A GIFT FOR THE AGES - The University of California Berkeley ...

University Librarian’s Letter
VISIT
doe100.berkeley.edu
TO LEARN MORE
6 • fiat lux • Fall 2011
At the end of the
first decade of the 20th
century, as horse teams and steam engines appeared on campus to build the
Charles Franklin Doe Memorial Library, Californians were hearing new words.
Picture them as a word cloud, like the one shown above, over the granite lintel marked
The University Library.
Hometown had just been coined, so students had something new to miss, and also
a worrisome metaphor for life here: ivory tower. For freshmen of 1912, ambivalence was
another new word in the dictionary.
This cloud of words reminds us that Doe was built to capture and preserve new ways
of thinking. Over this past century, no institution can match the research library in doing
this. Libraries in the digital age remain the only institutions we should trust to stay on the
job.
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AT 100
Airmail
Waldorf Salad
Taupe
Vitamin
Jazz
Blues
Insulin
Chardonnay
Blues
Chardonnay
Jazz
Airmail
Y-Chromosome
Waldorf Salad
Y-Chromosome
Taupe
Insulin
Creative expressions, like scientific discoveries, cannot be anticipated. Who could
have predicted the deep impact of these words, coined as Doe was built? Libraries work
best when they organize information so that surprises make sense. Librarians of 1912
could not know that in a few years women would have the vote, a telephone call could be
made across the continent, and sites such as the Grand Canyon would become National
Vitamin
Parks. All Doe could do was to be alive to the possibilities and grab the record of change.
Centennials are usually marked by lists of “firsts.” It is more important to be reminded
of first principles. If they are still right, the institution has a promising new century ahead.