In this first staff interview, I reached out to the incomparable Charles Brooks to chat about his tenure at McFarlin. He shared insights on the trends he has experienced over the past 37 years at the library. Read the full interview below to learn about his opinions on the building's design and what he would do if he was trapped in McFarlin for the night.
How long have you been at McFarlin and what roles have you had during your tenure?
I started working at McFarlin Library on August 17, 1987, just as I was beginning the master’s program at OUSLIS. My first job was working half-time for Nancy Henry, who was then the Instruction Librarian, preparing workbooks for Writing I, II, and III as well as working on Library Research Guides and Pathfinders, among other things. When a full-time position opened in Technical Services the following spring, I applied for it and was hired as a paraprofessional copy cataloger.
In December 1990 I received my MLIS from OU. At the same time, a professional position opened in McFarlin. I applied for it and got the job. So, I began my professional career here in January 1991.
At that time the hot concept of the moment was the “holistic librarian”, which basically meant that reference librarians were cross-trained to do cataloging and catalogers were cross-trained to work at the Reference Desk. So, I started out working in cataloging half the time and the other half in reference and instruction. As a cataloger, I specialized first in media, then in non-English language materials (once cataloging a book in Icelandic!) and finally as a Special Collections cataloger.
Meanwhile, I learned the ropes at the Reference Desk, which was very busy back in those days, being double-staffed most of the time. I also started teaching classes, working first with Nancy Henry and then with her successor as Instruction Librarian, Hildy Benham. I got along especially well with Hildy, and we worked very closely together the two years she was here. Like Lisa, her background was in education, and I consider her very much my mentor in instruction. (“Charles, you must move around more!”) She and I also offered some of the first Internet training on campus, teaching workshops on using Gopher, Archie and Veronica and finally Lynx and Mosaic.
When Hildy left in the summer of 1994 (to take a job in Abu Dhabi!), I became the Instruction Librarian full time. (No more cataloging. Yay!) I remained in this position until 2000. During that time the Internet really took off and the library began investing in more and more online resources. We had been teaching LIAS-TU (the online catalog that dated back to 1984) for years, but I now found myself having to teach database searching instead of how to use a print index. This required a few changes. For example, in 1994 I had a classroom for “show and tell” with an overhead projector that showed transparencies. By 2000 I had a hands-on computer classroom with an LCD projector and a computer for every student.
During the 1990s, as the Internet exploded, I became increasingly interested in how we in the library could best make use of it, both in instruction and as a way of getting information out about the library. So, I taught myself HTML and in 1995, using only Notepad, brought up the first McFarlin Library website. As a result, I served as the library webmaster at the same time as I oversaw Instruction.
In 2000, with the growing importance of the Internet and our website, the library hired Rita Howell as Instruction Librarian and I took on the role of “Web Services Librarian”, responsible for our online presence. However, I continued to work the Reference Desk and assisted Rita with Instruction.
By 2006, digitization had become the latest “hot topic”. The library hired Tiffany Benson to take over management of the website and I became “Digitization Librarian”. I did this for about 18 months. My main accomplishment was to digitize and transcribe the Alice Robertson correspondence from Special Collections and put all the transcriptions into a searchable Access database (using Microsoft ASP) with the transcription of each letter linked to the original digitized image. This was online for several years, although it no longer is.
In 2008, not long after the arrival of Adrian Alexander as our first Dean, the library underwent an organizational shake-up. The digitization project ended, and I became “Electronic Resources Librarian”, my current position. I’m responsible for managing the library’s online resources: databases, e-journals, e-books, etc. In this position I have also continued to cover the Reference Desk and assist with Instruction.
Why librarianship? What made this career appealing to you?
I’ve always been a library user. Some of my earliest memories are of visiting the public library in Lampasas, Texas, where we lived. You walked in the door and Mrs. Dickinson, the librarian, sat at her desk. To one side of her was the children’s section and to the other side was the adult section. I still remember how excited I was at the age of about 9 or 10 when I got to go into the adult section for the first time to find a biography of Theodore Roosevelt. I felt so grown-up! In college I majored in history and practically lived in the library. I’m one of those people who needs it quiet to study and nothing cuts the noise quite like the bookstacks. However, it was only after working part-time at the public library in Stillwater that I realized I had found my calling, moved to Tulsa, and began taking classes from OUSLIS at what was then UCAT, the University Center at Tulsa (now the OSU-Tulsa campus). The rest you can read above!
What is your non-library training and/or degree, and how does it help you as a librarian?
