Kristin Arnold: This is Kristin Arnold, archivist at the
Sterling Morton Library at The Morton Arboretum. Today is
August 10, 2022. And I'm in the library conference room with
Rita Hassert, library collections manager of the
Sterling Morton Library to discuss the development of the
Sterling Morton Library during her time working at the
Arboretum. Thank you, Rita for agreeing to the recording of
this interview.
Rita Hassert: Happy to be here.
Kristin Arnold: To start, can you please state your first and
last name and spell it for us?
Rita Hassert: Rita. R–I–T–A. Hassert H–A–"double S as in Sam"
E–R–T.
Kristin Arnold: And can you please tell us when you started
working at the library?
Rita Hassert: I started working at the library on September 2,
1986.
Kristin Arnold: Thank you. So since then, obviously, the
Sterling Morton Library has grown in a lot of ways. And so
throughout this interview, we'd like to focus on various aspects
of that development. And so I thought we would just start with
one of the most tangible aspects of development, which would be
the physical space. So can you tell us how the library building
itself has evolved since you started working here? For
example, what did it look like on your first day versus now?
Rita Hassert: So and, and I was thinking, I was thinking about
this question a little bit. And to back up a little bit. Some of
the offices around the library have changed too. So when I
first started, Plant Clinic was providing information, where now
Development sits, and the receptionist, there was a
receptionist, the entrance was different to this building
[Administration and Research Center]. So the entrance is
where now it's called the emergency exit. And where the
building service or building technician closet, that's where
the reception desk and the mailboxes were, so you walked in
very differently. And so what is now where the wall is for the
library—library exhibits, that's actually where you used to walk
through, if you will. So my first day—it was September,
September 2, to be exact. And so I remember being—meeting my
supervisor at the time, his name was Rich Shotwell, and we went
to—he showed me I had an office, which was different because I
had come from an academic library where we had a large
room, kind of a shared office space. So I had my own office,
that was very surprising. Ironically, with a number of
moves through the years, where I am seated right now, where my
workspace is now is in the same space as my 1986 office. The
difference is, I used to have windows to look outside. And
with an addition that took place in '99, completed in 2000—the
Special Collections addition—it's now interior, so I
don't look outside anymore, but I'm in the actual physical space
that I was in 1986. So the building itself, the library,
Sterling Morton Library was completed in 1963. That building
is, I would say, the envelope is essentially the same. There
haven't been—there have been—there's modification and
the windows have been changed and things like that. But
essentially, that space is fairly much the same. One change
was that used to be two or three steps down into the library. And
when we had a renovation, the ramp was put in so now we have a
ramp when you walk in the library,
Kristin Arnold: About when was that?
Rita Hassert: Um, that was 1999–2000. So I would say that
was kind of the big construction project for the library, one of
the big changes. Mr. Haffner, who was Charles Haffner, was
chair of the Arboretum's Board of Trustees. He—at that time, he
was also chair of the Newberry Library board, so he was keenly
interested in special collections. And Mr. Haffner was
aware, as everyone else was, that our Special Collections—the
rare book, the art collection, and the archives—were all housed
in the library basement, never an ideal setting for special
collections. It's not "if you'll get water," it's "when you'll
get water." You know, it just the concern always was, what if
something catastrophic happened? It would jeopardize our Special
Collections. So Mr. Haffner and his wife, Anne, donated funds in
the mid 1990s to build a Special Collections addition. So at that
time, you know, there were all different architectural plans,
would—would it be put on top of the library and where—and it was
determined to be built next to the library, if you will, and so
the space so like, my office and our library workspace is in the
1935 building, and then there used to be before this addition,
there was like a connector walkway between the 30—1935
building, the Administration Building and the library and it
was you know, enclosed, it—carpeted there were it was
wall, the walls were glass and then there was, you know, a
ceiling protection from the elements but you would kind of
walk through this little connector to the 1963 library.
When the addition was put on—construction started in
1999—then the infill space was created that we have now where
our Special Collections Reading Room, that originally would have
been, when I started in '86, that—if you stood in the Special
Collections Reading Room today, you would have been standing
outside in 1986. The same with where our—our current reference
and circulation areas and where our volunteers work. In 1986,
you would have been outside if you'd been there, and so
that—that space was not—was exterior space, if you will. So
that is, I think, one of the significant ways—ways the
building changed, or the buildings changed. And so what
happened when the when it was completed in 2000, then all our
Special Collections items, the bulk of our Special Collections
items—the rare books, the artwork, and the archives—were
placed in our Special Collections addition, it's a
little over 2000 square feet, it's temperature and humidity
controlled. It has its own fire suppression system, it's not a
water-based system, it's a gas system, because as much as we're
against fire, we're also against things getting wet, too. So it
is a gas-based system. It has its own security system, it has
cameras and things like that trying to preserve and extend
the life of those Special Collections items, and then
removing it from the basement was just—changed everything. So
it really—it gave us more space to work with. At that time with
that renovation, is some of the other spaces changed. So we got
the reference and circulation area, we've got the Special
Collections Reading Room. And then within the library, on the
far wall by the [May T. Watts] Reading Garden. Originally, when
the building was built, that was where our exhibit cases were.
