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Hale Library Blog

Author: Brenna Leahy

The envelope, please: Dean’s Award to recognize exceptional contributions

Posted on by Brenna Leahy

The K-State Libraries employee award ceremony on March 27, 2019, will be especially meaningful. We don’t often come together to recognize our peers’ hard work, both pre- and post-fire, since we’re spread out over a dozen different campus locations.

The Dean’s Award is one of three employee awards that will be presented that afternoon. It’s given annually to a non-tenure track professional who has been with the Libraries for at least two years.

Here are this year’s nominees, as described by their nominators:

woman with short white hair and glasses
Alice Anderson, instructional designer

Alice can resolve any and all technical questions about LibGuides, RefWorks and Canvas. Her depth of knowledge is amazing.

Alice’s work on LibGuides makes it easier for us to keep them up-to-date and functioning smoothly. She responds to questions quickly and follows up in person to resolve any related issues. In addition, her initiative to add default LibGuides links to Canvas class sites is awesome. Her efforts make library resources much easier to find for students who may not take the initiative to proactively seek our help.

A year ago, patrons were having a very difficult time with RefWorks citation records from a specific source. She dug into the problem and realized the metadata practices of the creator weren’t interfacing well with RefWorks. As a result, we were able to advise students and instructors in that field to be aware of the problem and follow up accordingly.

Allyssa Bruce, library help student supervisor

Allyssa oversees the hiring, training, scheduling, and evaluations for 12 student workers who collectively cover 77 hours of desk time per week. Her communication skills and her exceptional training program have been instrumental in the success of our services. Last summer Allyssa worked to launch a Peer Research Consultant program to provide K-State students with access to one-on-one research help that funnels into the more advanced assistance offered by our Academic Services Librarians. Her work with the PRCs has transformed the ability and aspirations of the four students who became consultants.

In addition, Allyssa is an outstanding writer, teacher, researcher, and leader. Her professionalism and high expectations for service quality have been instrumental to our ability to provide outstanding help to patrons throughout several migrations of our main service desk and changes in our staffing model.

Woman with dark brown bob and glasses
Kathy Coleman, coordinator of interlibrary services

Kathy has been coordinator since spring 2018. She worked hard to plan the unit’s move to a new office inside of hale library. A few short weeks after the move was complete, the fire changed everything. Kathy worked many late nights and on weekends to ensure that patrons would still be able to obtain the articles and books that were essential to their publications, teaching and grants.

While managing constant changes in the aftermath of the fire, Kathy saw opportunity to improve the user experience. She modified request forms to provide users with control over which items would be delivered to which locations. She and her team worked hard to keep up with demand; at the same time, she introduced enhancements such as a pilot project that delivered physical loans to department offices. Kathy’s expertise, kindness, and strong work ethic are a major part of K-State Libraries’ success.

Woman with shoulder-length blond hair
Renée Gates, IT coordinator

After the fire, Renée worked tirelessly to keep everyone’s computer access up and running, which in turn allowed everyone to continue the critical tasks related to restoring library services. Imaging 125 machines in less than a day to get new computers up and running is a monumental task for any group… The amount of organization that it took to do that job within that timeframe is beyond most things I have ever witnessed.

In addition, two full-time employees left at the same time this summer. Renée pushed forward with a group of student workers and prepared LIST for more change and the onboarding of two new full-time employees. When her new employees arrived, everything was ready for them. In short, Renée is the glue for the Library Information and Support for Technology (LIST) unit and invaluable to the Libraries as a whole.

Woman with long light brown ponytail
Tara Marintzer, senior graphic designer

Tara is incredibly organized and productive. She’s also a reliable, patient coworker. She consistently produces creative, beautiful, effective designs.

Sometimes projects shift and Tara has to scrap something she’s worked hard on and start from scratch, but she never misses a beat. She goes back to the drawing board and comes up with something even more amazing than her initial design.

