10 FERRUM MAGAZINE Photo by G. Steve Jordan
IN THE Dr. CLASSROOM: Cy Dillon, III Library Director By Lisa J. Bowling The disharmony of laughter <strong>and</strong> verbal sparring. The computer bank keyboards’ clatter. The crossfire of newcomer greetings. The musty sounds of a mausoleum relegated to yesteryear. With his door customarily wide open, Dr. Cy Dillon, III, library director <strong>and</strong> Academic Support division chair, revels in the controlled chaos of The Paper Chase archetype run amok. Head of Public Services George Lovel<strong>and</strong> equates it to “an open marketplace of ideas. The academic equivalent of the barbershop. It is a place where you can try out new ideas.” The twirl of voices, dancing through intellectual exchange, belies a 1985 administrative m<strong>and</strong>ate to Dillon to quiet the setting for a more scholarly–read staid–atmosphere. The 60 computers now spanning cyberspace give no hint of a time when there was only one Apple IIE at his–<strong>and</strong> the campus’s–disposal. In those days, book checkout <strong>and</strong> usage statistics were done manually. Fees were still levied as late fines. And Dillon, as the new director, sans a library degree, was determined to learn on the job. After a four-year stint as <strong>Ferrum</strong>’s Associate Dean, charged with leading the school’s conversion to a baccalaureate–conferring school, Dillon met his new role with skepticism <strong>and</strong> thoughts of returning to his previous work in public education. Within months, however, his enthusiasm grew to voluminous proportions. It was an early lesson, one he hasn’t forgotten: Sometimes the work one gets is better than the role one picks. Lovel<strong>and</strong> maintains Dillon’s lack of formal library training allows him to see opportunities where others see impossibilities. “He never gets bogged down in what we can’t do. He formulates ideas as a user, scholar <strong>and</strong> a teacher.” Dillon explains, “I learn a lot about how to make a library work by listening to the students.” The challenges of being a library director today are complex. Dillon finds that one of his major roles is to identify emerging applications for learning. He has witnessed the move from bound works into e-books, <strong>and</strong> from massive main frames to wireless hardware <strong>and</strong> portable personal digital assistants (PDAs). “We now have to work not only in our physical library space, but also in cyberspace, where there’s so much information.” “Things are becoming more condensed, more a matter of navigating cyberspace than of controlling space.” Subject matter will become more accessible, less cumbersome <strong>and</strong> easier to use. “But our job will still be to help students underst<strong>and</strong> how to find <strong>and</strong> use that information.” “Cy foremost is a teacher,” Lovel<strong>and</strong> offers. “He is an effective administrator, but when he faces a situation in which the administrative duties compete with the needs of students, the students get the attention. He always remembers what we are really here for.” Dillon values this role. “The great thing about a job like this is that we work with students. We’re not exalted in a sense of lecturing from a platform. We’re not administrators who make rules. We’re someone who will teach a class, but we’ll also sit down <strong>and</strong> help the students work through problems.” “Our goal is to know [students’] names, greet them, find out what they need <strong>and</strong> help them find it.” He is especially proud that “they trust us to help them when we can <strong>and</strong> to find someone for them when we can’t. Even small colleges usually don’t give that level of attention.” “While others on campus are debating decisions, he has always stayed focused on the needs of students,” says Lovel<strong>and</strong>. “High speed printers, new chairs, new books <strong>and</strong> databases, free microfilm copies: all were student suggestions that Cy responded to...I think that the changes he has made are driven...by staying in tune with students’ needs.” “Learn what the history is, but don’t become a slave to it,” Dillon elaborates, “There is little sadder than those intimidated by technology, who present themselves as purists. Quill pens aren’t generally the writing tool of choice. Now, neither is a ball point pen or manual typewriter...A good craftsperson can adjust to the changing technologies.” “It’s really exciting to know that our students, in a rural setting, peaceful surrounding ...still have the information resources they would have at a Columbia or a University of Virginia. It’s one of the great things about technology: it lets us feel really first rate, not just in the service we provide, but in the resources we can use.” Dillon must be credited for many of those resources, initiating <strong>and</strong> fostering higher education cooperative ventures that have benefited thous<strong>and</strong>s of students. In his first years at Stanley Library, he worked with Virginia Intermont <strong>and</strong> Emory <strong>and</strong> Henry <strong>College</strong>s to form SWING or Southwest Information Network Group, as a means to reduce his purchase costs <strong>and</strong> increase his holdings. SWING is now one of the largest, multitype library buying consortiums in the United States, with more than 100 member library systems. Working through the Virginia Independent <strong>College</strong> <strong>and</strong> University Library Association (VICULA), he brokered a partnership with 16 private colleges around Virginia, allowing each of them access to more than 6,000 newspapers, magazines <strong>and</strong> business reports through the Dow Jones service for only $2,000 annually. Another recent example, an Appalachian <strong>College</strong> Association Mellon Grant provided a phenomenal resource return for member libraries. Investing only $12,000, <strong>Ferrum</strong> should reap over $100,000 worth of volumes <strong>and</strong> journals. Although Dillon claims, “I enjoy the leadership role, but I hate to be the center of attention,” he has acted as a professional pacesetter. From 1997-1999, he served as the first elected president of VICULA. He is immediate past president of the Virginia Library Association, where he represented 1,200 members. He also serves as a library advocate, lobbying legislators on issues ranging from privacy to freedom of information concerns. “For a non-librarian, he’s one of the best librarians I’ve ever encountered, with an incredible commitment to helping those of us in the profession,” declares Nan Seamans, director of instruction for Virginia Tech’s University Libraries. “He’s well-known to many around the state <strong>and</strong> the region as a knowledgeable <strong>and</strong> caring librarian, as well as a good friend.” Dillon muses, “I think about this a lot...I don’t think I could have developed a sense of contributing to an institution in quite the same way anywhere else, because here I’m not locked into doing one thing. I’ve been able to participate in so much.” “<strong>Ferrum</strong> gave me a chance to discover my real potential, the same way it does for students like my son, Jim. Here it is, if you can do it. What an exciting situation to be in! Usually you don’t get that kind of chance to grow. I have really loved being here for the last 20 years. ...This is the perfect environment.” FERRUM MAGAZINE 11
Change language