They were against that, I guess you'd say east exterior wall.
That's where the exhibit cases were built. Unfortunately, it is
a limestone building. And even at the beginning, there was
water infiltration concerns. So limestone is relatively porous
and water, there had been evidence of water coming into
the exhibit cases. So they were—they weren't really
actively used when I started. And so when we did the
renovation, those cases were removed and bookshelves were put
there to give us more space for the circulating collection. You
know, as I said, some of the exterior changes that happen
beyond the library. So Plant Clinic was very close to—they
were where development is, the reception desk was there. And on
second floor, that's where the Education staff were. So like
all the guides and Education staff were relatively close to
the library. So we always saw a lot of activity from Plant
Clinic users. And then also from Education staff, the guides were
routinely coming in here and using collections and things
like that.
With the Special Collections addtion, completed, as I
mentioned, a ramp was put in to make it the space accessible, so
there would no longer be steps. And then all the glass in the
space was replaced. Prior to that it was single pane glass,
and we'd have a lot of condensation and things and then
with the addition, they put in double pane, you know, a better
glass system for 2000, but—for the year 2000—but a better glass
system. So it was um, we didn't have so much, I guess I'd say
condensation and things like that.
Kristin Arnold: That's really interesting. And so then where
your office is now, was that whole area office space? Was it
kind of the same where you were kind of sectioned off?
Rita Hassert: Yeah, yeah. So there were there were two
offices. Yeah, there are two offices there. So, so what
we—it's—I always feel like I have to draw it. But where we
have that wall now where there, where the monitor is where you
can see the Then and Now [digital gallery], that used to
be where the counter was. So when you would walk in and
again, you'd walk in, you know, not through the way it is now
making that bend, you'd walk in straight and then to your left
would be the counter. And we had some bookshelves and things and
then there were two offices there. I was on the right hand
side and my colleague Peter Wang was on the left hand side. And
so there were two separate offices. We kind of shared we I
think we both had doors, but it was they were relatively close
together. But they were two offices. I mean, they went to
this they weren't like cubicles, if you will. They were offices.
Yeah.
Kristin Arnold: And the room we're currently in now, that was
also an office?
Rita Hassert: Yeah, this was Ian MacPhail's office and then where
the entrance—sounds funny—but the entrance is now that was
actually an office and I when people ask the way the door is
now you're actually walk crawling through a window.
That's where a window would have been. And that was Rich
Shotwell's office. He was the library administrator at the
time and that was his office. This was Ian's office.
Kristin Arnold: OK. Interesting to hear how that all has evolved
over time.
Rita Hassert: Well, the Arboretum has, you know the
stories—I know one of the carpenters always used to say
like he doesn't really put all the nails in because you're
going to move it around eventually, and it's kind of
like that, that there, there's so many like, and for a while
this was, this was Ian's office, this was our reference room. And
then Sue Wagner was here and it's gone through so many just
different evolution.
Kristin Arnold: Yeah. So if you don't have anything else to add
about the physical space, I was also wondering if you could tell
us about how the library's collections have developed over
the years, or like, has the focus of the collections changed
over the years?
Rita Hassert: So I was thinking about that, um, you know, I
always like to say, we stand on the shoulders of giants. So
going back, actually going back all the way to Joy Morton, he
started to acquire collections at the very beginning, and he
consulted with Charles Sprague Sargent, who was then director
at the Arnold Arboretum, and Sargent would send him lists of
books that he should purchase. So that kind of is the very
beginning. In the early '20s [E.] Lowell Kammerer, who was a
staff member here for a number of years, he oversaw the
libraries, and he acquired things. One time, at a time when
the collections really grew were in the '60s, I would say '60s
and '70s, when Suzette Morton Davidson, Joy Morton's
granddaughter, was chair of the Arboretum Board of Trustees. So
she was not only a, she was trained as an artist, a graphic
artist, but she was also keenly interested in botanical art. And
so I like to think of her as a patron kind of in the best sense
of the word, she had economic resources. And she also had good
taste. So she—during that time—Carol Doty has told me
stories about boxes would come from auction houses. And I mean,
they were acquiring a lot of things. The other thing that had
happened, she was buying, I would say at a good time,
because it was post World War II, some of the larger homes and
estates in England—things were becoming available on the
market. And at that time too, prices—botanical art probably
wasn't seen as desirable as it is today. And some of those
early works were, I would say the prices were I don't want to
say depressed, but they were lower than they would be, you
know, even considering what the value of a dollar is today. So,
so things were acquired, certainly at that time. And then
through the years, librarians have continued to add to it.
When I think of the changes in collection or content, I think
in more recent history, I've seen the growth of for example,
the children's collection. We always had kind of a smaller
collection, but that has grown, particularly with the
development of the Children's Garden and working with
colleagues within that program, to make sure that we're
selecting things that they're using in programs and things. So
I feel like our children's collection has grown. And then
also research interests at the Arboretum. I mean, we always use
Collections, Education, and Research as kind of our, how we
collect things, but interests and focus of those programs has
changed through the years. So we have an increasing number—as we
have classes in botanical art here, we have an increasing
number of resources related to botanical art, whether it's in
technique or examples of botanical art. And then just as
our science, what we call today, Science and Conservation, what
we kind of previously referred to as the Research Program. But
some of those projects have changed. So we try to, you know,
within the constraints of budget, we try to acquire
resources that support those programs as well. So it's kind
of continually, you know, with each strategic plan, reviewing
it, and assessing that we are acquiring things or have access
to things that we think people will need. Having said that,
realistically, I know we can't own everything. That's just not
going to happen, you know. So we, but we can—and I—what I so
proud about libraries, this library included that we
participate in resource sharing. So even though there's—there's
no hope that we can own every resource ever published on a
singular topic, much less multiple topics, but we can
share resources. And so I think the addition of for example, the
eBook collection has really kind of helped extend our reach a
bit. I don't have to worry about shelf space with eBooks, you
know, I mean, as long as it's accessible, so that's 7000
titles that—additional titles and primarily contemporary
titles—people have access to. In some cases, we do have print
copies of some titles as well, just because it might be it's
something really central to what we do. But, but I think there
have been—and just like with our journals, we have print
journals, in some cases, but we also have an increasing number
of electronic journals. But, but as I said, realistically, I know
we can't own it all. We can't heat it all. We can't cool it
all. But we can—we work very hard and trying to figure out
where we can get it from and how we can share things. So
yeah, I mean, I think it's the evolution. The collection in a
way reflects the evolution of the Arboretum, you know. Earlier
years, research was narrower, I would say. And gradually over
time, it is certainly broaden the different topics people are
working on and, and how best we can support them.
Kristin Arnold: Yeah, that's interesting, like your example
about the—how that—when the Children's Garden was
established how that kind of fueled the, you know, increasing
the titles in children's book collection, and yeah, creating
or having resources that staff could use. So that, yeah, that's
interesting how the collection kind of reflects the evolution
of the Arboretum itself.
Rita Hassert: You know, and we are a little different than, not
all, but some of the other libraries affiliated with
gardens or arboreta. We are a lending library, we're open to
the public. Some, some of the libraries are only staff or
there are several that are non- borrowing, you can only use
items on site. So we, you know, we wear a couple of different
hats. We're a little bit like a public library, because anyone
can come in, which is wonderful. And they can use it the
resources. We're a little bit like a public library, too, is
that we're offering kind of a range of level of information,
if you will. So we have a kid's books on trees, and we might
have a general gardening guide. And then we have something
highly scientific. And then we're a little bit like an
academic in some of the things we acquire. But as I said, we're
sometimes a bit different. And I am always aware of that at
meetings and things when people talk because it's like, "Oh,
that's right. You don't circulate?" Oh, that's just
interesting to me. And I mean, for us, it feels like second
nature. And then the other is, we're a little different. Some
of the other libraries have standalone catalogs or might be
part of, you know, local consortium, but we're part of
SWAN [System Wide Automated Network] which is like, that's
over 100 libraries regional. No, no, it's um, absolutely. It's
public libraries, school libraries, a couple of
academics, I think we're—very few specials, but we're one of
the specials that are part of it. So I feel and that helps—in
my mind that helps with our collection visibility, more
people can see us. We're not—and it doesn't require someone to
say, "Huh. Morton Arboretum. I wonder if they have a library
and what's their catalog?" They can just, you know, if they look
in SWAN, they will know what we have. We've also
cataloged—always catalog—always, I shouldn't say that—not since
the very beginning, but probably since the '70s in OCLC [Online
Computer Library Center]. So again, our collections are more
visible. So really tried to work on that because as I said,
absolutely no, we can't own it all. But we can, we work really
hard to share it.
Kristin Arnold: Did the library start lending or letting people
borrow when the Sterling Morton Library was built? Or were they
lending even before that?
Rita Hassert: Well, there there is a story from from Jim
Ballowe's book, he talks about Joy Morton, his home. There was
a man that he interviewed and I think the gentleman was like in
his 70s or 80s when he interviewed him, and he
described—this man who lived in the area—he knew someone who
worked at the house—at the Thornhill mansion. And he was
visiting his friend. He somehow wandered into Joy Morton's
library, started to look at a book. Mr. Morton came in and
kind of—he thought he was going to get in trouble. And instead
Mr. Morton was like, "Take the book," you know, and invited him
to come back and look at things. So I actually—I just spoke to
the Rotary Club and I told him that story because I said, I
feel like that idea of sharing knowledge is, you know, the kind
of the symbolism of it. Did—it wasn't that I believe Joy Morton
had a lending library and he was—but he but he did want staff
to use it. There is—and I think, I've read that there was like a
doorway, and it was always unlocked, so staff could come
in. I mean, I think he felt it was very important to kind of
share that. And then I think from—I, but I imagine even
before—I don't know if I've seen records, but I'm, I know from
the early '60s, you can see signs of cards and things that
they would have been checking things out. So I think it—I
don't think we were ever non-circulating and suddenly we
became circulating. I don't think that was ever—I think it
at least from the '60s and probably I bet even before
because there was always—but that's the spirit of the
Arboretum. It's not kind of like we have all our trees now the
fences, you know, it's all closed, the gate is locked. I
feel like it's really about you know, we're planting these,
we're protecting these, we're propagating, come and see them.
Come and—come and use this space. So yeah, I feel like
that's kind of the spirit.
Kristin Arnold: I agree. So switching gears, could you
describe the types of events, activities, or exhibits that the
library has hosted since you've worked here?
Rita Hassert: So we've, we've done some stuff. That's what I
like to say. So we've—in the past and some, some things I'll
talk about are past and some things are present, but we, for
a number of years—I know this predated me—there was a Sterling
Morton Library lecture series. So different—
And they weren't always bibliographically related. They
were sometimes talking about plant hunters and things like
that. But there was a lecture series. So we'd host various
speakers and guests would come in to listen to lectures. There
have been through the years, for sure, sometimes on our own and
sometimes working with Education, having classes or
presentations and different things within the library. For
several years, we had a Friends group, although I always like to
think everyone's our friend, but we did have a Sterling Morton
Library Friends. And within the Friends group, they would come a
couple times a year, and they would hear a presentation and
oftentimes have lunch and kind of visit and it was, you know,
cultivating relationships, but we did have a Friends group. As
I said, we've had classes, tours, and certainly in recent
history we've done and we have in the past too, whether it's
professional organ—organizations like area librarians we've had
in. We've had, more recently I know, groups like AAUW, American
Association of University Women, have come in for presentations
or different, like, collector groups. We've worked with both
the Arboretum's photographic society [MAPS], as well as the
Nature Artists' Guild. With a photographic society several
times we've had pop-up exhibits. So they display their
photographs within—their print photographs, as well as their
digital photographs—within the library. We're going to host
another one of those events in October of this year. And it's,
this one is going to focus on the Schulenberg Prairie because
it's the 60th anniversary of the Schulenberg Prairie. That'll
be—I think it'll run Tuesday through Sunday, which is a
longer time. The other times we had pop-up exhibits, they were
just the weekend, which was fine. And we're
also—strategically—it's also going to be the same time as the
Glass Pumpkin events. So that means a lot of visitors on the
ground. And hopefully, we're really hoping through signage
and hope, hopefully, we won't have to conscript people, but
we're hopefully going to see people inside the library
looking at the photographs. We've also worked with a number
of years with the Nature Artists' Guild, another
affinitive group at the Arboretum. And with the guild,
for example, this year, I should say in the spring—for their
spring show, which was in Cudahy Room, we had—in the library, we
had some of the examples of artwork from our collection on
display, and that was very well received. So this fall, we're
working with them. Again, they are going to do something to
celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Schulenberg Prairie in a
November for their fall show. Under discussion right now is to
have on display some of the artists' artwork of the
Schulenberg Prairie on display in the library in addition to
their fall show, so we've worked with them as well. And, and
certainly tours, I'm thinking we've had tours of high school
and college students, as well as other affiliate—affiliated
groups. And then Leafing Through The Pages is a library's
discussion group that started in 2003. So we're quickly
approaching our 20th anniversary of that group. It started, as
many good things do, as a hallway conversation. I was just
walking down the hall, I ran into Diana Fischer-Woods, who
was a staff member within Visitor Programs. And kind of at
the same time, probably she—we both said like "You know, it'd
be fun to have a book discussion group and what do you think?"
We started talking about that. That was probably, maybe
December I'm thinking, and then okay, well, we'll promote it.
And we'll see, you know, build it. Let's see what happens. And
so we had our first gathering in March of 2003. We actually had
it up at Thornhill [Education Center] because we weren't sure
if like 75 people would come or three people would come and so
it's like do we have it in the library? So we had it at
Thornhill. And I think the first discussion we had 12. You know,
it's like, wow. And then you know, and I think we read a
short story together and we talked about it. And then you
know, asked people "Are you interested?" and, you know,
everyone thought it was a good idea. And then we—for the
beginning, for the first couple of months, we were up at
Thornhill. And then gradually we, we saw our numbers were, you
know, in the teens and so we moved down into library. But
over the years, it's certainly grown in attendance. And you
know, then we had a pandemic. And I—it was wonderful how
people were able to pivot going from an in-person discussion to
a Zoom discussion. We had our discussion, I guess it was March
12, 2020. March 3—and people came I remember in Cudahy we
talked about, and I moved the chairs apart, because I came in
and the setup chairs were relatively close together. And I
thought, you know, this COVID thing, so I moved the chairs
apart. Cindy Crosby was the—actually had written a book
on the prairie. And she was—she was the author who was coming to
meet with the group. And so we talked about like, would anyone
come? I don't know. I think we had 32 people. And so it was
like the pandemic was just looming. Well, the next day,
Friday the 13th, that's when we were told that everything was
shutting down. And so for the April discussion, we
moved—migrated to Zoom and it did very well. I mean,
especially those first discussions, I'm sure for many
people, it was the first time they'd ever used Zoom. And we
kind of found our grounding. And we did that for over a year. And
then we have migrated back to in person. And right now I'm doing
an in-person discussion in the morning. It's once a
month—in-person discussion, the morning and in the afternoon,
we're doing a Zoom discussion, because there's still some
people who are uncomfortable, you know, visiting. But that's
been a program in the library. And I feel like that speaks to—
if people think about the word library, sometimes immediately
they picture shelves with books on them. And in no way am I
trying to deny that that isn't part of the persona of library.
But a library is all about community. And it's also about
connection and sharing ideas. And the idea can be shared on
paper in a book, or it can be shared as part of a discussion.
And I feel like the discussion group is kind of the
manifestation of that—how knowledge and information is
shared. So we do read—I kind of chuckle about this—we read far
more nonfiction than I'm ever ready to read. But we read a lot
of nonfiction, a little bit of fiction, primarily focused—the
goal is to select things that are about nature and natural
history, ecology, gardens and the land I guess, I would say.
And so within that, we've read—we read, typically books,
but we've also viewed films together, we've met authors,
we've gone on tram rides as a group, you know, so it's really
been a nice community. In—in kind of, in that same spirit,
the Children's Garden staff approached us several years ago
about doing a story time in the library called Arbor Reading
Adventures. So they started to do that. It—at first it was just
one day a week, and now it's twice a week in the winter
months, when it's less, it's inclement outside, they've come
inside. And so the Children's Garden staff present a story,
they typically make a nature-related craft, and then
they go out for an adventure walk. And that's been wonderful.
You know, we didn't know, the first couple sessions, what it
would be like, and would people come and the nice thing is,
sometimes you see a child coming, who's really hesitant.
And by the second week, they're leading their parent or
grandparents saying, "Come on, we've got to, we've got to hear
the story," you know, so it's just been it's—and it's also
introduced the library to people in different ways. They didn't
know they could even come in this building, you know, the
Administration Building as a whole. Or they didn't know there
might be anything that they'd be interested in. And so we've kind
of trans—seen people transform from being someone coming for
one program to start checking books out. So that's been really
positive. So those are, those are the things that kind of
stand out in my mind. We've also, I think, as a library
community, we also partner with people beyond, you know, beyond
the library working on programs and things. And you know, I—my
belief is anyway, we can integrate library into other
programs. You know—,
Kristin Arnold: Just today you did a presentation for the
Rotary—
Rita Hassert: —Rotary Club. Yeah, nothing—I mean, it wasn't
something—and it was funny that at the end, someone came up to
me from Wheaton Public Library and said, "Oh, would you, would
you consider doing this at Wheaton Public, you know,
because it's about Arboretum history and talking about the
Centennial." It's like, "I'd be happy to—happy to share that."
So yeah, do just try it. And that—that came through someone,
I think someone in membership contacted me about it. And it's
like, well, I hadn't thought about it. But I could do that.
You know, I always think I can do anything. So I can try at
least so yeah, but we've, we've, we've tried to play well with
others is usually what I try to—try to imagine at least.