For example, the summer magazine was ready to go to press in late May. In fact, it would have been sent to the printer the week the fire happened. An entire completed issue had to be put on hold so we could create a new version that covered the fire and its aftermath. Tara was unfazed, and her output for the special issue about the Hale Library fire was a case study in great storytelling through design.

Woman with long auburn hair
Sarah McGreer Hoyt, writer/editor

Sarah is one of the hardest working, productive employees I know. She juggles multiple duties and produces more content than most people probably realize. Additionally, she is an extremely talented writer and storyteller. Sarah’s story about the fire in the last issue of the Libraries Magazine is a prime example of her talent.

After the fire, Sarah took on the responsibility of managing and creating the content for the Hale Library blog. The blog has been key in our ability to communicate in a timely manner, and it was a lot of work, especially in the first few months. She was posting two stories a week in an environment where accuracy was vital, but information could change by the hour. As other work has returned to “normal” Sarah has continued producing the blog while managing her already full workload.

Woman with shoulder-length blond hair and glasses
Kathryn Talbot, preservation coordinator

Kathryn’s leadership and dedication after the fire made the difference between setting us on a path to a successful recovery or not. Her years of unsung work on the Libraries’ Collection Disaster Plan paid incredible dividends. Having the plan and the various relationships in place meant the Libraries were able to move quickly to address the perils Hale’s collections were in as the air conditioning, electricity, telecommunications and other basic building services failed.

More than one party outside of the Libraries commented how well we were coping. Much of the credit should go to Kathryn. While the scale of our disaster was (and still is) daunting, her plan made it less so and gave the impression we had everything figured out.

Kathryn’s follow-through was vital given the level of detail involved in packing out and mapping the removal of over 1.5 million items from Hale Library.

Congratulations to all of the nominees!

And the nominees are …

Posted on by Brenna Leahy

Every spring, three K-State Libraries awards honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to our organization. Since so many folks went above and beyond the call of duty following the fire, the employee awards ceremony this spring will be especially meaningful.

We’re excited to honor a few of our outstanding employees.

The recipient of these awards—one each for a faculty member, a professional staff member, and an university support staff member—has their name added to a plaque and is presented with $1,000.

The University Support Staff of the Year award, which has been presented since 1983, is generously sponsored by the Friends of the K-State Libraries. We are proud to introduce our three nominees for the University Support Staff of the Year. All three of them experienced big changes in their jobs after the fire, and all three remain resilient, patient and hard-working.

Jesica Sellers, Utility Worker, Building Services

Jesica Sellers works in building services. When we were located in Hale Library, her work included addressing building maintenance issues, setting up rooms for events and meetings and coordinating mail delivery.

Without Hale, Jesica’s job has changed a lot, and tasks like mail delivery have become more complicated. For example, she works with half a dozen students and their shifting schedules to make sure the Libraries’ staff receives mail in ten different buildings spread across the K-State campus.

Her nominator said, “Jes listens to others’ ideas and problems and tries to find solutions that work for everyone. When it came to figuring out the new mail delivery schedule, she was patient and made sure we understood the limitations the Libraries were facing due to the fire, but she also listened to what we needed. Jes consistently performs her job efficiently and well.”  

Raymond Deiser, Library Associate, Metadata, Preservation and Digital Initiatives

The process of keeping track of millions of items in a library collection falls to the folks who manage the metadata, including copy catalogers like Raymond Deiser. Raymond has several cataloging specializations at K-State Libraries, including government documents and maps. He also helps with music cataloging.

Like all of the other copy catalogers post-fire, Raymond spends at least two days each week at the K-State Libraries Annex, which is located near the Manhattan Regional Airport. As our books and other items that were in the fire are cleaned, as many as possible are being ingested into the Annex so they can be checked out again. First, though, the catalogers have to prepare each item’s catalog record, which is a big job when you’re processing thousands of items.

