Zamboni ice-resurfacing machine for the hockey games. A. George Davis, associate dean of
science and long-time hockey timekeeper and scorer for Clarkson's home games, was appointed
the official hockey timekeeper for all the Olympic hockey games. And Dick Cook, director of
public communications, was on the press office staff for the Olympic directorate.
ERC.
Finally, in 1980, the Educational Resources Center (ERC) opened, and Clarkson's
133,000 books and thousands of items of papers, pamphlets, brochures, reports, and the like,
were moved into this new building on the hill and the ERC became fully operational in the fall.
At its dedication ceremony on October 3, the keynote address was delivered by Donald L.
Langenberg, acting director of the National Science Foundation.
This new building emerged as from a dream, and Clarkson's library entered an era of
"no growth," a concept called for by professional librarians of the time. That idea stemmed
from the expected network of computers which would make the library almost a "bookless
library," as Russell Baker's column in the
New York Times
called it "a leafless, lifeless library."
The new library contains several cost-cutting features, such as placing many technical
reports and dissertations on microfilm. Another feature designed to save space and spare the
expense of additional storage areas is the use of electronically operated closed-stack areas
containing infrequently used materials. Since these closed stacks contain a sizable portion of
the library's collection, the use of electronically operated stacks, which fold up like an
accordion when not in use, saves considerable floor space. In the new ERC building, this device
stores some 44,000 books in a space measuring approximately 60 by 20 feet.
.b2
By 1989, even this new area was cramped, and the shelves were extended into the
section of the Center heretofore reserved for "Technologically Assisted Education" where
gadgets of electronic wizardry abounded.
Besides the library, the building houses the Clarkson archives, the Career Development
Center, the Writing Lab, extensive lounge and study areas, and the computing center with its
new computer, an IBM 4341. This particular model with four million bytes of memory had
peripheral equipment capable of storing up to 1.7 billion characters of data.
Extracurricular Scholarships.
Trustee recognition awards recognized "diversity of
excellence" by awarding scholarships to students in extracurricular activities. Four such
scholarships were awarded in 1979 to Cheryl Kiley for her active roles in the Student Senate,
Dormitory Advisory Council, Society of Women Engineers, and the
Clarksonian
; to Isaac
"Todd" Read, Jr., for his 13-0 record in dual meets on Clarkson's wrestling squad; to Deborah
Dierdorff for leading the College rifle team to a state championship; and to Jimmy Myers for
providing one of the basketball team's season highlights with a super performance in a near-
upset of regional power Potsdam State.
Semester Abroad: London.
Ten Clarkson students- two seniors and eight juniors- studied
abroad at the City University of London during the 1979-80 academic year under a new
Semester Abroad Program, while three London students attended Clarkson. Even though most
were juniors from a variety of disciplines, engineering (civil, mechanical, and electrical) and
economics majors formed the core of the program at first. Academic excellence was a major
criterion for acceptance into the program.
