WPSphere Repository (William Paterson University)

William Paterson University Board of Trustees

Board of Trustee Minutes 05/13/2011

Board of Trustee Minutes 05/23/2011

Board of Trustee Minutes 03/05/2011

Copy of the National Register Nomination form used to place Ailsa Farms on the National and New Jersey Registers of Historic Places. Cover letter from Daniel D. Saunders to Anne Ciliberti prepends the form. Original nomination form dated and approved 1975-11-20. Cover letter from Daniel D. Saunders to Anne Ciliberti dated 2011-11-06

McArthur, Ronald C.

Karschner, Terry

Saunders, Daniel D.

National register of Historic Places inventory--nomination form

David and Lorraine Cheng Library

Spring 2010, Volume 9, Issue 2 The Newsletter of the David and Lorraine Cheng Library  
mired for its many moments of sheer 
beauty along its 80 mile course, it must 
also be protected from the perils of pol-
lution. 
 Mr. Hillringhouse began with a his-
toric review of the river using photo-
graphs taken from the book, Song of the 
Passaic, by J. A. Macnab and published 
in 1890.  The book contains many rare 
images of views of the Passaic River 
during the late 1800s. 
 In contrast, Mark’s photographs cap-
ture the Passaic River in its present 
state.  Some accentuate its pastoral 
qualities which are still evident in cer-
tain areas.  “The river is sometimes so 
still, it looks like glass,” commented Mr. 
Hillringhouse on one of the photo-
graphs.  Other images show the aban-
doned mills found along the river as it 
flows through Paterson. 
 The river reflects some of the same 
social problems present in urban areas 
CONNECTIONS 
 “The photographs of Mark Hill-
ringhouse are moody.  They draw you 
in and want to tell a story.” So com-
mented Andrew Barnes, Chair of the 
Friends of the Cheng Library, and it 
was this story that many interested 
persons came to hear at the Library on 
April 18, 2010.   
 Mark Hillringhouse, photographer, 
writer, poet and professor, gave a talk 
and slide presentation titled “Life 
Along the Passaic River.”  Mark first 
became interested in the Passaic River 
and the City of Paterson from reading 
the poems and prose of William Carlos 
Williams, most notably his collection 
of experiences and observations of life 
along the Passaic River. 
 The talk presented a portrait of the 
river’s past and present, and a wish 
that its future be appreciated.  The tone 
of the address was celebratory but car-
ried a warning: while the river is ad-
The Friends of the Cheng Library Sponsors 
Lecture and Exhibit by Mark Hillringhouse 
like Paterson.  People do fish in the river 
and a few homeless persons live on its 
banks in small camps.  Two environ-
mental groups are active in efforts to 
protect the areas surrounding the river.  
The Passaic River Coalition, an urban 
watershed association, is involved in the 
restoration of the river basin, and Hack-
ensack Riverkeeper, Inc., an independ-
ent organization, is also committed to 
the protection of the area.   
 In 2009, the Great Falls of the 
Passaic River received the designation 
of the Paterson Great Falls National His-
torical Park.  As a newly created na-
tional historical site, the federal govern-
ment will fund development of the area 
surrounding the Great Falls. 
 Geographically, the Passaic River is 
unusual in that it flows north before it 
heads south.  The river has two origins: 
rainfall and tidal waters.  At its begin-
ning in Morris County, its flow is 
chiefly from rainfall.  But as it meanders 
on its 80-90 mile course, it is fed by 
small streams until it empties into New-
ark Bay.  
 The event was sponsored by the 
Friends of the Cheng Library and was 
held in the Library Auditorium.  It was 
attended by many areas residents with 
an affection for the river, some with 
personal recollections to share.   After-
wards, a reception took place in the 
Friends’ Room where some of the pho-
tographs of Mark Hillringhouse were on 
display.   
 Mr. Hillringhouse is the recipient of 
several awards and fellowships.  His  
photographs have been exhibited at the 
Paterson Museum and in other galleries 
and museums.  His writing has been 
published in the American Poetry Re-
view, New Jersey Monthly, the New 
York Times and other publications. 
“Great Falls” by Mark Hillringhouse.  This infrared, black and white photograph was 
donated to the Friends of the Cheng Library and will be displayed in the Library. 
2 Connections - Spring 2010 
 Dr. Ciliberti is highly regarded in 
the state and is active in many library 
organizations:  the Highlands Regional 
Library Cooperative, the New Jersey 
Library Association, and the Virtual 
Academic Library Environment 
(VALE), an organization she was in-
strumental in forming.  As collection 
development librarian, it was Anne’s 
vision of creating a consortium of aca-
demic libraries that led to the forma-
tion of VALE, now a major force for 
partnerships of many types among 
academic libraries in New Jersey. 
