New Places, New Services
David Van de Streek, head librarian, Lee R. Gladfelter Library
In September 2005, Penn State York’s Lee R. Glatfelter Library was relocated to a much larger, well-appointed, and very welcoming new facility. Left behind was a building that had become functionally too small and too ill suited for any activity other than checking out books or studying, provided that not too many people were in the building. The new library, sharing a building with the Pullo Performing Arts Center, an art studio and several classrooms, was planned to be everything that the old library was not, and from day one of planning, it was thought of as a public facility, where both students and the general community could make use of the educational resources within. It was envisioned as a location where a broad range of educational services and activities would be available and where students and others would choose to spend some of their time.
After almost four years in the new facility, traffic in and out of the library has consistently been significantly higher than in the former location, and for many of the reasons that we had envisioned. Foremost, the environment is warm and welcoming, often described as elegant, with a variety of seating styles and plenty of natural light. Additionally, the library is now home to a variety of services and activities. Among these are collaborative study environments for students, cultural programming such as poetry readings, and conference room use for seminar type classes, campus committees, and community groups having a campus link. A standout feature though that both invites library use and also enhances the visual environment is an art display of permanent and temporary collections.
There are three distinct and distinctive permanent art collections in the library, supplemented by a temporary visual art display that changes each semester. Those permanent collections are the Gary Collison ceremonial dancing mask collection, the David Breeden stone sculpture collection, and the Darmaximus collection of fine art.
The Collison mask collection, donated by the family of one-time faculty member Dr. Gary Collison (American Studies), is a collection of 30 masks from Mexico and other Latin American countries. Masks are worn by dancers in ceremonial rituals and festivals such as Carnaval and The Day of the Dead, and are representative of an animal or human characteristic. Carved from a variety of woods, most are generally elaborately painted. Some have hair features, fashioned either from animal hair or hemp-like plant fiber. Images on the masks include animals, humans, and the devil, with human faces being almost all male. Many of these masks were authentically used in dances, while others were made specifically for the tourist trade.
David Breeden was a creative artist whose work is primarily sculpted stone, with designs that are typically abstract or representational. His stone pieces range from functional works to tabletop pieces to large scale installations that grace parks and buildings in many U.S. and international locales. The library had acquired two of his tabletop pieces in the mid 1980s, and then gained an additional 11 pieces for display when Breeden designed and created two large sculptures for York’s IST building in 1991. The 13 sculptures in the library are either alabaster or soapstone. Several soapstone pieces show the influence of the sculptor’s time spent in African countries. Many of Breeden’s sculptures have smoothly contoured lines which invite running a hand along them, which the artist would have encouraged and proclaimed that that’s what his art was all about.
The Darmaximus collection of fine art is on long-term loan to the library from a private art collector who prefers to remain anonymous, but who wishes that the art in his collection be seen and appreciated. The 24 pieces in the collection are displayed on walls throughout the library, and all showcase the talent of local and regional artists. A variety of different media can be seen in these works, including oil, acrylic, pastel, and collage.
We feel indeed fortunate to have this much art within the Glatfelter Library, and are delighted that we can make it publicly available. It contributes significantly to the ambiance and visual atmosphere of the environment, and is one of the many reasons for users to visit the library.