Raymond is also the unit’s in-house expert on Alma, the cloud-based library services platform we use to manage our collection and the way our users find what they need through our website. 

“Raymond’s knowledge is indispensable for all of us,” his nominator said. “He is also very polite, gracious, and kind. Since he joined the library, I’ve been impressed by his work every day.” 

Marcia Eaton, Library Assistant III, Interlibrary Loan Services

Marcia Eaton works in interlibrary loan services (ILS), and they have been even more in-demand than usual following the fire. When K-State Libraries doesn’t own the materials our community members need, ILS borrows the materials for them from other libraries around the country.

Since most of our physical collection is boxed up and in storage, it’s unsurprising that the number of borrowing requests has skyrocketed. Marcia’s hard work, diligence, and positive attitude greatly contributed to Interlibrary Services being able to handle the increased demand for loans and articles after the fire.

Marcia began the year as the sole lender in Interlibrary Services. After the fire she switched to working full-time in borrowing.

Her nominator said, “Marcia jumped in with both feet and a great attitude, quickly learning the basics and then taking on other duties. She is an extremely dedicated worker who always strives to provide excellent service to other libraries and to K-State patrons. Marcia leaves no stone unturned in attempting to locate requested materials.”

Congratulations, Jes, Raymond and Marcia!

We look forward to introducing the other award nominees and announcing the winners in the coming weeks.

Hale Library featured on “Rescue Heroes”

Posted on by Brenna Leahy

In the wake of Hale’s fire, our community has been incredibly supportive. 

We didn’t expect national exposure like this, though: Hale Library was recently profiled on a new television program. The series, which is called “Rescue Heroes: Global Response Team” (not to be confused with the Canadian children’s show “Rescue Heroes,” which features animated dogs), premiered last month. The second episode gives an overview of the fire, including interviews from rescue and recovery personnel plus students and faculty. 

Watch the full show on YouTube! (The portion featuring K-State starts at 11:07). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_K80L-FdIs

The episode features several people who are near and dear to the Libraries talking about the fire, the process of rescuing the books, restoring the building, and Hale Library’s future. Here are just a few of them.

Before the fire, Kathryn Talbot managed digital preservation and the preservation lab that cared for the books. She also supervised all staff that physically moved library materials: They shifted the collections from one part of the library to another, reshelved books returned by patrons and more. 

After the fire, Talbot became one of Hale Library’s key players in working with Belfor, the property restoration company, to make sure our collections made it out of the building and into safe storage locations.

Katheryn Talbon, Preservation Coordinator at KSU sits in the gutted remnants of one of Hale Library's floors.
Katheryn Talbot, preservation coordinator

“Books are a part of us,” Talbot said. “They have all our ideas, our thoughts, our hopes, our futures embedded in those pages. Missing that would be missing a huge part of ourselves.”

Tiffany Bowers, a student at K-State, sits on a bench outside of Hale during an interview.
Tiffany Bowers, a senior at K-State, was interviewed for the video

Tiffany Bowers, a senior in anthropology, was also featured in the video. Bowers is planning on going to graduate school for library sciences and is the current president of the K-State Libraries Student Ambassadors.

Her interview included her hopes for a renovated Hale Library: “This is an amazing opportunity to really rethink how… the library could serve students even better.” 

Battalion Chief Jason Hudson, who was featured in a previous post, shared experience on the scene of the fire that day. “It was pulling at my heart knowing how bad this was,” he said.

Hudson was an undergraduate student at K-State when Hale was being built in the late ’90s, so witnessing its near destruction held special significance for him. 

Rodney Todd, a restoration specialist with Belfor stands in front of the library
Rodney Todd, a restoration specialist with Belfor, stands in front of Hale Library

Rodney Todd, a restoration specialist with Belfor, shared facts about the extent of the damage: “There was not one square inch of the library that didn’t have some sort of either soot or water damage from top to bottom.”