 Congratulations, Anne, on a well-
deserved recognition!  
 Under her leadership, the Library 
has advanced both in the amount of 
its resources and extent of its ser-
vices.  The Library has expanded its 
collection of electronic resources to 
meet the growing demand for schol-
arly materials in digital format.  
Anne has coordinated the redesign of 
several library spaces to accommo-
date both group activities and quiet 
study.  The Library has also intro-
duced multiple methods of commu-
nication with the staff thereby pro-
viding increased access to reference 
and other services through the use of 
email, chat and text messaging. 
 The staff of the Cheng Library is 
pleased to recognize the faculty ser-
vice award presented to Dr. Anne 
Ciliberti at the University’s 20th Leg-
acy Awards Dinner on April 16, 2010 
at the Rockleigh Country Club. 
 Dr. Ciliberti was selected for her 
commendable management of the Li-
brary, her commitment to student suc-
cess, and her dedication to the William 
Paterson University community.  She 
has served as director of the Library 
since 2001 when she was promoted 
from the position of associate director 
for collection development and special 
projects.  
Dr. Anne Ciliberti, Director of Library Services, Receives Award 
Cheng Library Presents Program on the U. S. Census 
where.  Changes in the findings of the 
census have influenced adjustments in 
government initiatives and the focus 
of federal fiscal policy over time.   
 Thousands of articles in subjects 
across many fields reference census 
data.  Researchers in nearly every dis-
cipline consult it for a variety of statis-
tics.  “It is truly a public resource. The 
data is available on the web site of the 
Census Bureau in many forms, and 
users can create a variety of individu-
alized tables of various types of data,” 
remarked Mr. Kearney.   
 This year marks the 23rd Census 
of the United States.  The Constitution 
mandates an enumeration of the popu-
lation every ten years.  The public pol-
icy value of accurate data cannot be 
overstated, and the Census represents 
a rich source of statistical information 
about the citizens of the United States. 
 The Library also sponsored a cam-
pus-wide University poster contest.  
Students were asked to design posters 
encouraging participation in the 2010 
Census, and 28 students contributed 
designs.  At the conclusion of the pro-
gram, four students received awards 
for the posters they designed.  The 
students were Jennifer Luzzi, first 
place; James O’Hanlon, second place; 
Derek Koppinger, third place; and 
Jonathan Le, honorable mention.  
census has both social and economic 
value: it presents clear, undeniable 
data that characterizes variations in 
the population over time. 
 Prof. Martin Gritsch, Department 
of Economics, Finance and Global 
Business, spoke about immigration 
and wages.  His research used Cen-
sus data to determine the effect of 
immigrant labor on wages in certain 
sectors of the United States.  Prof. 
Gritsch sought to clarify common 
assumptions of wage fluctuations 
due to the employment of immi-
grants. 
 Prof. Paula Fernandez focused 
her address on the American Com-
munity Survey (ACS), a separate 
survey sent to a portion of the popu-
lation each year.  It includes more 
detailed questions than those on the 
decennial census.   
 Prof. Fernandez used ACS data 
to examine housing segregation in 
Miami and Dade County, Florida.  
Her research is continuing, and she 
plans to use the 1990, 2000, and 
2010 data to create a longitudinal 
perspective on this issue.   
 All three of the presenters com-
municated an appreciation of the 
value of the Census data.  It reveals 
much about our nation, and this in-
formation cannot be obtained else-
 On March 30, 2010, the Cheng 
Library sponsored a program focusing 
on the United States Census.  The pro-
gram, “Making the Numbers Come 
Alive: Using Census Data in Re-
search,” consisted of three faculty pan-
elists who discussed various aspects of 
the census data with a special empha-
sis on their own research. 
 Richard Kearney, Electronic Re-
sources Librarian, provided an intro-
duction, tracing all of the U. S. cen-
suses from 1790 to this year’s 2010 
Census and comparing the number of 
questions on the forms.  The U. S. 
Census represents a fact-gathering 
project of an enormous scale and 
scope.  It is very expensive to conduct  
and this high cost puts a premium on 
collecting data that is as reliable as 
possible. 
 Prof. Emily Mahon, Department of 
Sociology, traced the historical appli-
cations of censuses which have been 
used for centuries. Her address helped 
to establish a framework for the pro-
gram.   
 Prof. Mahon also discussed the 
political aspects of the U. S. Census 
including the issues of race and ethnic-
ity.  The categories for this question 
on the census form have varied over 
the years, and these changes reflect the 
use of socially constructed terms.  The 
3 Connections - Spring  2010 
 
