Message from the Dean - Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: Yesterday’s Gone (But Not Forgotten)
Fall 2022
Many of us (myself included) have a sentimental view of the past. We romanticize it and forget that the world is a different place now – and we forget that trying to hold onto the past is often counter-productive. But British author and mathematician Lewis Carroll (and his unforgettable protagonist Alice) was a bit more clear-eyed about the past and the present, and the difference between the two. He wrote in Alice in Wonderland, "It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then."
University libraries aren’t exactly falling down the rabbit hole, but they continue to evolve, sometimes in subtle ways, other times in more substantive ways. This issue of the CSUN Library eNews includes three articles that demonstrate some of the changes that we in the University Library are experiencing, and how these changes fit into our overall mission.
Message from the Dean: The More Things Change... The More They Really Change!
Spring 2022
The French have a saying: “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.” The more things change, the more they stay the same. This is a maxim that we can all resonate with, in many facets of our lives. As time goes by, and as the world seems to transform in so many ways, certain themes tend to repeat themselves, generation after generation. But in this edition of the CSUN Library eNews, I would like to slightly revise that old French adage to something that is perhaps slightly less paradoxical: “The more things change … the more they really change!” What I mean by this new axiom is that sometimes the transitions we experience in life and work are so radical that it seems as though we have entered a new dimension of reality. In many ways, this is how I feel as I write this column in late March 2022.
Message from the Dean: Reopening the Library after the Apocalypse
Fall 2021
After every natural disaster or pandemic there must be a transitional time of returning to “normal life.” When the 1994 Northridge earthquake occurred, it took years for the campus to recover, and I see the COVID-19 pandemic as being similar in some ways to the devastation wrought by a major earthquake. The 1994 earthquake lasted less than a minute, but its effects were felt for years afterward. The COVID-19 pandemic has been with us for 18 months, but just like the earthquake, we will be experiencing “aftershocks” for the indefinite future.
Message from the Dean: Facing Unexpected Disappointments
Spring 2021
The beloved British writer C.S. Lewis once said, “We must stop regarding unpleasant or unexpected things as interruptions of real life. The truth is that interruptions are real life.” Most of us wish that we could avoid negative things, like a pandemic, but the reality is that we often learn more from disappointments than from “smooth sailing.”
Message from the Dean: One True Thing
Fall 2020
As I write these words, the sky in Northridge has become dark and ominous from distant fires, perhaps symbolic of the fear and uncertainty that lies beneath the surface for many of us during these challenging days. The spring 2020 pandemic and the early summer societal upheaval surrounding our country’s social justice reckoning have caused many of us to seek out that “one true thing” that can anchor us to solid ground and give us more meaning in our jobs and our personal lives.
Message from the Dean: Resilience in Seasons of Stress
Spring 2020
Nelson Mandela, the great South African political leader and statesman once said: “Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” And that is the essence of resilience: the ability to bounce back from adversity, not just once, but multiple times. Resilience is a core value for leaders at CSUN; an excerpt from the University’s Leadership Principles states that a leader at CSUN “perseveres even when faced with challenges or setbacks.” Perhaps we focus on it so much because it is in the DNA of our institution, going back to the Northridge earthquake of 1994.
Message from the Dean: Impacting Students for a Lifetime
Fall 2019
I have belonged to many different communities throughout my life. Sometimes communities are geographical in nature, and with that lens in mind, I have lived in over twenty different neighborhoods. But just as often, communities are seen through a different lens, whether ethnic, religious, gender identity, or other categories. Sometimes communities are fluid, and people can pass in and out easily, but other times they have rigid boundaries with circumscribed membership requirements.
The Oviatt Library is in many ways its own community. This community includes employees (such as our 90 staff and faculty and our 140 student assistants); campus faculty and staff; local users and supporters; and of course, the 38,000 CSUN students who make excellent use of our resources and services.
Building a Thriving Community
Spring 2019
I have belonged to many different communities throughout my life. Sometimes communities are geographical in nature, and with that lens in mind, I have lived in over twenty different neighborhoods. But just as often, communities are seen through a different lens, whether ethnic, religious, gender identity, or other categories. Sometimes communities are fluid, and people can pass in and out easily, but other times they have rigid boundaries with circumscribed membership requirements.
The Oviatt Library is in many ways its own community. This community includes employees (such as our 90 staff and faculty and our 140 student assistants); campus faculty and staff; local users and supporters; and of course, the 38,000 CSUN students who make excellent use of our resources and services.
Message from the Dean: Women Making a Difference
Fall 2018
One of the most rewarding aspects of library work is to provide diverse educational and cultural programming and resources that recognize individual accomplishments and document transformative social movements. In this issue of the Oviatt Library eNews, the editorial staff wanted to highlight women’s achievements. The CSU boasts a strong contingent of women leaders (52.2 percent of CSU campus presidents are women – nearly double the national average for U.S. colleges and universities). At CSUN, the past 26 years have been led by a woman president.
Message from the Dean: Creativity - The Secret Sauce of Student Success
Spring 2018
Creativity is a crucial part of our lives and our work. It benefits all of us individually and as a society. Very few would argue that creativity has no place on the university campus or almost anywhere else in the world. Indeed, scholarly literature has proven that being exposed to creative outlets and innovation opportunities generates student success. But demonstrating creativity in the real world is sometimes hard work.