Library History

Louise Dean started the Darling Marine Center (DMC) Library in 1966 with four shelves of books in the canning cellar of the farmhouse that Ira C. Darling donated. Dr. James C. MacCampbell, university librarian, and his assistants bought down from Fogler Library microfilm readers, cataloged books, and supplies necessary to start a library.  The center's director Dr. David Dean envisioned the library would include books and serials encompassing all areas of marine science. Though serving the DMC research community, it would be open to the public, and would include material on shipbuilding, marine engineering, weather, fishing, and any subject related to the Maine coast.

By the fall of 1967  the library had grown into a year-round seminar room in the farmhouse basement with over 400 books and 50 periodical subscriptions. After renovations to the Horse Barn (Wentworth Hall) the holdings were eventually moved to the top floor (attic) where the hayloft had been. The library shared space with a kitchen and dormitory on the second floor. By February 1968 the library contained about 800 books, subscriptions to over 70 periodicals, and a file of government reports on microfilm. It also developed an extensive reprint collection as it exchanged publications with other marine laboratories from all over the world. In 1969, the University of Maine hired Mrs. Dean as a half-time librarian. In 1970 the library expanded by absorbing the dormitory.

Emphasis on acquiring items in oceanography were stressed when the Department of Oceanography was formed in 1970 with the Darling Center faculty as its core. The University of Maine entered the Sea Grant Program in 1971, and thus the library collection expanded to include material about basic marine biology, marine geology, biological, chemical and physical oceanography, fisheries and aquaculture. The focus of the collection necessarily followed the research efforts of DMC personnel. The library's holdings also benefited from the generous donations of various individuals including long time library supporter and faculty member Dr. John Dearborn. Dr. Hugh DeWitt donated numerous expedition reports.

As with many libraries, funding support alternately waxed and waned. In addition, the growing library experienced typical space problems. There was not enough work or study space, and not enough space for the growing collection. Part of the collection was then stored in a stall in the Cow Barn (McGuire Hall). Another problem the fairly new library faced was a lack of back issues to the journals it currently subscribed to, and obtaining the funding needed for the acquisition of new journals critical to DMC research. The library was open to DMC researchers 24 hours a day, seven days a week by means of a keypad door lock. And though the item circulation honor system of the library was largely adhered to, numerous books and journals would go missing, or find there way to the shelves in people's offices. The books on these shelves were often referred to as "sub-libraries" and "satellite libraries." The occasional grease fire in the adjoining kitchen also gave Lou Dean lots of cause for concern.

Lou Dean made up for the physical deficiencies of the library with dedicated service to her patrons. One question in a mid 1970s course evaluation was: Are the library facilities adequate for your work? One student commented, "No. However I feel that due to the supreme efforts of Mrs. Dean, I may obtain most articles I wish." Another student commented, "Mrs. Louise Dean is an exceptional librarian and a friend to all graduate students," adding that if they needed a book not in the DMC collection, Lou would help obtain it for them. Lou also participated in a Journal Club for graduate students and faculty, and she created bibliographies for her patrons at a time when DMC researchers still relied on paper indexes and table of contents. The library provided interlibrary loan, photocopying, literature search and book lending services to DMC faculty, students, and staff, but it was also open to the public. In a 1978 press release Lou Dean comments that students from area schools and public and private agencies often made use of the facility.

By this time the collection had grown to 4200 volumes. It had 192 journal and serial subscriptions, and had developed a large collection of aquaculture literature. Renovation plans were under way to address the shortage of space in the library. Concurrently various administrative changes regarding the Department of Oceanography over the next few years caused uncertainty and concern over the fate of the DMC itself. There were also questions regarding the duplication of numerous DMC journal subscriptions and books at Fogler Library for Orono faculty, and whether the DMC Library would just be moved to Orono altogether. Many of the Darling Center's marine science journals were much coveted by Orono based faculty.

In 1980 the collection numbered 5,500 books. It was moved to the first floor of the Horse Barn. Dr. Les Watling wrote in a March DMC newsletter that beer and goodies were to be provided to the volunteer movers posterior migrare bibliotheca. The librarian's office was located in the former stall of Ira Darling's horse "Old Bristol," with the adjoining stalls holding the reference collection. Eventually the Darling Marine Center and its library weathered the storm of the University of Maine's administrative changes, and continued to grow and flourish.

 The collection expanded to include items of more specialized subject matter such as algology, benthic studies, biochemistry, coastal processes, ecology, microbiology, and sedimentology. Space problems still existed though in 1986. Sea Grant reports, technical reports, and older journals were stored in the Horse Barn attic. Nevertheless the center's library was still one of the major features used to attract visiting scientists. The library tried to maintain a working core collection, thus weeding was a necessity, as well as the careful selection of new additions.

The reprint collection was an important tool for the library since it had many classic papers which were not in the library's journal collection. It also was a repository for works published by Darling Center researchers. In addition a vertical file of non-technical papers and a collection of newsletters was maintained. A file of keys for identification of marine flora and fauna was kept, as well as a file of citations on the Gulf of Maine.

As a one-person library, logging in journals gave Mrs. Dean an opportunity to scan contents tables and alert faculty and students to new articles. In addition to this duty Louise selected books, prepared journals for binding, provided reference services, as well as cataloged new reprints. As a branch of Fogler Library Lou was fortunate to have the backup services of her colleagues who catalogued the DMC books, fulfilled interlibrary loan requests, and sent down supplies.