THE FRIENDS OF THE CHENG LIBRARY 
 
 Becoming Virtual Witnesses 
 
 “To establish its credibility and to secure its status as knowledge, individual belief or experience 
has to be effectively communicated to others . . . experience might be extended and made public by 
writing scientific narratives in a way that offered distant readers . . . such a vivid account of experi-
mental performances that they might be made into virtual witnesses.”  This quote is taken from Ste-
ven Shapin’s book The Scientific Revolution, which seeks to explain how sixteenth- and seventeenth-
century men reshaped the way we understand the world and ourselves in the world through scientific 
experiments.  In contrast to medieval societies that, for the most part, received knowledge from the 
church as unquestionable facts, Renaissance thinkers argued that men could experience the world 
themselves and discover truth by putting certain natural phenomena to tests: the refraction of light or 
the pressure of air on certain objects or the movement of the spheres.  Key to Shapin’s theory is the 
idea that these early scientists could not simply conduct their experiments, measure the results, and 
claim to possess new facts about the world.  Rather, these facts had to be disseminated and agreed 
upon by the public.  The method by which they acquired this agreement was by producing texts that 
described their experiments and the results so that a person could read these texts, judge the veracity 
of the experiments for themselves, and then conclude that the results are fact or not.  The production 
of knowledge, then, had less to do with truth and more to do with creating “virtual witnesses” via 
written texts.  
 
 Shapin’s theory is important in understanding how the Scientific Revolution changed the episte-
mological landscape of the modern world, which relies heavily on objective truths, by insisting that 
facts be published in order to be verifiable, but also to understand that published facts are not neces-
sarily true.  
 
 We might better understand this idea about “virtual witnesses” and fact making by looking at the 
way in which current news is disseminated.  Once upon a time, we believed that if one of the canoni-
cal newscasters put a story on the nightly news it must be true, or that if something appeared in 
print—a story in a newspaper or ideas in a book—it must be factual.  Today, however, we are much 
more cynical and realize that just because something is on television or in print does not necessarily 
mean that it is true—on the contrary, we are highly suspicious of any fact claims on television pro-
grams and/or in written texts.  Often people point to the disintegration of trust in news programs or 
printed texts as a sign that our culture is declining.  But I would rather think of it in a more positive 
light: that our society is becoming more mature and understands that most facts in and of themselves 
are not readily apparent but rather produced by some entity, published in some form, and either veri-
fied or rejected by a certain group of people.   
 
 Rather than despair over the manufactured nature of truth and the way it is employed by various 
institutions, I would like to celebrate our enlightenment and encourage us to continually judge a truth 
not by the mechanism by which it is disseminated but rather by the communities that give it the 
weight of fact.  We are all the virtual witnesses whose job it is to participate in the world around us 
and continually verify that which we hold to be true and right and good, and to hold the manufactur-
ers of truth claims accountable.  We can only do this by becoming active readers who move beyond 
text and analyze the socio-political mechanisms that produce those texts.  
 
