* New Gifts from Dr. R. Frank Saunders

* A Student's Perspective - by Tim Prizer

* Finding New Titles Added to Henderson Library

* Henderson Library's Strategic Objectives for FY2004 on Web Page

* Friends of Henderson Library Board of Directors Profiles: Dr. Patrick Novotny

* Recent Additions to ICPSR Database

New Gifts from Dr. R. Frank Saunders

Emeritus Professor of History Dr. R. Frank Saunders has donated a triad of historical collections bought at auction to Henderson Library. The first group contains Gone With the Wind memorabilia acquired by the late Frank Skinner of Waynesboro, an NBC set designer. Included among the treasures are: an original program for the film's 1939 Atlanta premiere (illustration shows the cover); three letters to Skinner by John R. Marsh, widower of Margaret Mitchell, shortly before his death in 1952; and photographs and negatives of cast members and sets. The other two groups are less glamorous but very solid, reflecting obscure people in times good and bad. Twenty-four daybooks (1917-1959) record the daily sales of each mundane item at W.S. Miller's general store in Rocky Ford, when that small town was a thriving cotton center. The third group comprises correspondence of the 20's and 30's of John Decoteau, a francophone West Indian and Savannah factory worker, with friends in the North and in the Caribbean. Most of the letters portray an often desperate need for money and relief from debt. At the same time that Dr. Saunders donated these items, he became the latest Lifetime Member of the Friends of Henderson Library. We are very grateful for his support.

Upon acceptance to GSU in 1999, I wandered onto the university's campus a scared, intimidated freshman hoping to quickly establish a feeling of belonging in an otherwise unfamiliar place. The Henderson Library, standing along the "shoreline" of Lakes Ruby and Wells in the heart of campus, provided me with this much-needed sense of comfort. Here's a place, I though to myself, where I can meet students as unfamiliar with the institution and yet as focused upon their studies as am I. This preliminary line of thought proved to be true.

Inside the Henderson Library, I met students with whom I have remained friends to this day. I met students from all over the country, and indeed, from diverse parts of the world. Becoming acquainted with the library early in my career at GSU helped me to establish ties and friendship with people whom I shared both academic and personal interests. Several departments at the library have been extremely helpful to me throughout my four years as a student. The Special Collections department has shown dedicated interest in my research and writings, offering numerous sources to me on local and regional history, and requesting copies of my own drafts for inclusion in their archives. With assistance from Special Collections, I have been able to see my own work preserved for future students and scholars who may wish to use my work as a source in their own research. Interlibrary loan has also been a valuable resource when it comes to hunting a book not permanently shelved in the Henderson Library.

Though over the years I have become more inclined to study on my own turf (as each year I have moved to a location a bit quieter than the prior), the Henderson Library remains an invaluable resource for my research and scholarly endeavors. I have watched the library improve drastically in my four years at GSU. From the addition of new computers and more books and journal articles to the new, quiet and cozy reading room and plans for major renovation, the Henderson Library seems to hold no limitations for its future developments.

Tim Prizer

Senior, Anthropology, and former editor of The George-Anne

Searchers may now easily locate new titles added to the Library by going to the online catalog and clicking on "New Titles List" on the left side of the bottom line of text. One may then choose to see all new additions or limit by location. A useful option is to search the new acquisitions by a word in a title, an author's name, or the beginning of a call number.

The Library's strategic objectives for the current year have been placed on the Library's Web page. The objectives may also be found from the Library's home page by clicking on "About the Library" and scrolling down to the link for "Henderson Library's Strategic Objectives" under "Library Administration."

Despite his very busy life, Dr. Patrick Novotny volunteered to add the Friends Board to his other commitments because he has himself been a staunch friend and frequent user of Henderson Library since coming to Georgia Southern in 1995, the same year he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The young scholar is a common sight around Henderson. He often dashes in to consult a reference work or dig out some nugget of fact before returning to classes, research, clubs, or presentations. For material not here, he gets stacks of books and articles through interlibrary loan in rather esoteric subjects such as environmental justice and political marketing - subjects in which he is an expert.

"Faculty, staff and students are most important, but Henderson Library is what makes us a university," says Novotny. " I've worked in some of the largest academic libraries but have almost never found that I couldn't get what I need through Henderson."

Dr. Novotny's first book, based on his doctoral dissertation, was published three years ago, and he is now working on a book on Georgia politics in the 40's. A native of Illinois, he has become very conversant with Georgia politics past and present.

He has appeared as a commentator for recent elections on local and Savannah television, as well as acting as moderator and judge at local middle and high school presentations on political matters. As a representative of the Faculty Senate, one of the favorite committees he serves on is the Library Committee.

Dr. Novotny, however, hardly spends all his time doing research, chairing meetings, and making and judging presentations. In 1999 he won the Award for Excellence in Teaching here. He has participated in special and innovative teaching projects such as the Freshman Leadership Experience (2000-2001). Beginning this year, he is coordinating the implementation at Georgia Southern of the American Democracy Project, a 130-campus non-partisan partnership to build student civic engagement beyond the classroom.

Even Dr. Novotny's leisure activities - racquetball at the RAC, jaunts to Tybee - are very kinetic.

His scholarly interest in the political uses of media - whether modern television and the InterNet or radio and newsreels in the 1920 presidential election - is furthered here at Henderson in his use of computers, AV materials, scanners, and in his creation of PowerPoint presentations, such as one on the 1941 political crisis in Georgia's University System.

"I've always found great support for acquiring new materials," he says, "and I've wanted to give back by donating materials and research papers to the library." Special Collections has been a particular recipient: Dr. Novotny has given us original research materials used in writing his dissertation (including very rare literature of often-obscure environmental groups) and about the University System crisis and Georgia politics in general.

Henderson Library pays for a membership in the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, allowing Georgia Southern faculty and students to access ICPSR's enormous archive of social science data. Below is a list of new data collection additions to the ICPSR data archive along with a list of released data collections that have been updated:

New Additions: