There was a wonderful retirement party yesterday, with some old and new friends, fabulous food, wonderful gifts, and a marvelous retirement book, with photos and remembrances, some sent by email, some written on the spot. The retirement book will be available for another week in the Architecture Office, Room 232. You can drop by, or email Chris Williams ([log in to unmask]) to have something included. If you would like to be added to my art mailing list, please send an email to [log in to unmask].
Here's a slightly revised version of my thank you speech -
Thank you all for your part in making my career here at Berkeley so fulfilling. When I arrived as a temporary slide librarian in 1976, I loved the collection right away, the smallness of the slides (so much easier to refile than maps in the Map Room where I had worked for a year), the richness of the information, the opportunity to see parts of the world everyday (the visual materials), the faculty, especially the historians who relied so much on the library. I was lucky enough to be, or think I was, anyway, a big fish in a little pond, and to get to invent my job, figuring out to best meet the needs of the faculty, students, how to use the awesome collection to honor and augment the reputation of University of California and the College of Environmental Design, and how to join forces with other visual resources librarians to empower us all.
I’ve been so lucky to be able to develop SPIRO, from proof of concept, to demonstration project, to a working image database, in fact, the first user-friendly image database in the world. Of course it has been a team effort. SPIRO is very well and alive today, more robust and functional than ever and with more than 80,000 images. I’d like to acknowledge the entire Advanced Technology Planning (ATP) and Museum Informatics Project (MIP) administrators and staff, from then until now, especially programmers Steven Jacobson (now deceased) and Susan Stone, very much alive and working still.
I’ve learned so much during my time in CED. Learned about how complex institutions work (well, I’m still trying to figure that one out), met wonderful people, students, staff, and faculty, made mistakes, made enemies, made friends, made friends of some of my enemies. I’ve been a part of a big, important institution, and I got to make an impact. And leave a legacy. I’ve also had some leeway to write and think and give talks and help develop national standards. It’s been a great, great run, and I thank everyone who played a part, large or small, hidden or visible, custodians, accountants, people whom I know only on the telephone, faculty, staff, and students, librarians around the U.S, affiliated library and LAUC colleagues,and all the people who shared the same hallways, both in Wurster and on campus and beyond.
I’ve been very lucky. I had some great teams to work with. Steven Brooks has been on all of them. He was entering the Masters in Visual Studies in 1979 when I hired him. I’ve had wonderful library assistants and dedicated student assistants. I’ve worked with fabulous, smart, and dedicated people on and off campus, and especially in CED! I thank you all for your part in my life as a librarian at Cal.
Maryly Snow
Visual Aids Collection
Architecture Slide and Photograph Library
Architecture Visual Resources Library
1976-2006
December 15, 2006
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Thanks,
Maryly
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Maryly Snow
Librarian
Architecture Visual Resources Library
232 Wurster Hall #1800 (mailing address)
494 Wurster Hall, south tower (physical location)
University of California, Berkeley 94720-1800
(510) 642-3439 tel (510) 642-8655 fax
www.mip.berkeley.edu/spiro
www.arch.ced.berkeley.edu/resources/archslides.htm