         Andrew W. Barnes 
         Chair, The Friends of the Cheng Library 
         Interim Associate Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences 
 4 
 This year, the Cheng Library’s Au-
thors’ Reception took place on April 1 
as part the University’s Research and 
Scholarship Day.  This is the second 
year that the Cheng Library has com-
bined its Authors’ Reception with the 
presentations and poster sessions coor-
dinated  by the Faculty Senate Re-
search Council. 
 The reception was held in the Uni-
versity Commons ballroom, and Presi-
dent Speert greeted the faculty authors 
and congratulated them on their prodi-
gious work.  Provost Weil also ex-
pressed his admiration for their ac-
complishments and encouraged their 
Authors’ Reception Now Part of University Research Day 
Connections - Spring 2010 
Spring 2010, Volume 9, Issue 2   
William Paterson University 
Wayne, New Jersey 
Anne Ciliberti, Director 
Susan Sabatino, Editor 
Contributors: Library Staff 
 
Published by the  
David and Lorraine Cheng Library 
CONNECTIONS 
Students Collaborate in a New Way and in a New Space 
tabase to provide ongoing access to 
these citations, and it is considering 
collaborating with the Faculty Senate 
Research Council in this endeavor.  
New citations will be added to this 
central database each year, so that 
eventually it will serve as a compre-
hensive, searchable database of  Wil-
liam Paterson University authors’ pub-
lications. 
 The Library invites the University 
faculty and staff to submit their publi-
cations for the next bibliography and 
to plan to take part in the annual rec-
ognition of these publications at next 
year’s Authors’ Reception. 
 The Library has a new place to 
encourage student collaboration: Wel-
come to the Group Technology Cen-
ter.  In partnership with I.R.T., this 
space was recently redesigned to ac-
commodate both group and individual 
student use.  New equipment has 
transformed a formerly quiet area to a 
lively group-oriented space.   
 For group collaboration, large dis-
play screens are installed at tables ac-
commodating four to five students.  
Students are now able to connect one 
laptop computer to a monitor and 
work together on a project.   
 The Group Technology Center was 
conceived in response to observations 
of students’ behaviors in the Library.  
Many areas of the Library attract 
groups of students working together at 
tables and in group study rooms.  
Often, these open spaces in the Li-
brary are the busiest and most 
crowded.   This new area provides 
yet another venue for these collabo-
rative activities. 
 This renovation reflects similar 
changes at academic libraries across 
the United States.  Many libraries are 
finding that flexible, technology-
oriented spaces are in demand for 
both individual use and group pro-
jects.  As more print resources are 
converted to electronic format, areas 
which formerly served as storage 
spaces are being changed to study or 
mixed-use areas.   
 Anne Ciliberti, Library Director, 
commented on the benefits of this new 
area: “We are always eager to respond 
to the changing patterns of students’ 
study habits, and group collaboration 
is one current trend.  The redesign was 
a perfect fit for this area.” 
 An additional, chance benefit of 
the reconfiguration has resulted in the 
Library’s display of current magazines  
being relocated to a more central area 
of the Periodicals Department.  This 
room is still in transition, and as the 
rearrangement progresses, flat-screen 
monitors will be added. 
continued research and creative ex-
pressions.  The publications and 
compositions of the authors were 
displayed at the reception. 
 The Library compiles an annual 
bibliography with citations of all of 
the publications submitted by faculty 
and staff.  This year, the bibliogra-
phy took the form of a booklet and 
featured book publications as a spe-
cial insert.  Many faculty authors 
donate a copy of their book to the 
Library, and these books comprise a 
special collection which is displayed 
in the Paterson Room. 
 The Library plans to create a da-
 Every day, somewhere in the Li-
brary, a student assistant is helping 
at a service desk or completing a 
technical or processing task.  The 
Library appreciates the assistance 
provided by these students and 
wishes to acknowledge the work 
contributed by this large group. 
 A ceremony was held in the 
Paterson Room on April 29, 2010, to 
recognize and honor these dedicated 
student workers.   
 In particular, four students were 
selected to receive Outstanding Stu-
dent Assistant Awards.  The four stu-
dents were Qurra-tul-ayn Saleem and 
Nkechi Onukogu, both from the Peri-
odicals Department; Zoe Nelson, Tech-
nical Services; and Caryne David, 
Lending Services. 
 Qurra-tul-ayn is a sophomore ma-
joring in fine arts; Nkechi is a senior 
majoring in kinesiology; Zoe is a junior 
majoring in biology; and Caryne is a  
junior majoring in nursing.  Congratu-
lations to Zoe, Caryne, Nkechi and 
Qurra-tul-ayn, and a big “thank you” to 
all of the Library’s student assistants!   
Library Student Assistants Honored at Reception 


