‘Progress’ retires doormen
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By ANA QUINTANA
I H “Chalk it up to progress” is the
Btitude of Phil Blackburn, a library
j doorman at Texas A&M University
. after learning he will not be needed
R next year when the new library
addition opens.
Blackburn, a 25-year resident of
tyan, and the six other men who
Ispect outgoing library materials to
M ‘ [isure they have been properly
d out, will be replaced by a
new book security system.
Attempts will be made to locate
ither positions on campus for the
men, but because they receive
Social security, it restricts them
irom working more than part time,
and there are not many part-time
P es f? dbs open, said Dr. Irene Hoadley,
director of the library.
I The new security system works
on an electromagnetic principle. All
ibrary materials will be tagged with
• Isensitized (magnetically charged)
TV] metal strips called targets. These
detected by a magnetic field at
1 me library’s exit. When the material
L is checked out at the circulation
IV desk, the target will be desen-
jtized. However, if the material is
[ot properly checked out, as the
non tries to leave the library the
agnetic field will detect it causing
e exit turnstile to lock and a buz-
rto sound at the circulation desk.
Reference Librarian Charles
to b Smith, the project coordinator for
(he new addition, said the system is
ilar to metal detectors in stores
d airports and that the targets can
be put on just about anything.
Hoadley said the main reasons for
opting the new system are its
nomic value and increased etiec-
:ness.
I It costs approximately $26-27,000
jmually to pay the doormen, whose
llaries range from $2.65 to $3.06 an
pur, depending on how long they
i worked there. The book secu-
rjty system will cost roughly
5,000, according to Smith, plus
le price of the targets which cost a
Tv cents apiece.
[Because of its impersonality, the
Iw system will catch more offen-
ftrs, according to Hoadley. “It’s
Ird, on a one-to-one basis, to de-
In anyoneshe said. The system
Jllso will create new jobs for the
Jople who have to place the targets
oh the materials.
[According to Hoadley, an average
j 13,000 periodicals and other ma-
orepi
terials are taken from the library an
nually. In 1976, a total of 9,259
items was missing. Some 15,580
were missing in 1977. These are the
items reported missing from the
shelves by students and other libra
rians in 1977. A waiting period of
one year determines if a book is lost
and needs be replaced by the li
brary.
Not having enough time to check
the material out and needing it
longer than the allotted time, are
some of the reasons materials are
taken without being checked out,
said Smith. The attitude that “I’m
the only one using this book’’ is
another.
“Materials show up sometimes
when they were accounted lost
years before,” he added.
Blackburn said students are
sometimes preoccupied and forget
to check out books. When he
catches them with a book, he sends
them back to the circulation desk to
check it out properly. Some stu
dents resent this, he said, but none
has ever resisted him physically. He
only catches “maybe one or two a
week,” he said.
Most of the doormen are retirees.
It was not a policy to hire the re
tirees, Hoadley said. “It just hap
pened.”
“Our superiors count on us to be
punctual and responsible where
maybe a student wouldn’t be be
cause of classes,” said Blackburn.
Blackburn said he heard about
the job through a student and
applied for it. He said he knows of
some other applicants who have
been turned down because of the
limited number of jobs.
Blackburn is not resentful of the
book security system and said he
expected it to happen because he
knows of other universities that
have it. “I will just re-retire,” he
said.
“In this time of inflation the salary
from the job is a welcome supple
ment,” Blackburn said. However,
he feels that being up and active is
the most important thing and also to
be around young people. “If you’re
around young people, you feel
young,” he said.
Blackburn likes to greet students
as they go past him, but said foreign
students are “at times hard to com
municate with,” but added, “that a
smile is understood in all lan
guages.”
THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1978
Page 5
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SNUFF AND
SPITTOONS
Town & Country Center
Bryan]
Fred Norcross, a 10-year veteran as doorman at the University
Library, is serving in his last days at that position. His job is being
replaced by an electronics sensing system that will detect books
that have nqt been checked out. The new system will be put into
operation when the new addition to the library is opened next
year. Battalion photo by Elizabeth Ohio
Ancient Texans traced
Portrait
Special
One 8x10
Two 5x7s
• One person: head & shoulders
• Ages 5 and up • Choice of 6 proofs
• All portraits fully retouched and finished
Campus Activities
Friday
All Night Fair, 7 p.m. to 3 a.in., MSC
Aggie Players, "A Street Car Named
Desire,” 8 p.m., Rudder Forum
Aggie Cinema, Bette Davis Festival,
"Jezebel,” 8 p.m.. Rudder Auditorium
and "Hush, Sweet Charlotte,” midnight.
Rudder Theater
Saturday
Aggie Players, “A Street Car Named
Desire,” 8 p.m., Rudder Forum
Aggie Cinema, Bette Davis Festival,
"All About ^Eve," 8 p.m.. Rudder Au
ditorium and “Dark Victory," 10:30 p.m.,
Rudder Auditorium
Sunday
Texas A&M Sports Car Club, autoe-
ross, 9 a.m. Zacliry parking lot
Monday
Microbiology, Dr. Fred Rapp on “On
cogenic Properties of Hyman
Cytomegalovirus,” 12 noon, 206
Oceanography-Mete rology
Women’s Leadership Workshop, 6:30
to 8 p.m., 230 MSC
Dance Arts Society, ballet, 7:30 p.m.,
266 G. Rollie White Coliseum
MSC Arts Film, “Shoot the Piano
Player,” 8 p.m., Rudder Theater
Tuesday
Science Career Workshop, sign up by
calling 845-1741
Microbiology, Dr. Frank Young on
“Impact of Genetic Engineering on Sci
ence and Society,” 12 noon, 226 Evans Li
brary
Baseball, St. Mary’s vs. Texas A6cM, 1
p.m., Travis Park
Anthropologists at Texas A&M
University have established a con
tinuous pattern of life from prehis
toric Indians in southwest Texas that
dates as far back as 7,200 B. C., mak
ing it one of the oldest on record
statewide.
Radiocarbon tests on wood, char
coal and other material taken from a
cave near Del Rio confirm the dates,
says Texas A&M archeologist Dr.
Harry Shafer.
Some material from the site
suggests man existed there around
10,000 B.C., and latest radiocarbon
results show continued habitation of
the site since 7,200 B.C.
The Indians, probably all mem
bers of an extended family, lived at
the site periodically until the 16th
Century, explains Shafer.
“This is one of the most consistent
If
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sequences of periodic habitation
studied so far,” Shafer said.
Shafer and paleobotanist Dr.
Vaughn Bryant Jr. have directed ex
cavation and analysis of material
from the cave for three years. In
that time, the project has received
support totaling $100,000 from the
National Science Foundation, Na
tional Geographic Society and Win-
ship Foundation of Corpus Christi.
Excavation has yielded an abun
dance of preserved plant material
(1,500 sacksful) plus 2,000 coprolites
(fossilized human feces) examined
for what it can tell about early man’s
diet.
When analysis is finished, the
project will provide the clearest pic
ture yet available of the west Texas
environment 10,000-12,000 ago and
how early man adjusted to it.
ALL NIGHT FAIR
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