I have a B.A. with a history major and a political science minor and an M.A. in history, both from Midwestern State University. (Midwestern is located in Wichita Falls, Texas.) After finishing my M.A. I went to OSU in Stillwater to work on a PhD in history, never completed. I’m still ABD after all these years. I think the experience of spending the better part of a decade as an undergrad then grad student/teaching assistant made me sensitive to the pressures of student life, while writing umpteen term papers and a thesis based almost entirely on original research made me appreciate the challenges and satisfactions of the scholarly process. I hope the result is that I have a better grasp on student needs as well as a stronger feel for what the library should be doing to meet those needs.
What’s your favorite spot in McFarlin Library and why is it your favorite?
My favorite spot isn’t in McFarlin. It’s actually in front of McFarlin, the plaza on the west side. When I’m feeling stressed or just need to take a break and stretch my legs I go out and walk around the Plaza, look out over the “U” (and it will always be the “U” to me!) toward downtown Tulsa. Not sure why, but it always makes me feel better.
Can you tell me about a memorable interaction you have had with a patron?
I remember back in the 90s I was about to teach an education class, introducing them to our education-related resources. As I recall, it was an evening class, with a good number of non-traditional (i.e. older) students. One student came up to me before the class started. “I really don’t need this. I’m already familiar with all the education stuff. I just don’t see the point of this. It’s a waste of my time.” “I’m sorry you feel that way,” I said. “We’re mainly going to be taking about ERIC.” “Who’s Eric?” I kept a straight face.
What is your favorite media to consume and what makes it your favorite?
I’ve always been a reader (hard to believe, right?), so I guess books would be my favorite medium. I remember as a kid, any spending money I had went toward books. When I was in high school we lived in Greenfield, Missouri. Never heard of it? Not surprised. About 1,300 people when we lived there. Doubt it’s any bigger now. It was always exciting to get to go to Battlefield Mall in Springfield, about an hour away. Why? Because it was “bright lights, big city” or to check out the latest clothes, or something? No. Battlefield Mall was home to Waldenbooks and B. Dalton Bookseller. Yeah, all I cared about was getting to a bookstore. (The Greenfield Public Library was in a room in the basement of the courthouse and the high school library was at one end of the study hall. I’m sure you can imagine how up-to-date they both were.) When I first started buying paperbacks they were $.50. Then they went up to $.60, then $.75, $.95, $1.25, $1.50, $1.95, $2.25 . . . Yeah, I track inflation through the price of paperback books.
However, I’m also a movie lover. So, movies would be a close second to books. I started collecting my favorite films first on VHS, then DVD and now Blu-Ray. I’m big on physical media. Streaming you can keep. I want my movie where I can grab it and watch it whenever I want and not be dependent on the licensing whims of some mega-corporation. Vintage Stock rocks! (Probably not too surprising that my daughter Maggie majored in Film Studies and now has a movie collection even bigger than mine.)
What’s the best (non-human) resource at McFarlin?
Starbucks. I mean, sure, there’s the awesome Special Collections, the beautiful reading rooms, the incredible databases (if you include the virtual McFarlin), and so on. But get real. Only Starbucks has coffee.
Tell me the most bizarre thing you have seen while walking through the book stacks.
Probably watching it rain in the North Main Level stacks years ago. Just another in the unending series of leaks in this building. Fortunately, it wasn’t a heavy rain, and we got books moved and plastic sheeting up quickly. Not fun, though.
If you could go back in time and talk to one of the designers who modified the building, which phase would you jump to and what would you tell them?
This one is easy. The “ramp” by the Reference Desk where the ‘79 wing meets the original building. They couldn’t get them to meet evenly? Seriously? The first time I really became aware of it was a few months after starting here, when I got to it going way too fast with a truckload of books. All I’ll say is that most of those books did not stay on the truck and leave the rest to the imagination.
You’re trapped in McFarlin for the night: what do you do when no one else is around?
Oh, I’d do what everyone wants to do:
What is an exciting project you are currently working on, or a future endeavor you are anticipating?
I consider myself so lucky, having spent my entire professional life working in McFarlin Library. There’s a quote that I always remember, attributed to Albert Einstein (if he didn’t really say it, he should have): "The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library." How true is that! Working at McFarlin has been a genuine blessing. My colleagues are the most wonderful and deeply committed people at TU. We get to work with some amazing students. And I believe we contribute more than just about any other unit on campus to the success of this university. Truth is, even after all these years, I still look forward to coming in to work each and every day, not necessarily to any particular project.