By 1990, the DMC Library housed 10,000 bound volumes, but overcrowding expanded overflow to the unheated Horse Barn and Cow Barn attics, where extreme temperature swings (dry/cold in winter, moist/hot in summer) exposed books and bound journals to potential damage. Simultaneously library acquisitions were beginning their decades long continuing migration from print to electronic resources.  By now the library's books had been bar coded, and the card catalog was replaced by the online public access catalog.

In 1993, a small dining hall located on the same floor as the library was converted to a current journal reading room in an attempt to keep up with the continuing need for space.  A 1993 library questionnaire indicated researcher's desire for faster access to literature and faster ILL, as well as the need to upgrade equipment such as the library photocopier.  In 1993 the library received a new photocopier. It also acquired a new CD-Rom workstation. Subscriptions to paper indexes such as Current Contents and Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries were converted to diskette which also included article abstracts.

A joint committee was formed in 1993 to seriously discuss co-locating the Darling Center, Maine's Department of Marine Resources and Bigelow Laboratory. One of the central incentives to the possible move was to have a shared library. After eighteen months of discussions, and a close vote for approval, those plans were scrapped.

In 1997 Louise Dean retired and Lisa Auriemma became the DMC librarian. Specializing in online searching, her stated goal was to expand the use of computers for doing research. She created a handbook for the library as well as help sheets for the steadily expanding online library resources such as indexes, databases, and electronic journals. She conducted workshops. 

The duplication or lack of duplication of print journals between the DMC Library and Fogler Library, as well as subscription cancellations, continued to be a contentious issue as researchers on both campuses sought access to the same journals. By 2000 the library contained 13,000 bound books/journals and subscribed to 135 journals. Due to the lack of space for bound volumes, 30% of the library's holdings were stored elsewhere. In 2001 a library expansion project got underway.  Thanks to the efforts of the center's director and long time library supporter Dr. Kevin Eckelbarger, a $200,000 facility award from the National Science Foundation and matching funds from the University of Maine were acquired.

Originally the plan was to expand the library at Wentworth Hall by adding a 1500 ft. addition to consolidate the library's holdings. Existing space would be renovated to create a student Computer Center and ITV-equipped conference room, a Special Collections Room to house rare holdings, and a large reprint collection covering the ecology/taxonomy of organisms from the Gulf of Maine. In addition a bathroom would be built for the library, and the library would be made wheelchair accessible.

The expansion project encountered numerous problems with the architectural plans and the building of the addittion's foundation. Frustratingly cost projections continually rose until the expansion project became financially unfeasible. At this point it was decided to change the plans. A modular addition was to be added to the old Kresge classroom, and the library was to be moved to this location.

Katherine Sackmann became the new DMC librarian in 2002. Previously this was a professional position, but it now became classified. The DMC librarian reported directly to the head Science and Engineering librarian at Fogler Library, Jim Bird. The DMC librarian became a 3/4 time 30 hour a week position. Kat cataloged many government documents, introduced the new document delivery system Ariel to DMC patrons, and successfully organized and arranged the move of library materials to their new home.

  The new DMC Library opened its doors in December of 2005. The facility boasted a 3,900 square foot floor plan and wireless computer access. It included expanded space for books and bound journals, a spacious journal reading room, study carrels, and additional computer workstations. The library's perennial space problems were essentially eliminated.

In 2007 Randy Lackovic became the DMC Librarian. Library shelves were thoroughly read to identify long lost library items and clean up the catalog. The library's reprint and Sea Grant collection were indexed in a searchable EndNote library, and the library's technical reports of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada were cataloged. A photocopier was obtained that could digitally scan print journal articles.

 Prior to 2007 DMC personnel had gathered historical material about the DMC. This collection, owned by the DMC, was placed in the library to be stewarded by the librarian. It has since grown fifteen fold, and material concerning the Darling Marine Center's history continues to be added. And thanks to the generous donations of numerous scientists, an exhibit of old marine science equipment and lab items was established and displayed in the library.

The current library functions as a visitor center where visiting researchers and students can access email and online library resources. And for both visiting and resident/researchers and students, it is a quiet and comfortable place to get work done. It serves as an information access point for old and new/marine science journals and monographs, that have not been digitized. And though traditional library services such as book lending and photocopying articles for interlibrary loan continue to be important, statistically they are in a slow decline. More books are being ordered in electronic format, and some scientific journals are going paperless.

Conclusion

Notwithstanding, the importance of a centralized institutional library cannot be overstated, both as a repository of the past, and an access point for the present. The challenge for the DMC Library of the future is to remain connected to a busy research community that now largely does its information research off-site in a distributed online environment. The present librarian strongly feels that this institution's central importance exist in collecting and maintaining information resources in trust for the DMC research community as a whole. The value of that importance will be determined by the individuals of that community as it concerns their own research.

The DMC Library remains open to suggestions on how better to meet researcher's information needs and serve the DMC community. Perhaps a data repository could be started documenting local environmental conditions from individual researcher's data records. Maybe an image library of underwater photos could be started to document environmental changes in the Gulf of Maine.

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