Kristin Arnold: And so the exhibit space we have now. So
that—was that constructed during the renovation around like
'99–2000?
Rita Hassert: Yeah.
Kristin Arnold: And so, I guess, what kind of exhibits—I know
right now we have the Imprinted exhibit with images from the
archives. Before that we had Plant Hunters. What other kinds
of exhibit have there been?
Rita Hassert: So, so yeah, it's really gone through an
evolution, I'd say. So originally when the space was
created, it was the library created exhibits. And that's in
conjunction with Nancy Hart. She was—have to check her title. She
was staff artist, but she was also—I don't know if at that
point, it was even called interpretation. But she was a
graphic artist. So she would also assist. And she also worked
with the art collection, but she would assist with it. So we
usually would have sometimes as many as two exhibits a year so
they could be—they really ran the gamut there. I remember
there was one on—I think we had one exhibit on Carol Lerner's
artwork, we had mushrooms, there was kind of a host of topics.
Sometimes it would be kind of built around a single Special
Collections item. And then other things would be added. In more
recent history when, when the, when Nancy retired and some
positions changed and things, it was transitioned to working
with—more closely with Interpretation on it. And during
that time, in more recent history, well, one it—you know
what, I'm kind of smiling about it. But one exhibit that was
fun, we had an interim exhibit and a colleague within the
library and I—actually two colleagues and I worked on this,
and it was called Flora Illuminated. And what it was, is
we took the alphabet, and we identified various plants that
began with that letter, and then using artwork, and then stories
related to it. And so it was kind of, kind of frivolous in a
way. But it was a way to, you know, I say that it's like a
climbing wall. There's just different ways you can kind of
grab and get a toehold on the collection. And you know, you
can focus on a rare book, or you can focus, you know, on a topic
like mushrooms, but this was a little more playful. And so we
would have not only, you know, the—and I now—well, I remember
Z, I believe, was zinnia. But then we would have one of the
stories related to—or in a quote, we always had a quote.
And the quotes could be kind of cheeky, in a way, sometimes they
were kind of funny quotes and things or—I think for B for
banana, I think we had, maybe it was Maria Sibylla Merian, her
illustration of banana, but it was I think Jimmy Durante like,
"Yes, We Have No Bananas" or something like that. So I mean,
it was kind of—it was playful. And what was the nice thing is I
mean, I—it's kind of like baseball, you kind of like that
changeup pitch that people thought, oh, this is a serious
exhibit, and then they start reading and go like, oh, my this
is like, this is hilar—you know, we would hear that—this is so
funny, you know, you know, just different quotes. And they were
all over the board. You know, I mean, we probably had Socrates
or Plato, a quote from them. And then also, yes, something kind
of, kind of silly, you know, but it was nice. And because one of
the things too—so kind of underlying all this, we want
people to feel welcome. And not, you know, sometimes when people
come into spaces, they don't always feel welcome. And you
want it to be playful. And so people of all ages to be
comfortable coming in. And so it—one of the other exhibits
when we had our 50th anniversary of the library, we had Tales—I
think was called Tales and Treasures. And so it was kind of
the idea of 50 objects, kind of reflecting those 50 years. And
so, and—but we had things that might appeal to children, you
know, so we don't—you don't want to wait till someone's like 27
to say, "Trees are important, come to the library." You want
them to feel welcome at an early age. And so, so we had drawers
that open and you know, we kind of did that. That was
continued—those drawers, that drawer system started with Tales
and Treasures and then continued in Plant Hunters. Different
things were put in the drawers, but the idea of like, oh, I can
draw or I can—and I think we asked them what they thought
libraries would look like in the future, draw a picture and
things. So, so, so I think there's different purposes for
exhibits. You know, some is to tell stories, some is to maybe
highlight Special Collections items, but also, you know, to
encourage people to explore more and then also I feel like
another underlying theme is to say welcome and, and, and
discover things here this, you know, to encourage them to
discover more. So—but they—there have been some wonderful
exhibits. And sometimes, in some cases, we've been able to have
presentations and programs related to it, which is always
very exciting too to kind of gather people and hear the
stories together and things.
Kristin Arnold: So speaking of being welcoming to people, I
wanted to ask you about who uses the Sterling Morton Library and
you've touched on that a bit you talked about how staff would use
it and how you know now with Arbor Reading Adventures where
families are coming in, but um—I guess I would ask like how—yeah,
who uses the library and how, how have—how have patrons—? How
have the ways that patrons utilize the library changed over
the years? Has it changed?
Rita Hassert: Yeah, it's an interesting thing to think about
because, well, prior to email, people would contact us. We
still have in- person visitors. So we would have in-person
visitors, you know, certainly phone calls. And that continues.
