Legends of RPL

June at the Ross Pendergraft Library saw the departure of two beloved members of our family: Beverly Cooper and Delores Pollard.

Beverly has been our Public Services Assistant since 2010.  She graduated from Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and Teaching and a Master of Education in Elementary Education and Teaching.  She worked for Oakland Heights Elementary, Crawford Elementary, and Center Valley Elementary until her retirement in 2005.

For many students frustrated and frazzled by the mysteries of library databases and research assignments, she was a hero who gently guided them through the myriad of resources here at the Library.  Beverly’s smile was usually the first thing people saw every morning at the Ross Pendergraft Library, waiting to help the lost and comfort the confused.  She also took the time to fill our display cases with new and interesting collections and she made sure the new books were out front and center as soon as they arrived.

We will deeply miss her and wish her well as starts a new chapter in North Carolina.

Chareen, Beverly, and Sherry–the Public Services dream team

Another legend, Delores Pollard, officially retired on June 30th after a whopping 37 years as a full-time Serials Librarian Assistant.

Delores with her family and friends

She graduated from Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, and started out in the library at a student worker back in 1975, when the library was in Tomlinson and grown men thought it was ok to wear sideburns, wide ties, and plaid pants.

Delores Pollard from 1979 Tech yearbook, the Agricola

Delores saw the transition of the library through waves of new technology—from card catalog cards to completely online collections and databases.  She faithfully drove from her home in Waldron, Arkansas, all the way to Tech every morning to help the library obtain, organize, bind, subscribe, and wrangle the library’s periodical collection.  Just about every newspaper, journal, ATU thesis, and microfilm roll since 1980 in this building has had her hands on it.

 

Cake decorated as a shelflist

Arkansas Tech University and the Library salutes Delores and Beverly on their new adventures.  Don’t you forget about us!

Judd Nelson and the classic scene from the Breakfast Club wherein he fist pumps the air