Spring 2010, Volume 9, Issue 2

William Paterson University research and scholarly publications compiled for the annual authors reception

Authors' Publications

Board of Trustees Minutes 12/10/2010

Board of Trustee Minutes 03/11/2010

Board of Trustee Minutes 06/26/2010

Fall 2010, Volume 10, Issue 1 The Newsletter of the David and Lorraine Cheng Library  
democracy. By working with the dis-
enfranchised—the oppressed—he de-
veloped a theory of pedagogy that re-
placed the teacher-centered classroom 
with the idea of an interactive teacher-
student experience where both learned 
from one another.  
 He believed, and I came to believe, 
that if you give students an opportu-
nity to pose the problems and engage 
in a ―culture of questioning‖ in the 
classroom, then you can change the 
traditional structure of teachers im-
parting knowledge to students. One 
can allow students to alter the class-
room relations and take control of the 
modes of authority and knowledge and 
even identity. Knowledge then is no 
longer simply received by students but 
transformed as they learn how to en-
gage in critical dialogue and to be held 
accountable for their own views and 
thought processes. 
 If we believe education has a so-
cial good beyond the individual‘s en-
richment, then education must be part 
of a process that provides knowledge 
and skills and develops social relations 
CONNECTIONS 
 Many of you know I devoted a 
large part of my life to Latin Amer-
ica both as an academic and a busi-
nesswoman. My youthful travels in 
that part of the world by bus, hiking 
the Inca trail, and studying in Vene-
zuela shaped my perspective about 
social equality and confirmed my 
deep belief in the need for an in-
formed, educated population to make 
democracies prevail.  
 At that time, as a young graduate 
student, a professor asked me to read 
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by the 
Brazilian sociologist Paulo Freire, 
who became one of the most influen-
tial and important educators of the 
20th century.  This year we celebrate 
the 40th anniversary of the English 
translation of that seminal work 
which still holds many lessons for 
today and continues to influence my 
thinking about teaching. 
 Freire‘s basic theme was that 
education can be a personally and 
politically empowering activity that 
encourages and sustains the individ-
ual and promotes the development of 
President Kathleen Waldron Offers Thoughts on Education 
so that individuals more fully partici-
pate in society and in the promise of 
democracy. If we believe that educa-
tion transforms the individual and 
therefore society, then education must 
be inquisitive, challenging, and 
autonomous.  
 It is essential that universities re-
main free and open to new fields of 
knowledge and inquiry, be allowed to 
try and sometimes even fail at new 
thinking and pedagogic experimenta-
tion, and be viewed as essential to the 
development and perfection of a de-
mocratic process. Therefore, universi-
ties must remain affordable and acces-
sible to all sectors of the population, 
regardless of family wealth or place of 
origin.  
 But our society is moving away 
from its belief that we should provide 
an opportunity for all young people 
who are desirous and capable of pur-
suing a college degree. We note the 
decade-long decline in funding for 
public institutions of higher education 
and the proportionate increase in the 
cost of tuition that students or their 
families are expected to absorb.  If 
William Paterson, our namesake, were 
alive today, it is doubtful that he 
would have graduated college given 
his modest family origins. 
 So our challenge is to confront this 
situation and reaffirm our belief and 
support for public higher education. 
We must continue to provide an op-
portunity for all members of society, 
understanding that the goal is not just 
a better economic opportunity for the 
individual but the preservation of our 
political democracy.  
 
