The first book ever put in Kirkwood’s library
At the Kirkwood libraries, rare vintage volumes share availability with modern e-resources
Working in a multi-floor resource for students at Kirkwood Community College, the Library staff juggles a host of learning tools and a vault full of information. More than 52 thousand traditional books and periodicals share real space with dozens of computer workstations and a humming wi-fi network.
Not as visible but just as real, Kirkwood also has more than 28,000 electronic books and access to world-wide databases. Another room full of library information helps students on Lower Muscatine Road at the Iowa City Campus.
But those massive collections had to start somewhere, at some time, with a single book. Recently, librarians think they have found the first one. Book Zero—or, well, number “001.”
The clearly well-aged volume covers the “History of Astronomy” and was published in 1951. To make it more interesting, the story of the stars is a translation from an Italian author and covers the Renaissance-awakening work of Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler and others. The canvas covers have definite signs of decades on a shelf, but the pages are still in solid, firm condition—a testimony to the bookmaker’s art of more than 60 years ago.
Kirkwood Librarian Gary Botos discovered the veteran volume in a process they nickname “weeding.”
“We systematically review the collection periodically by looking at each book on the shelf, checking for outdated and damaged items. I was alerted to the significance of the book by a penciled note in the back of the book, made by a former librarian in 1987. She noted it was to be ‘Weeding-Retain’ and ‘the first book accessioned to LRC.’ That was the first name for our library back in the early days of Area Ten Community College.”
In another recent discovery, Botos noticed a well-worn history Iowa politics that moved through the circulation desk. The classic check-out slip in the back shows hand-stamped dates from the early 1970s to a final due date of November 2012.
This book is ‘History and Civil Government of Iowa,’ by H. H. Seerley and L. W. Parish. It was copyrighted in 1897 but our copy was a 1908 edition. I found this on the returned book cart at the circulation desk and was drawn to it by its obvious age. Interestingly, the first owner signed the inside of the cover and dated it January 30, 1911. The Kirkwood Library added it in 1973. It is not the oldest book in the collection but it is the oldest book that I have come across that is still being checked out,” Botos said.
“Personally, finding these books reminds me of the enduring nature and value of the traditional book as a format. A book can sit for decades on a shelf waiting for a user that needs it. The book is a low-cost format that never outdates due to technology changes,” Botos added.
With paper-based books consistently available, Kirkwood’s Library Director Arron Wings notes a strong rise in interest and use of electronic-based books and articles.
“We began purchasing eBooks in April 2012, and so far we have added more than 28,000 item. In that same time we probably added fewer than 2,800 print books. There is a difference in that we are only ‘leasing’ the majority of those electronic books. That is, we pay an annual licensing fee for access to those items,” Wings said.
“The use of e-materials is also mushrooming, as you could predict. In our main set of eBooks there was an increase from 49,420 ‘uses’ from July –December 2011, to 67,850 “uses” from July-December 2012,” he added.
As Kirkwood students work on their class projects through the spring of 2013, they have more informational resources than ever. The difference—now and increasingly to the future—is those resources will be measured in gigabytes instead of shelf space.
Information on Kirkwood’s Library Services division is available online at: www.kirkwood.edu/library