Library Stuff

The May 7, 2012 Arlington Citizen Journal ran a front-page story about UT Arlington Librarians Lea Worcester and Evelyn Barker’s latest history book collaboration: Legendary Locals of Arlington. According to Max Baker:

A book being written by University of Texas at Arlington librarians Evelyn Barker and Lea Worcester will preserve [Marshall Pryor] Morton’s memory along with other notable Arlington names like Tom Vandergriff, James Fielder, Ott Cribbs and Tillie Burgin.

Barker and Worcester say their book Legendary Locals of Arlington is scheduled to be published next spring and will include photographs with extended captions that are really short stories on not only the city’s founding families but on other inhabitants that made Arlington Arlington.

“The focus will be on the people who not only developed Arlington but also on those characters who were unique to the city, that gave it its special flavor,” said Barker. “The characters often get lost in the shuffle.”

Researched through personal interviews and and deep research into local newspapers, city directories maps and public records, the pair have about 200 indviduals to consider for inclusion in the book, which is due in spring of 2013, will be produced by Arcadia, the same publisher who put out their book Arlington: Images of America. Read Baker’s full story at http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/07/3942532/arlington-history.html

There is a purple martin house in a pretty little copse next to the parking lot I use south of the Library and Life Sciences building. I had a feeling I was being watched as I walked past earlier this week.

I moved around the structure until the curious occupant took a look to see if I was going to climb up to eat him. I decided against it.

Urban landscapes with active wildlife show a level of health that users may not regularly recognize, but is important. The turtles in the pond under the bridge to the large student parking lot south of my lot, the birds that hop in the fountain on the southwest corner of the Central Library, squirrels that ignore food from people because there is so much indigenous food, they’re welcome signs that the percent of lawn and trees, when compared to the amount of concrete and buildings, sustain an environment for these small animals. I watch people along with the wildlife, and am glad to regularly see individuals walking up the hill from the parking areas pause to watch the antics of a squirrel or grackles in the fountain.

In summer when there were concrete benches under the trees near University Hall one could see these squirrels spread eagle on the cool concrete, dissipating heat from their bodies through their torsos and the membranes at their armpit and groin areas. In fall you can pick up pecans on the lawn of the Library Mall and generate high-pitched scolds from the squirrels that are dropping the nuts from those trees. This isn’t random noise unrelated to you, you’re interacting with that tiny individual.

There’s a lot of life on campus, and I predict that with the advent of the community gardens more wildlife, with an adverse effect, may arrive. Here’s hoping resourceful gardeners can set up the gardens and its defenses in a way that don’t harm the beneficial wildlife while still finding a way to exclude the interlopers. The many facets of companion planting are useful in this. And have-a-heart traps. As with the squirrel above, wildlife doesn’t always live in the places we would wish them to (or not.)