BEACON MAY 2020

KÜTÜPHANE DOSYASI
KÜTÜPHANE DOSYASI
Memories of the Naomi Foster
Library Media Center
By Elizabeth Frank
Elizabeth and
Ken Frank came
to ACI in 1982.
They worked at
ACI until 2004.
Their children,
Irene (’00) and Ian
(’04), were born in
İzmir and are both
graduates of ACI.
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İzmir ACI has had a strong tradition of
library use and has every reason to be
proud of its library and its services. The
name of the library is the Naomi Foster
Library Media Center. Miss Foster
worked at ACI from 1948-1973. She was
a Math and Science teacher, a school
administrator, and she promoted not only
the library but also astronomy, geology
and guidance at ACI. During the 1950’s,
Naomi Foster administered and expanded
the school library. She made the library a
popular spot in the small former basement
trunk room in Bristol Hall. Then the Library
was moved to the center of the campus
near what is now the Hatay Gate.
When I first came to İzmir in 1982, Ferzan
İzmiri was in charge of the library. Meral
Örge was also on the staff. When ACI
became co-educational, it grew very big
and fast. The library near the Hatay Gate
was too small for a growing student body.
Hence a new library was built. We were
ready to move into it in 1992. At this time
the Lise 3s were writing their term papers
and could not wait for us to move the
library leisurely. The English Department
Head, Helen Özbay, gave us a weekend
to make the move. The Lise 3s would be
doing research on the following Monday.
Students helped. We placed books in their
exact shelf order in the back of a pickup
under Ahmet Avcı’s supervision. Then
students in the new library were given the
books in exact order and showed exactly
where to put them on the shelves. This
worked amazingly well, and the Lise 3s
were able to continue their library research
without interruption on Monday.
Computers were also introduced into the
library. Serpil Kılıç (Bahşişoğlu) and her
department helped us create a computer
network. We tried to integrate the use of
the library into the school curriculum by
signing up numerous class visits. This was
a wonderful but sometimes overwhelming
job. Many people helped, but those people
who stood out were Fahriye Kılınç, Ebru
Avcı, Mustafa Uzun and Meriç Durmaz
Şençağlayan.
We had quite a collection of back issues of
magazines which students could research
with a hard print index called Reader’s
Guide to Periodical Literature. When we had
the computers networked in the library, we
were able to subscribe to online indexes
and magazine collections to get relevant
articles from periodicals, which was much
easier. Our photocopy machine was always
in use.
When we first moved into the new library,
we had lots of space, and we dedicated
one room to the children of the Göztepe
neighborhood. We had a collection of
Turkish children’s books for them to check
out every week. We called this the Mini
Library.
The central part of the new library is
architecturally beautiful. It has an elevated
round area with windows called a clerestory
to allow for more light. The central wrought
iron chandelier was custom made for
the space and sits over a marble circle in
the floor. To avoid cutting down trees the
building wrapped around them. The checkout
desk was rounded to match its space.
Our other American Board schools in
Üsküdar and Tarsus also developed their
libraries in the same direction as ACI. Those
were exciting times.
The Beacon
Naomi Foster Library Media Center
The Beacon 69