 Editor’s Note: This is excerpted from 
President Waldron’s investiture speech 
given on November 12, 2010. 
President Kathleen Waldron delivers her speech at her investiture ceremony on November 
12, 2010; looking on at right is Vincent Mazzola '73, chair of the Board of Trustees. 
2 Connections - Fall 2010 
benefit students and are not part of the 
usual Library budget.  In the past, 
funds from the sale have helped sup-
port the purchases of furniture and a 
television for the Friends‘ Room.   
 The Library already has a ―wish 
list‖ of items to buy with the proceeds 
from this year‘s sale, but ideas will be 
solicited from University students as 
well. 
 This sale is the third one to take 
place in the University Commons.  
The sales are typically scheduled 
every eighteen months.  The last sale 
was during the spring of 2009.  Many 
students were eagerly inquiring about 
the next book sale, but while the Li-
brary definitely plans to organize an-
other sale,  the date depends on the 
number of books collected over time. 
 The Cheng Library has already 
begun the process of collecting books 
for the next sale and welcomes contri-
butions from the campus community. 
to storage to await the next book 
sale.  As the donated books are col-
lected, the staff of the Technical Ser-
vices Department sorts them by sub-
ject and places them in boxes for 
storage.  Deborah Pluss, Head of 
Bibliographic Control, coordinates 
these activities. 
 This was the third major used 
book sale of the Library.  The sale 
had been conducted for many years 
on a smaller scale by Dr. Amy Job in 
conjunction with the local chapter of 
Pi Lambda Theta, the Honor Society 
in Education.  This year, in the name 
of Dr. Job and as a tribute to her pio-
neering efforts, a contribution was 
made to the Honor Society from the 
proceeds of the sale.  The Friends of 
the Cheng Library will also receive a 
donation.   
 The remaining money, approxi-
mately $3,000, will be used to make 
improvements at the Library that will 
 The Cheng Library staff held a 
used book sale during November 2 – 
4, 2010.  This popular campus event 
took place in the Multi-Purpose Room 
of the University Commons.  Book 
donations had been assembled for the 
previous eighteen months and totaled 
220 boxes of books.   
 The books covered all subject ar-
eas and included many types of fiction 
and non-fiction as well as some CDs 
and DVDs.  Many students are eager 
to purchase books related to their ma-
jor, and this year, due to the renova-
tion of Science Hall, the sale was sup-
plemented by hundreds of textbooks 
donated by faculty as they prepared 
their offices to be relocated during the 
construction. 
  The Library receives donations 
from students, faculty, and others 
throughout the year.  Any books do-
nated to the Library which are not 
added to the collection are transferred 
Cheng Library Book Sale Generates Campus Interest 
Cheng Library Hosts Regional Ex Libris Conference 
also provides a chance to deliver a 
presentation to a small group and 
gather useful feedback before submit-
ting a session proposal to the national-
level conference. 
 At this conference, presenters from 
William Paterson University included 
Mark Sandford, Ray Schwartz, James 
DeRose, and Deborah Pluss.  Mem-
bers of the Cheng Library staff also 
assisted during registration and served 
as moderators at break-out sessions.  
Kurt Wagner, Assistant Director for 
Library Information Systems, was in-
strumental in bringing this conference 
to William Paterson University and 
coordinated the meeting activities on 
campus. 
 The Cheng Library had been an-
ticipating the opportunity to host this 
conference for several years, and is 
pleased to report that the event was a 
great success and very positively re-
ceived.   
setts, and Pennsylvania attended the 
two-day conference.   
 The keynote address was deliv-
ered by Trevor A. Dawes and Janet 
Lute, both from Princeton University 
and was titled: ―URM (universal re-
source management) and Princeton: 
A Partner‘s Perspective.‖  Princeton 
is working closely with Ex Libris to 
test and develop its next-generation 
library system which is currently 
designated  ―URM‖ while it awaits a 
more formal name. 
 The Cheng Library has partici-
pated in this regional conference 
since 2003.  Each year, the Library 
sends a team of Voyager operators 
and administrators to the conference.  
The annual event is highly regarded 
for its small and accessible size, the 
practicality of its presentations, and 
the opportunity it provides to net-
work with regional counterparts at 
other institutions.  The conference 
 On October 21-22, 2010, the 
Cheng Library hosted a meeting of the 
Ex Libris Northeast Users‘ Group 
(ENUG).  The Library uses Ex Libris 
Voyager, an integrated library automa-
tion system, for many of its critical 
functions, including ordering books 
and media, receiving print publica-
tions, cataloging materials, circulation, 
and reporting and analysis of the col-
lection.   
 The conference represents the re-
gional venue for the presentation of 
sessions on the use of various subsys-
tems, innovative applications and re-
lated topics.  Ex Libris staff and devel-
opment partners also present informa-
tive sessions on product improve-
ments. 
 The conference was formally 
opened by Provost Edward Weil and 
Library Director Anne Ciliberti.  Fifty-
three Ex Libris users from New York, 
Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachu-
3 Connections - Fall  2010 
 