Todd also talked about the murals in the Great Room and the process of trying to repair them after water and soot damage. “They’ve got the Great Room, which has murals that we’re saving. That’s one thing that’s really important to the university.”

The books that were damaged in the fire are being taken care of by Kay Rieder, another restoration specialist with Belfor. The approximately 1.5 million books are being stored in several locations throughout the state in storage facilities that have humidity and temperature control.

Key Rieder, Belfor Restoration Specialist, sits in front of piles of boxes filled with books in storage.
Kay Rieder, Belfor Restoration Specialist

Kay described the process of dealing with wet books: “When we get wet materials we put it straight in our trailer, which is set at zero degrees. They then go in a freeze-dry chamber and that chamber puts it in a dry state and when the books come out they’re completely dry.”

These people are just a small part of the Hale Library emergency response team. As disheartening as it can be to think of the fire this summer, the knowledge that our books and building are in good hands made the process much easier, and we loved seeing it all captured so beautifully on “Rescue Heroes.”

Students explore the state of Hale Library

Posted on by Brenna Leahy

From the outside, Hale Library looks relatively normal. Sure, there is a fence around it, and there is obviously some sort of construction going on, but the building’s exterior does not mirror the level of destruction inside.

This week we started a new semester, complete with new students wondering why the library is under construction. Even though we have been posting updates, there seems to be a disconnect with students about why Hale Library isn’t open.

In order to get a student’s perspective on what’s happening inside the building, the week before finals I joined a group of K-State Libraries Student Ambassadors on a tour so I could see the damage through their eyes and get their honest opinions.

Gutted office space on the first floor with exposed wall
Gutted office space in Hale.

The inside of the building has been stripped of almost all furniture and carpet, with a few remaining belongings sitting on the second floor. Most of the building is unrecognizable, and extension cords trail along the ceiling for lighting.

“I remember walking around Hale thinking that I knew where we were, and then Dean Lori would say something and I would realize that I had no idea where I was,” said Matthew Millholm, a junior agricultural education major.

The second floor is home to a few tables that survived the fire and random boxes. Wefald said of the second floor, “I was surprised that there was still some stuff left inside on one of the floors, like office chairs, desks, and even Christmas decorations.”

A group of students walks up poorly lit, damaged stairs. Extension cords trail across the ceiling.
The railings lining the stairs aren’t particularly stable; they shift and make loud and frightening noises.

The combination of the exposed wall and partially destroyed tile on the staircase between the first and second floors was haunting, but we made it. From there, we took the elevator to the third and fourth floors, which was terrifying, but in different ways: There are no lights in the elevator. It was pitch dark.

This really brought home what Dean Lori Goetsch explained to us about the power in the building: Right now, all of the electricity is a low level of “construction power” that is brought into Hale Library from outside. As a result, areas that don’t absolutely have to be lit up (like the elevators) are left dark. It will be a huge job to replace all of the building’s electrical wiring so that it has its own power again.

Two Library Student Ambassadors look at students walking below from the room that used to house iTAC.
Two library student ambassadors, Brooke Sullivan and Matthew Milholm, look at students walking below from the room that used to house iTAC.

“The third and fourth floors are completely empty,” Milholm said. “I think that’s where I really realized that the renovation is going to be a lot longer process than what I expected.”

The Great Room has seen better days but is under active construction. We barged in on two workers who looked very surprised to see us. Despite the scaffolding and the construction, the room is still gorgeous.

“It was a little bittersweet going inside the Great Room and walking by my old study spot because it really does look like a completely different building now,” Victoria Sparkman, a senior political science major, said.

Sunlight filters through the scaffolding in The Great Room.
Scaffolding and amazing lighting in The Great Room.

After the fire, all the carpet needed to be torn out. As we exited the Great Room, we encountered a portion of the floor that is still alarmingly sticky from carpet glue.

A student sits in the only chair on the otherwise empty third floor
Victoria Sparkman sitting in the lone chair in this part of the third floor.