We'd occasionally—I'm kind of smiling—we've occasionally had
correspondence. So I do remember this was a number of years ago,
getting a question and I remember looking at the address
thinking, that's a really unusual address. And so I
responded, I sent some photocopy, you know, we were
doing a lot more photocopying then too. We do far less
photocopying, but a lot of photocopying, photocopied some
things and sent them, person responded. And somewhere in the
letter said, you know, I—anyway, he was in prison. And so he, and
he said something like, "I'm in a facility. And, you know, our
library is largely law related," you know, because prison
libraries often are—have topics of things related to law. And I
was like, oh, that's so interesting. And I just love
that, that he was, you know, I was able to send them
information. I think it was something a question—I feel like
it was a question about buckeyes or something. And I was like,
that was so wonderful. But, but I love and so—so the contact was
that way. Some—I don't want to—I was thinking about that as it
is. It wasn't that everyone came on site, there were people that
would call us, we would, you know, routinely send photocopies
and information to people. So the transition as technologies
changed, I feel some of those barriers are lowered for sure.
So it's easier, you can email now and also sending things.
It's not photocopying, and putting a stamp, you know,
taking it to the mailroom, and you'll get it in five to seven
business days or something, however long it took to mail. So
that's changed. Love that. I mean, some of it, it does feel a
little bit like the Jetsons, I have to say, you know, it's a
little like science fiction, like, I can scan it and send it
right away. That's wonderful. I love and I feel like that, you
know—at the Rotary, I just talked to the director at
Wheaton Public Library, and I said, "You know, libraries are
so powerful." I feel like that's one of our like—if we had to
have, you know, our superpowers, you know, the way we can reduce
those barriers, hopefully and send things out. I think that's
remarkable. So that has changed for sure. How—and also
discoverability. You know, I think previously we talked a
little bit about the development of ACORN [Arboretum COllections
and Resources Nexus], but the idea of more of our resources
are visible to a greater audience, for sure. And so two
stories that I've started to tell—one story is a gentleman
within this past year. He just did a Google search. He searched
for his dad's name. His dad—his father had been dead for a
number of years. His father was a minister at a small church in
Wisconsin. His father had exchanged letters with Jens
Jensen. Jens Jensen is a landscape architect who worked
not only in the Chicago area, he worked throughout the United
States, and then also developed The Clearing in Ellison Bay,
Wisconsin. So he contacted us and said, "I noticed you have a
couple of letters that my dad has written. Could you tell me
about them?" And so I looked them up and they were letters.
He—his father had written to Jensen asking if he would advise
him on the landscape around not only the church but also
around—I don't know if it's called the rectory—or the home
where the where the minister lived. He wanted some advice and
Jensen—they exchanged some letters. This gentleman—I'm not,
I'm not sure I didn't ask him. But I don't know that he knew
The Morton Arboretum. He might have heard of the Arboretum. I'd
love to think he heard the Sterling Morton Library, but I'm
not convinced. He did a Google search. And he found his
father's name. I was thrilled to send him the letters, to scan
the letters and send them to him. I mean, totally thrilled.
And then he passed them on to his sister, he had no ex—you
know, when he said, "I just did a Google search, and I found
him" and you know, he just wanted to know more. Just in the
past two weeks, another similar story like that. A landscape
architect in Chicago. She's researching, I think, a park,
maybe in Northbrook. And again, she searched the—I think the
landscape architect at the park, and she came across that we had
a letter exchanged with Jens Jensen, you know, from this
gentleman, and she wanted a copy of it. So I feel like one of the
things that has really—one of the monumental changes in my
mind is increased discoverability increased access
increased—
And we have, we have an opportunity to share things in
new and different ways. One of the things prior to some of
these technological changes, maybe we were, we knew more
about like who was using our collections, which is, which is
fine. But if, if this means that I mean someone right now in
Idaho or Taiwan could be using something in our collection,
reading some correspondence. I think that's powerful. You know,
I honestly, I think that's, and that's a dramatic change. So as
I said, prior, we had kind of more, I would say, traditional,
although we had people who phoned in questions and
correspondence. Now there's an opportunity for the end user to
discover things independently of us, which I think is really
exciting, rather than having us translate what they're looking
for, and looking at the collection they can, that gives
them independence. And I think that's powerful. And I think
that's, you know, as I said, the Joy Morton story with the book.
I think that's continuing Mr. Morton saying, "Yeah, take the
book. Come back and use some other things." That's great. And
I think it continues today and into the future, too. So I feel
like that so. So the identity user, in some cases have
changed. In some cases, we don't know the identity anymore,
right?