THE FRIENDS OF THE CHENG LIBRARY 
 
 The October 1, 2010 edition of The Chronicle Review is dedicated to ―The Fate of the Book,‖ in 
which three writers—two deans and a publisher—talk about the future of the printed book—three 
fascinating articles that I encourage you to read online at www.chronicle.com.  In my letters printed 
in Connections, I have written about e-books and e-readers, and the conflict I experience when I con-
template the way in which these electronic versions of texts seem to be drowning the book as a physi-
cal object.  However, my fears are fading and I have become more apt to accept the idea that, as the 
writers of the articles in The Chronicle Review suggest, the era of the printed text is quickly coming 
to a close.  
 
 In his article, ―What Are Books Good For?‖, William Germano—dean of the faculty of humani-
ties and social sciences at Cooper Union—gives us a brief historical look at the evolution of printed 
texts, and he notes, cleverly, that the way in which e-readers force us to scroll through pixels of lan-
guage echoes the scrolls that preceded the kind of bound books that we now equate with printed 
books—suggesting that the e-revolution is really a turning back.  While acknowledging that e-texts 
provide more universal access to knowledge and allow for ―knowledge building as a self-corrective, 
collective exercise,‖ he laments the way in which e-books threatened to uncase not only the written 
word but ourselves as vibrant human beings.  Indeed, he plays with the word ‗case‘ to prove his 
point.  Relying upon Robert Darnton‘s book, The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future, Ger-
mano shows how early books were seen as encased in binding and thus encasing the knowledge they 
were meant to produce.  From here, he moves to show that we, too, are encased—quite literally in our 
bodies—and that this act of encasing produces who we are, an ontological act that he romanticizes, 
perhaps, a little too much.  In the end, he argues that in a similar way that our bodies encase our indi-
vidual identities, so books, cased in binding, contain the stories that make us human.  
 
 Diane Watchell—co-founder and executive director of the New Press—makes the argument for 
printed texts in her article, ―Books Aren‘t Crucial, but Long-Form Texts Are.‖  As an editor, 
Watchell is most concerned that publishing text directly to e-formats will destroy the process by 
which texts are created and in the process destroy what she terms ―lofties,‖ that is lofty ideas that 
spring from the production of book creation: writing, editing, rewriting, setting, binding, etc.  While 
she is not lamenting the death of the material book, what she fears is that by shortcutting the process 
by which bonded books are created, we will lose important moments when writers and editors col-
laborate on the production of a book and in those creative moments produce, perhaps, lofty ideas.   
 
 Finally, in his article, ―The Cult of the Book—and Why It Must End,‖ Jeffrey R. Di Leo—dean of 
the arts and sciences at the University of Houston at Victoria—persuasively argues that we have fet-
ishized the bound book and given it the status of an icon in which fixed meaning is carefully stored 
for the ages.  He advocates for changing the ideology of the book, especially for academics for which 
a printed book carries with it status—not to mention tenure and promotion.  Rather, in the e-book 
revolution Di Leo sees opportunities for academics to crisscross disciplinary boundaries and create 
new disciplines that speak to students‘ experiences in the digital word.   
 
 Is the printed book dead?  Is the e-revolution inevitable?  These authors seem to indicate that this 
is the case, although with some caveats.  I don‘t know the answer but the more and more I think 
about bounded texts and e-books, the less anxious I become.  Indeed, this holiday season I am hold-
ing out hope that Santa brings me an iPad just as a way to experiment and decide for myself if read-
ing digitally destroys the pleasure I get from reading from a printed page.  
 
