Loan Nguyen joins Doherty staff; Receives grant to help establish Vietnamese library in Houston

Loan Nguyen, originally from Vietnam, joined the Doherty Library staff in November 2008 as a Periodicals/Reference Librarian in which she is responsible for managing the periodical collection in paper, electronic and microform formats. Loan also provides reference services and library instructional to faculty, staffs and students at UST. Loan loves to volunteer her services to maximize her God-given abilities. Ever since she decided to become a librarian, she has always dreamed of creating a Vietnamese Library in the United States, which would promote the heritage and culture of Vietnam. Her dream came true when she was asked by the Vietnamese Civic Center Board members to start up a Vietnamese library in their newly developed facility at 11360 Bellaire Blvd., Houston, Texas 77072. In March 2009, Loan was awarded a grant from the National Library of Medicine to purchase computers for the recently opened Vietnamese library.

Loan said she feels so at home at Doherty library. Her passions are volunteering her services and meeting people. Please do not hesitate to say “Hi” or ask question to Loan whenever you see her at the reference’s desk.

Progress at the Archives

University Archives, Sienna House

The University Archives staff has been very active in developing an Archives web page that now includes finding aids and articles of historical information about the University.

The effort to add material to the Archives web page is ongoing. One example is the posting of a list of the ten presidential administrations of UST and the years of their service. Eight different men served as president; two returned for an additional term. The web page is illustrated with photos of the UST presidents. Two other recent examples include material about the first UST School of Nursing and material about the Office of Student Affairs that have now been posted on the web site.

The Archives staff also compiled a spreadsheet depicting the history of the many structures that UST has acquired, demolished and constructed since 1947. Several blocks of fourteen houses each and the streets surrounding them have been removed to create space for academic and support buildings and to make travel safer and more convenient between the buildings. Also within the Archives is the original of a 1947 letter naming the University. The naming process was quite simple, a single meeting of a committee.

Information concerning the University’s development was researched and posted in an effort to inform students, faculty and the public as to how the University came into existence, who played a critical role, and the events that brought us to the present. Without a knowledge of the University’s history, there will be no understanding of the events that shape our current existence.

The Archives web page can be found as a link on the main Doherty Library web page at http://www.stthom.edu/Public/index.asp?page_ID=4804. You can also contact the Archives staff at 713-525-3895.

African American National Biography

The African American National Biography edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham  compliments our resources the Oxford National Biography and the American National Biography (ANB). When the ANB was re-released in 1999, its editor Casper Grathwohl asked Gates to highlight one of the African Americans listed in the then new edition. Gates found that so many important figures were missing from the ANB, that a completely new encyclopedia would have to be created as its complement; Grathwohl and Gate’s co-editor Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham immediately assented.

Gate’s mentor in African American studies, John Wesley Blassingame, Sr., had been adamant that the discipline of African American studies had to end the cycle of each new scholar having to re-do the work of previous scholars because the earlier work had fallen into obscurity. A complete collection of quality reference books such as encyclopedias, bibliographies and concordances would insure the continuation and accumulation of scholarship in the field. Gates has been responsible for many innovations in the field of African American studies including collections of slave narratives and the discovery of the first novel by an African American, Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson. The African American National Biography is the culmination of his work to create a solid basis for African American scholarship and will be his greatest contribution for generations to come. The African American National Biography will continue as the primary reference tool in the field as well.  This title is located in our Silent Reading Room.

Remembering 1882: Fighting for Civil Rights in the Shadow of the Chinese Exclusion Act

The Doherty Library will host a photographic exhibit titled:
“Remembering 1882: Fighting for Civil Rights in the Shadow of the Chinese Exclusion Act”

Passed by the US Congress in 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was intended to prevent people of Chinese descent from entering the United States and sought to deprive those in residence of full legal protection and the right to apply for citizenship. As a result, this nation’s Chinese American population was reduced by half with those remaining relegated to second-class legal status until full repeal in 1968. The exhibit will be on display in the main library atrium from March 23 to April 18. A reception will be held on April 2, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. in the library atrium, all are welcome to attend.   The exhibit and reception is sponsored by the Chinese Historical Society of America and the University of St. Thomas Center for International Studies.