Even after all of the demolition and repairs, there are still places in the building that look beautiful. This is the woodworking room, boxed in by plastic sheets and dedicated to repairing wooden trim from the Great Room.

Rows of wood lay on the ground in a makeshift woodworking studio
Woodworking room on the fourth floor.

The fourth floor was probably the most terrifying of all. The students—and, off the record, some of the adults—thought it would have made an excellent haunted house, with the exposed brick, scattered debris, and office space that has been temporarily transformed into a lair of some kind.

“It was very cool to see the old brick walls that were covered up when Hale was expanded over the years; it was like seeing more of Hale’s history,” Sparkman said.

Exposed brick walls and the entrance to a dark room that used to be part of the Academic Learning Center.
This haunting room was once part of the Academic Learning Center.
This gaping hole in the ceiling shows where the fire began, on the roof above the Academic Learning Center on the fourth floor.
This gaping hole shows where the fire began on the roof above the Academic Learning Center on the fourth floor.
Students walk up the stairs to the fifth floor. A chandelier hangs covered in plastic.
Stairway to Heaven (or stairs to the relatively undamaged fifth floor).

The fifth floor is surprisingly intact because it was not damaged by the water. Because of this, desks, carpet and other items were left behind. This floor is where special collections were housed, so they escaped intact, although they were moved offsite for storage and will need to be cleaned.

“One of the weirdest things was going to the fifth floor and having it look relatively normal while the rest of the building looked so different,” Wefald said.

A student rubs the nose of a bust of Abraham Lincoln, one of a few items that still remain on the fifth floor.
Me, touching an Abraham Lincoln bust. Allegedly, if you rub his nose you’ll have good luck.

The final part of the tour took us to the stacks for special collections. There was a fan on somewhere in the room that made the plastic sheeting move. This, paired with the dangling light bulbs at the end of the dark bookshelves, made for a terrifying experience.

Plastic sheeting covers the bookshelves on the fifth floor. Bare lightbulbs hang from the exposed ceiling.
Horror movie-esque plastic sheeting that covers any bookshelves left in the library

“After leaving the tour, I realized we are going to have a brand new building,” Milholm said. “I know that the current students will have a library that is fit for them. I won’t be in school when Hale reopens, but I’m still excited about the new library.” 

At the end of the tour, we were all excited that we had the opportunity to see the inside of Hale. For the students who will graduate before it reopens, it was lovely to be able to say goodbye to the library that has been their favorite study spot for so long.

Our final list of study locations for finals week (finally)

Posted on by Brenna Leahy

Finals week is next week! Since Hale Library is temporarily out of commission, we wanted to highlight some study locations that might make things less stressful during this very stressful time of year.

The full list of hours, dates and locations can be found at the Libraries website, but to give you an inside look, my coworkers and I did a quick tour of a few lesser-known study spaces. The following buildings were not highlighted in our beginning-of-semester post about study spots, which featured a massive picture of my head that still haunts me.

All of these spaces are reserved for quiet study, which is the hardest to come by on campus during finals week.

The Alumni Center was our first stop.

My coworker Rebekah, a senior in public relations and K-State Libraries student employee, shows off the space in the Alumni Center Ballroom on the first floor. 

In addition to setting up their massive space with tables and chairs, they have several small meeting rooms (just ask at the front desk about availability). The Alumni Center will also serve free coffee 8-10 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday (while supplies last).

The KSU Foundation at 1800 Kimball Avenue is offering up their enormous conference room on the main floor. Two perks: It’s right next door to Bluestem Grille, and it’s on the aTa Bus line (Office Park/Grain Campus stop).

Avery, senior in political science and philosophy and KSU Foundation student employee, poses in their enormous conference room. This is one of the few spaces on our list of study spots that has great natural light.

Students looking for space that’s open all night should head to the K-State Student Union. In addition to the usual Union study spots, they’ll have their ballroom set up for studiers; that area will stay open until midnight.

