News and reviews from the good people at Preston Library.
From the monthly archives:
Field Training Exercises for the VMI corps of cadets will take place this Friday, 3 April, through Tuesday, 7 April.
While the cadets are otherwise engaged the library will be operating on shortened hours:
| Fri. 4/3: | 0800-2200 |
| Sat. 4/4: | Closed |
| Sun. 4/5: | 1900-2300 |
| Mon. 4/6: | 0800-2300 |
| Tues. 4/7: | 0800-0100 |
Have a great FTX! We’ll see you when you get back for that last push to Finals!
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Spring Break officially ends at 2200 this evening which means that Preston Library is resuming its regular hours of operation.
Drop by and visit. We’ll be here until 0100.
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Here at VMI Spring Furlough starts tomorrow at Close of Academic Duty (4:30pm).
While the Cadets are away, the library will be operating under shortened hours.
| Sat. 3/14: | Closed |
| Sun. 3/15: | Closed |
| Mon. 3/16 – Fri. 3/20: | 8am – 4:30pm |
| Sat. 3/21: | Closed |
| Sun. 3/22: | Closed |
Classes resume on Monday 3/23 and our library hours return to normal.
Have a restful and safe Spring Break!
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Preston Library has an active Friends group which supports library resources, services, and facilities. Each year, Friends organizes and hosts engaging programs at Preston Library for VMI and the local community. Membership is open to the public. Interested individuals are invited to join the Friends by submitting a Friends of Preston Library Membership Form or by giving online (be sure to select Friends of Preston Library from the drop down menu).
Contributions to Friends support library needs and make significant enhancements to VMI’s academic program. For more information about the Friends of the Preston Library, contact Preston Library at (540) 464-7228.
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Dr. Lewis Sorley provided the Friends of Preston Library with an engaging Spring Program Thursday, March 26, at 3:00 p.m. in the Turman Room of Preston Library. Dr. Sorley spoke on “Adventures in Research” and revealed several fascinating tales of discovery learned in the course of his research. We learned how his scholarly “detective work” tracked down a member of Gen. Creighton Abrams’ World War II tank crew, how rescuing the records of Lt. Col. Harold Cohen from a fire resulted in his receiving the Distinguished Service Cross–fifty years after the war in which he earned it, how he discovered the secret location of Abrams’ command staff tapes, and other tales of research adventures. A lively and informative question and answer session followed and all had a good time.
| Author of several books on Vietnam, Dr. Sorley has written the following: | |
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A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam |
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Honorable Warrior: General Harold K. Johnson and the Ethics of Command |
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Thunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Times |
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Vietnam Chronicles: the Abrams Tapes, 1969-1972 |
Dr. Sorley is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Army Historical Foundation. In 2007, he received the General Andrew J. Goodpaster Prize for military scholarship. This spring he serves as VMI’s Gottwald Visiting Professor of Leadership and Ethics. A third-generation graduate of the United States Military Academy, Dr. Sorley earned his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. In his academic career he has served on the faculties of West Point and the Army War College. His U.S. Army assignments include tank and armored cavalry unit commands in Germany and Vietnam and staff service for the Secretary of Defense and Army Chief of Staff.
Dr. Sorley’s latest book is Honor Bright: History and Origins of the West Point Honor Code and System.
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Garrett Peck '90 and Chairman of the Friends, B. Drummond Ayers, Jr. '57
The Friends of Preston Library is delighted to have Garrett Peck, ’90, as our speaker, Friday, October 17, at 1500 hours in the Turman Room. Garrett is the author of The Prohibition Hangover which is provocative social history of American attitudes towards alcohol since the end of Prohibition which was repealed 75 years ago this year. In his investigations for the book Mr. Peck interviewed hundreds of people on all sides of the alcohol debate and travelled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, Israel, and other areas of the world.
Mr. Peck is a freelance writer for the alcoholic beverage industry and contributes regularly to Beverage Network. He has also written articles about alcohol for The Washington Post, Wine Spectator, Sante, The Forward, and the Northwest Current. In addition to writing about alcohol, he leads the Temperance Tour in Washington, D.C.
Please join us for what will surely be an interesting and engaging program. Refreshments will be served.
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Cadet Zac Kovarik, ‘08, received this year’s Frances W. Camper award for his outstanding service and leadership to Preston Library as a Library Cadet Assistant. Throughout this time he demonstrated exemplary leadership, dependability, and resourcefulness.
Joining in the ceremony to honor Cadet Kovarik on May 13 were members of the Friends’ Board and Library staff. Col. Samdahl, Head Librarian, presented Cadet Kovarik with his award. Following graduation and a term of study at Dartmouth, Mr. Kovarik will serve in the U.S. Air Force.
Cadet Kovarik and Bob Camper, son of Mrs. Frances Camper
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Crisp reads a passage from Goodbye Vienna The Friends of Preston Library’s Spring Program featured William Crisp, ‘63, Friday, 25 April in the Turman Room of Preston Library. Will read from several of his novels as well as from novels of other writers of spy thrillers such as Len Deighton. He discussed how he writes and how various writers influenced him. These included Deighton, LeCarre, and Hemingway. Will gave an interesting and engaging talk and answered numerous questions from his audience. Will has written several suspense novels: Spy Trap (1982), The Compleat Agent (1984), and Vengeance is Thine (1986). His latest novel is Goodbye Vienna, published in 2006 by PublishAmerica. After serving as a rifle platoon leader in Vietnam, Mr. Crisp served as a US Foreign Service officer in Yugoslavia and worked for twenty-five years as an East European business specialist with the Economist Intelligence Unit in Vienna, Austria. In 1996, he returned to VMI to teach in the International Studies program. He is currently working on a non-fiction work about Vietnam. |
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Mr. and Mrs. Terry Davis in front of the donor plaque that bears his name.
Members of the VMI community recognized Mr. Terry Davis, ’53, for his generous gift to Preston Library on Wednesday, April 23, 2008. Joining in the ceremony to unveil a plaque to recognize Mr. Davis’ contribution were members of the Friends of Preston Library Board, Library staff, and Associate Dean of the Faculty, Col. Bill Stockwell. The Chairman of the Friends, Drummond Ayres, ’57, Head Librarian, Col. Don Samdahl, and Col. Stockwell thanked Mr. and Mrs. Davis for their kindness and generosity to the Library.
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The Friends of Preston Library hosted their annual Fall Program on Friday, October 5, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. in the Turman Room of Preston Library. Our guest speaker was Colonel Keith E. Gibson, ’77. Colonel Gibson is the Executive Director of Museum Programs and the Architectural Historian at the Institute. His most recent work is entitled Moses Ezekiel: Civil War Soldier, Renowned Sculptor and was the topic of his presentation on October 5. Col. Gibson presented an interesting and engaging program on Moses Ezekiel who survived the Battle of New Market and went on to become a celebrated sculptor.
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