{"id":1228,"date":"2014-10-30T21:12:02","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T21:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2014-10-31T04:28:53","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T04:28:53","slug":"farewell-bill-parton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/2014\/10\/30\/farewell-bill-parton\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell, Bill Parton"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10557240_754582724607683_2174617170705522115_n<\/a>Bill Parton, Library Director for Arkansas Tech University, will be retiring after 24 years of being with the Arkansas Tech family. \u00a0Friday, October 31st, marks Parton\u2019s last day as Director for the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center, and fellow library staff will host a small reception honoring Parton and his retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started at Tech, I felt like it would be a good place to retire,\u201d Parton says.<\/p>\n

The Parton family originally hails from Texas, where Parton\u2019s oldest daughter now lives. Parton himself grew up in the Houston area, playing trumpet for his rock band, teaching others how the play the trumpet, and playing in the bands at Astroworld amusement park during the summers. \u201cI was dependent upon performing and teaching to earn money through college and after college,\u201d Parton said. In 1977, an economic bust hit Houston, temporarily halting Parton\u2019s musical career. \u201cThere were no jobs for live musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"doppelgangerband1970s\"

Bill, top center, with his band, “Doppleganger.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Looking for work, Parton applied for a job at the Houston Public Library. Upon getting hired, he shelved books for about a month before learning about a music reference position. He applied for the position and was hired with little experience, primarily due to his music education. The position mainly involved answering and solving music-related questions and puzzles, and he found that he loved it.\u00a0 He knew he wanted to further himself in this career path.<\/p>\n

The job eventually took him to graduate school at the University of Washington in Seattle where he went on to earn his master\u2019s degree in librarianship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I graduated, I needed to find full time work,\u201d Parton said. \u201cWaco, Texas, had the best job offer, with a full time reference position and benefits, so we packed up from Seattle and moved to Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

There, Parton and his wife welcomed their two daughters and began their careers, he working as reference librarian at the public library and she as a graphic designer for the local community college. However, the benefits, pay, and lifestyle weren\u2019t suitable for a growing family of four. While looking for work suitable for the family, Parton stumbled upon an open position at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, and became university librarian there in 1986.<\/p>\n

After four years in Brownwood, Parton saw the library director position at Arkansas Tech University opened; he applied, was selected, and he and his family made the move to Arkansas.<\/p>\n

The family moved during the winter of 1990. \u201cWe packed up and left the day after Christmas,\u201d Parton said. \u201cWe drove through twelve to fourteen inches of snow, I believe. It was the most snow I have seen while being in Arkansas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parton\u2019s family not only grew up in Arkansas, but grew up through Arkansas Tech.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth my daughters hold degrees from Arkansas Tech, and my wife was an adjunct professor here for about five to six years.\u201d Parton said.\u00a0 His wife, Ellen, also holds a master\u2019s degree from Arkansas Tech.<\/p>\n

Parton has not only weathered the elements of Arkansas, but he has weathered many seasons of change during his 24 years here at Tech. \u201cThe change has been really remarkable,\u201d Parton commented. \u201cThe physical plant with its new buildings \u2013 it\u2019s almost unrecognizable.\u201d Parton went on to mention the growth in faculty, student size, and accredited academic programs. \u201cWe had around 4,000 students when I started, and now we have 12,000. That\u2019s three times bigger than when I came to Tech.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon leaving Tech and its continuing change and growth, Parton looks forward to spending more time with his two grandchildren, traveling, and breathing a little life back into his music career. \u201cI want to get a jazz jam going downtown \u2026maybe invite some Tech students.\u201d
\n\"billcrossing\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The drop-in reception for Bill Parton will be held Friday, October 31, from 1:30-3:30 pm in the library on the first floor, room 102.<\/p>\n

[This interview was conducted and submitted by special guest writer, Sierra Murphy, \u00a0news editor of the Arka Tech. \u00a0Thank you, Sierra!]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Parton, Library Director for Arkansas Tech University, will be retiring after 24 years of being with the Arkansas Tech family. \u00a0Friday, October 31st, marks Parton\u2019s last day as Director for the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center, and fellow library staff will host a small reception honoring Parton and his retirement. \u201cWhen I started […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-library","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3lPyb-jO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1248,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions\/1248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}