. King today with an image from the University Archives in the Spencer Research Library, home to some of the most precious materials in the world—-and to gems like this one–that capture remarkable moments in our rich KU history.