Emma, sophomore in marketing and K-State Libraries student employee, being a good sport for this blog post.

Holtz Hall will be open from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and they offer two dozen study rooms. The Berney Family Welcome Center has twenty-three study rooms that would be great for small groups of two to four; they’re free from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday (check at the welcome desk for availability).

“If I really needed total silence, I would hustle to grab one of the small rooms in Holtz Hall or the Berney Family Welcome Center,” Rebekah said. “The other spaces will accommodate a ton of people, so they’ll have more ambient noise. I think the ballrooms would work perfectly well, though, especially if I had my headphones on.”

Nine of the twenty-three small meeting rooms in the Berney Family Welcome Center.

“We highlighted spaces that aren’t usually available for studying because people won’t be as aware of them,” Emma said. “Two of my go-to spots that aren’t on this list are the Business Building (because I spend so much time there anyway) and the tucked-away seating areas in the Rec Center. If you’re someone who really needs to get a stress-relieving workout in, that would be a great spot.”

Again, we have a guide online that outlines dates, hours, and details about these study spaces and many, many more (21 in all)! We hope these will help lessen student stress, even though finals week will remind us all again how much we miss Hale Library.

Exploring alternative study spots with Brenna

Posted on by Brenna Leahy

Hi! My name is Brenna. I’m a junior from Conway Springs, Kan., majoring in English. I was hired as a communications student employee for K-State Libraries about two weeks before Hale caught on fire, and as someone who basically lived in the library last semester, I was pretty upset when I heard what had happened, especially when I realized the extent of the damage. 

Selfie of the author.
This is me, looking a little sleep-deprived at work.

The K-State Student Union has stepped up in amazing ways, especially by hosting Library Help and IT Help desks. Everyone knows about it as a study spot, though. I decided to take a mini-tour to see what other study locations around campus are my favorite! Here are a few out-of-the-way areas you might not know about. 

I used the “Hale recovery” tab on the K-State interactive map to find locations that would be good on-campus study spots. The map itself was incredibly helpful since it has the hours listed as well as the room numbers or floors.

My first stop was Calvin Hall’s third floor, which is advertised on the map as a location with group study space, printing capabilities and a computer lab. The group study spot was extremely comfortable with rows of cushioned chairs and a pretty relaxed atmosphere.

The very nice grad student who I talked to said that it’s typically pretty empty, except for right before class starts. 

There is also a charging station with both Android and iPhone compatible cords for those days when you find yourself without a charger. You can also find a  computer lab with a printer in Room 318.

A charging station on a black metal post with adapters hanging from it.
Charging station with cords for Androids and iPhones in Calvin Hall.
A man in a baseball cap holding a laptop sits on a couch.
Friendly Calvin Hall grad student.

Eisenhower Hall 121 was the next place I visited. This room is a designated quiet room, and it had a lot of outlets surrounding the desks, which is always a plus. There was no one there at all, and it was really easy to find.

There is a chalkboard there if that helps you study. Unfortunately, there is no printing in Eisenhower for students, so plan accordingly!

Several white plastic tables and aqua chairs sit in front of a large, sunny bank of windows.
Tables in Eisenhower 121, a quiet study room.

The College of Business Building is home to some amazing study spaces. Rooms are available for both quiet study and group study. Even the open study spaces on the first, second and third floors were relatively quiet.

The very friendly student I talked to said that the areas are generally heavily trafficked and that it can be difficult to grab a study room.

However, there were so many different seating options and arrangements outside of study rooms. Nearly all of the chairs I saw also had desks near them. Printers are available, and they are located near the first, second and third floor elevators and in the back of the computer lab located in Room 3121.

A student with short dark hair sits in an armchair holding a black laptop in front of a light purple wall.
Seating options in the College of Business Building.
A student with long brown hair and glasses smiles at the camera as she sits in an office chair with her feet propped up on an armchair and holds her laptop.
Study room in the College of Business Building. 
More than two dozen double computer monitors line long wooden tables in a room occupied by a single student.
The computer lab in the College of Business Building, Room 3121.