         Andrew W. Barnes 
         Chair, The Friends of the Cheng Library 
         Interim Associate Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences 
 4 
 This year, the Cheng Library was 
awarded three grants from the Alumni 
Association.  The grants cover three 
distinct areas of collection develop-
ment, archives and signage.  
 Yvonne Roux, Curriculum Materi-
als Librarian, was awarded a grant to 
update and expand the Big Book col-
lection in the Curriculum Materials 
Center.  Big Books are oversized pic-
ture books that can be used to model 
reading skills for an entire class.   
 A Big Book storage unit and 60 
Big Books were purchased.  Most of 
the Big Books are literature selections 
to support the teaching of literacy 
skills to young children.  Some of the 
books replaced heavily used titles that 
were falling apart, some are bilingual, 
and some are written in Spanish.   
Alumni Association Awards Three Grants to the Cheng Library   
Connections - Fall 2010 
Fall 2010, Volume 10, Issue 1   
William Paterson University 
Wayne, New Jersey 
Anne Ciliberti, Director 
Susan Sabatino, Editor 
Contributors: Library Staff 
 
Published by the  
David and Lorraine Cheng Library 
CONNECTIONS 
interview will be accessible through 
the Cheng Library Archive.  
       The Above and Beyond Commit-
tee was awarded an Alumni Grant to 
purchase a new information directory 
kiosk to be placed near the Library 
entrance.  The kiosk will house the 
newly designed Library floor plan and 
provide space for informational flyers 
and brochures.  The goal of the new 
display is to have one central location 
in the Library where guests can find 
assistance to navigate the Library and 
read news and details about Library 
and University events. 
 The Library expresses its apprecia-
tion to the Alumni Association and its 
grant program which permits special 
purchases and activities to supplement 
the Library‘s resources and services.  
A Textbook Guide for Students – Knowing the Options 
 One of the most frequently asked 
questions at the Library at the begin-
ning of each semester is ―Do you have 
my textbook?‖ Many students inno-
cently believe that the required books 
for sale at the University Bookstore 
will also be available at the Library.   
 One part of the Library‘s mission 
is to support the curriculum and re-
search needs of the University and to 
supplement the required books with 
additional materials on related topics.  
This mission comprises purchasing 
books, e-books, journals, e-journals 
and databases.   
 The Library staff works closely 
with the faculty to ensure that the col-
lection contains resources that are 
timely and relevant to the curricu-
lum.  All selected materials are thor-
oughly reviewed and evaluated to 
ascertain their appropriateness to the 
University curriculum and the Li-
brary collection.  
 Although the Cheng Library does 
not purchase textbooks, sometimes 
the required text for the class will be 
available in the Library.  Often a 
professor will place a personal copy 
of the book on reserve in the Library 
for students to use.  In other cases, 
the Library may have acquired a 
copy as a gift, or the required book is 
not a text, per se, but a novel, liter-
ary work, or other book in the Li-
brary‘s collection.   
 To help students gain a better 
understanding of their options re-
garding textbook purchases, the Li-
brary created an online guide, 
―Textbook Option$,‖ explaining the 
alternatives available to students. 
However, not all options outlined in 
the guide will be available for every 
textbook.  The guide is accessible at 
the Library‘s web site at 
guides.wpunj.edu/textbook.   
 Renting 
  Students can often rent the latest 
edition of a textbook for one semester.  
The cost is usually half of the pur-
chase price, and the book must be re-
turned by the end of the semester. 
 E-Books 
  Electronic versions of textbooks 
are often less expensive than the 
printed editions, and may be available 
from many major publishers and re-
tailers. 
 Open Source Books 
  Many classic texts are no longer 
under copyright restrictions and may 
be available for free, online.  Web 
sites such as Project Gutenberg, the 
Oxford Text Archive, and Google 
Books, make digital versions of many 
of these books available for free via 
the Internet.  Faculty may also choose 
from a selection of open source elec-
tronic texts.  
 Please visit the Library if you have 
additional questions or want to check 
to see if a book is available.  Faculty 
may contact the staff at the Lending 
Services Desk about placing items on 
reserve.   
 A plaque acknowledging this gift 
has been placed on the storage unit, 
and each Big Book has a bookplate 
indicating that it is a gift of the Wil-
liam Paterson University Alumni 
Association.   
 The Library extends its gratitude 
to the Alumni Association for this 
grant that will benefit both pre-
service and in-service teachers. 
 Bob Wolk, Archives and Special 
Collections Librarian, received a 
grant to transcribe an oral memoir 
with former President Arnold Speert.  
The memoir comprises a four-hour 
interview conducted by Bob and 
Prof. Evelyn Gonzalez in the spring 
of 2010 during which President 
Speert reviewed his forty-year career 
at the University.  The transcribed 


Fall 2010, Volume 10, Issue 1

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