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| Dr. Charles E. Hale (1938 - 2006) |
| Millikin University's library staff members celebrate the life of their Director-Emeritus, Dr. Charles E. Hale, who died on January 29, 2006. Dr. Hale served as director of the library from 1976 until his retirement in 1999. He guided the library through its relocation from Gorin Hall to its current home in Staley Library in 1978, a move which included the physical relocation of 145,365 volumes to the new building |
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| Dr. Hale leads a caravan of volume-laden shopping carts from Gorin Hall to the new Staley Library in 1978 |
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| Dr. Hale at the old card catalog, prior to its removal in 1993 |
Dr. Hale also moved the library into the modern computer age. Even while the library was still in Gorin, it had been connected to the nationally networked cataloging database OCLC in the early 1970s. By 1978, Dr. Hale had the Staley Library staff working with the Illinois state-wide online catalog, LCS (today's CARLI/I-Share). By 1980, Millikin became only the third library in Illinois, and the first academic library in the state, to go public with LCS, making about a half dozen terminals available to Millikin University students, faculty and staff. This meant that the library's catalog was all online long before the Internet. In the early 1990s, the concurrent cataloging of library materials in the old physical card catalog ended, and it was removed to make room for more computers.
While Dr. Hale kept Millikin's Staley Library on the forefront of technology and focused on the future of academic library services, he also initiated efforts to preserve Millikin's past. In 1985, Dr. Hale initiated efforts to collect and store important documents pertaining to Millikin University's history in a centrally located archive. This was the forerunner of today's University Archive, located in Staley Library. He also served on the advisory board, and later as director, of the Birks Museum, housed in Gorin Hall. The museum was founded for the purpose of storing and sharing timeless works of art and craft with the University as well as the community, both local and global.
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| Dr. Hale (right foreground) leads a tour through the Birks Museum |
Dr. Hale helped connect Millikin University to the community through the Birks Museum, and he also was instrumental in connecting the entire Decatur community by helping to initiate the efforts to establish DecaturNet, a community information network that continues to link area residents to their community today.
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| Dr. Hale (left) with Dr. Norman Jensen at Millikin's 1999 commencement where he was recognized for his 20-plus years of service to the University. |
Dr. Hale was also honored by his librarian colleagues in Illinois by being named winner of the 1999 Rolling Prairie Library System Lifetime Achievement Award.
Staley Library web page announcing Dr. Hale's retirement in 1999.
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| Dr. Charles E Hale, Director of Staley Library from 1976 - 1999 | ||
Dr. Charles E Hale, Director of Staley Library from 1976 - 1999
For more on the history of Millikin University's libraries, see our Library History page.
This page created January 31, 2006
Copyright: Millikin University Board of Trustees