Next up, Justin Hall! Justin Hall has a quiet study room (Room 301) on the third floor and group study locations on the first floor in an open area.

A computer and large printer sit under a sign that says "Louis S. and Rachel C. Hodgson Student Collaborative Area."
The printer in Justin Hall, which is located by the group study area.

Right by the entrance to Justin, there are tables with chairs for groups, and farther back in the first floor is another group of comfortable chairs—these do not have desks, but it was quite a bit quieter than the area by the entrance. Printers are available both in the quiet study room and in the group study location to the left of the main entrance.

Brenna sits in an armchair against the left wall; nearby, two tables are surrounded by a variety of office chairs.
Quiet study in 301 Justin.

Dickens Hall has 24/7 printing available! It is a computer lab, so it has a lot of computers and a printer available. They’re located in Room 1, which is in the basement. You can access it through the back entrance on the north side of the building or the wheelchair accessible entrance throughout the night.

A dozen monitors sit on three tables lined against a wall.
Rows of computers in the basement of Dickens Hall lab.
Three students with short hair hold notebooks and pens as they look at a computer monitor together.
The computer lab in Dickens Hall. 
Wheelchair accessible entrance to the computer lab in Dickens Hall.

The Vet Med Library is located on the north side of campus in Trotter Hall, very close to the K-State Rec. Its amazing booths might just be worth the trek. It’s open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and has public computers, scanners and a printer.

The printer does cost a small amount because it doesn’t accept CatCash. There is an open group study area as well as a room specifically for quiet study, Room 422.

It is located on the fourth floor of Trotter Hall and is to your right when you get off the elevators. The chairs are comfy, and there is a variety of seating arrangements, including those booths—they’re now my favorite spot because they have outlets on the table and are incredibly comfortable.

Entrance to the Vet Med Library on the fourth floor.
A curved help desk at the left is adjacent to a study area with tables and office chairs, as well a variety of soft seating.
Group seating in the Vet Med Library.
Wooden tables and gray booths with an aqua pattern line one wall of the Vet Med Library. A student at a laptop works in the distance.
Booths in the Vet Med Library.

I found a ton of study spots that I did not know existed before this year, and some of them I really loved. If you’re like me, you’re missing Hale Library, but there are great spots out there. Go find your new favorite spot—and let us know about it!

The future of the “We Are the Dream” mural

Posted on by Brenna Leahy

A full view of the mural, which features symbols of Native American culture, including a bison; images representing black American struggle such as Martin Luther King Jr. speaking on the Washington mall; and leading Hispanic activists such as Cesar Chavez. Stars and stripes from the U.S. flag form the backdrop.

Maybe you’ve never seen it. The “We Are the Dream” mural on the fourth floor of Hale Library is not heavily trafficked, but it’s an important record of the struggle of K-State’s underrepresented students to be seen and heard.

“We Are the Dream,” which was sponsored by the Black Student Union, Movimiento Estudiantil de Chicanos de Aztlan (MEChA, a Hispanic student group), and the Native American Indian Student Body, was painted and dedicated in 1980. At that time, it was a striking focal point in the Minorities Resources/Research Center. In recent years, the space has served as the Academic Learning Center, a daytime study location for student athletes. 

A man stands on a ladder at right with his hand outstretched to work on portraits of a Hispanic family that are featured in the mural.
Harold Carter started the “We are the Dream” painting in May 1980. He was a senior in landscape architecture when the mural was dedicated that fall.

This summer, the “We Are the Dream” mural was damaged in the May 22 fire, along with the rest of the building. In fact, the Academic Learning Center staff, led by Liane Fowler, assistant director of Student Academic Services, was the first to smell the smoke in their space directly in front of the painting.

Their area is located on the opposite side of the wall from the Great Room Murals, so the two works of art have undergone some of the same challenges. Both suffered from significant water damage and soiling, and it is imperative that the the wall between them dries out. The “We Are the Dream” mural had mold trapped behind it: While the images are beautiful, the paint created a barrier that inhibited the moisture from escaping.

An interior scene of the Academic Learning Center with the mural on the wall at left. The carpet, half a dozen round wooden tables, and black office chairs are covered in plaster debris.
The Academic Learning Center was very near the site where the fire started on the roof and suffered extensive water damage. May 24, 2018.

Rachel Gilberti, the chief conservator at John Canning Company, has been working with the damaged mural since June 22, after her company was contacted by Julia Mathias Manglitz, the preservation architect with TreanorHL. 

“The ‘We Are the Dream’ mural is painted on burlap that was incorporated in the original 1927 building construction, so that’s been there for a long time,” Gilberti said. “When they made the mural in the early ’80s, they came in and painted over everything that was existing. So, in reality, that surface was never really prepared for a painting.”

Two women in yellow construction vests sit on metal scaffolding as they remove a section of the mural from the wooden planks behind it that run horizontally across the length of the wall.
Conservationists carefully remove the mural in sections. The squares on the painting are facing paper, which is made of mulberry fibers and helps protect the surface as the painting is handled and moved. August 6, 2018. 

“Another challenge is that we have multiple types of adhesives going on behind the burlap. There’s the original adhesive used when the burlap was installed, and over the years, as the seams started coming apart, they started injecting other adhesives on the seams. There are 15 pieces of burlap, so a lot of the seams have a different type of adhesive, and each type reacts differently.”

Gilberti and her conservation associates have removed each section of burlap from the wall, which will allow air to reach the wall behind the painting and dry it out.

The “We are the Dream” mural has been moved in pieces to another floor in the library and spread on tables so the conservationists can clean them.

Two women wearing white hard hats and yellow construction vests lean over large brown rectangular panels of the murals spread on library tables so they can carefully remove debris.
After deinstallation, the painting was laid out face-down on tables in the library so conservationists Grace Moran and Juliana Roy could clean the burlap on the reverse side. August 10, 2018. 

However, the Libraries administration’s hope that the mural won’t remain in pieces. It will be safely stored by John Canning Company in a climate-controlled space until it can be reinstalled in a clean, renovated Hale Library. 

“They are salvageable,” Gilberti said. “Every piece of art is salvageable. It’s not one of those things. Conservators are here for exactly that reason, to salvage the artwork and preserve what the original artist’s intent is. So they will be saved.”

When asked about the “We Are the Dream” mural, Dean of Libraries Lori Goetsch noted that it’s an important part of K-State’s cultural history.

“We love having it as part of Hale Library and look forward to its restoration,” she said. “The fact that this mural celebrates diversity and progress at K-State makes it an important piece of work to be treated with respect and preserved as well as it can be.”

A woman sits on yellow scaffolding several feet off of the ground in front of a section of the mural featuring large red and white stripes and portraits of an Hispanic man, woman, and infant.
August 6, 2018. 

The mural has been an important symbol to many K-Staters over the years. In May 1993, students gathered around the mural to mourn the death of Hispanic activist and leader Cesar Chavez, who is pictured in the painting.

The Kansas State Collegian reported that members of HALO, (Hispanic American Leadership Organization), sang, listened to music and talked about Chavez’s impact on their lives in front of the “We Are the Dream” mural.

Elsa Diaz, the president of HALO at that time, said the mural is significant to minorities on campus because it is the only thing on campus that can give them a sense of belonging. “The mural means a lot to a number of people,” Diaz said. “It is important to people who want to come and worship their heroes.”

A panoramic shot of the room without the mural: Wooden planks run lengthwise along the top two-thirds of the wall while the bottom third is exposed stone.
The fourth floor space after the “We Are the Dream” mural was deinstalled. August 21, 2018.