Kristin Arnold: Yeah.
Rita Hassert: So I can only imagine. And so when you look at
Google Analytics, and you try to understand what, what resources
being looked at, and things, you know, we're not going to really
know the people—
Kristin Arnold: Or why they're looking for that. Why was this
gentleman, you know, Googling this, this reverand's name?
Well, it's because it's his father's family history. But
then this other person was, did you say she was writing a book
on—?
Rita Hassert: Yeah, she's, she's doing research on the—yeah.
Kristin Arnold: —doing research, you know, those are different
angles that you'd come at?
Rita Hassert: Yeah,
Kristin Arnold: —reasons.
Rita Hassert: But they're the people who made contact. Not
everyone—I could also imagine someone using resources in ACORN
and not needing to make contact. They find what they need.
Kristin Arnold: They find what they need and—
Rita Hassert: Yeah. Things related to May [Theilgaard]
Watts, we have far more things on May Watts, so people could be
relatively independent user when it comes to things related to
Mrs. Watts. So, but I think, and I think that's great. I think
however people use things in the collection, I, you know, I like
to say it expands our four walls, it really it kind of—the
walls flatten, we don't have those walls anymore, and people
can have access. So I think—and that's been really one of the
really significant changes, since I've started here, I would
say.
Kristin Arnold: And so I know you've, you've mentioned some of
these, as we've talked through other questions, but were there
any other major projects or acquisitions that had a
significant impact on the library? I know we talked about
the addition of Special Collections addition—the vault.
But what other major projects have taken place during your
time here?
Rita Hassert: So we've had a couple of different—they're all
kind of, kind of going in the same direction. So we had
something called a retrospective cataloging project. So for many
years, for our circulating and our rare collection, cards were
acquired from the Library of Congress. You'd request cards
and the Library of Congress would print them and they would
send them in a box. And this is before my time, but that's how
they acquired catalog cards. So that's how you accessed your
collection. And then, gradually, with the advent or the adoption
of OCLC, we started to catalog things within OCLC. And so we
were producing cards that way. We weren't getting them from
Library of Congress, they're coming from OCLC. But then we
decided we wanted to join—well, we started to talk about an
online catalog and how we would navigate that. We could have had
a standalone online catalog, but we decided we wanted to join
SWAN, which is a regional consortium, about 100
libraries—many publics, some academics, some specials. So we
decided to join that. And so, we—so some things were in OCLC.
So those could just be uploaded into SWAN, but the bulk of the
collection had only print cards that were linked to those items.
And so we had—we actually—it was a grant-funded project. We had
several part-time people. You know, I hate to say re-catalog,
but they cataloged the collection, entering it into
OCLC so could be added to SWAN. So that was a big project. So
that made again, it's all kind of in the march of
discoverability and visibility. So, so that was a big project.
We also had an art cataloging project. So for many years, the
art collection has—had been developed and grown here at the
Arboretum. The person who worked very closely with it was Nancy
Hart. And I think as she was getting closer to retirement,
there was more concern about, again, retrievability. She'd
worked very closely with it. There were several other
part-time people working on the collection, but wanting to make
sure that, again, future generations. It's not just based
on Nancy's memory, but we have systems in place that things are
retrievable. So we had an art cataloging project that was
grant-funded as well. And we hired several people. And they
cataloged a portion of the collection. The Special
Collections addition, which we've talked about. The other,
you know, I was thinking, monumental, I think for us,
well, the acquisitions of various special collections. You
know, I mentioned about Suz—during Suzette's time, the
rare book collection, the art collection, and then that
continued even when Suzette was no longer chair of the Board of
Trustees. Mr. Haffner very much supported our purchasing of
items for Special Collections. We also received significant
collections like the Jensen Collection, I think beginning in
the '60s and onward—a lot of photographs, correspondence,
landscape plans related to Jens Jensen and his son-in-law,
Marshall Johnson. And then the development of ACORN, I think,
is another major project. And again, in that spirit of
increasing discoverability, but all these collections—special
collections—that we've had had their own unique finding aids,
bringing those together in one platform, standardizing
language, you know, taxonomies. So we're, we're describing every
Arboretum landmark in the same way, like the Four Columns, or
the Four Pillars, and then being able to preserve and present
digital files and digital images of the, of the collection
through ACORN, I think is another significant, significant
accomplishment. During the past, I will not quite—or I guess, not
quite decade, although we talked about it a lot longer than that,
but it finally came to fruition.
Kristin Arnold: Yeah. And can you remind me when ACORN—maybe
when it was actually public?
Rita Hassert: I think, yeah, I should verify this, I think our
soft launch was in 2015, I believe. And it was gradual. And
it's interesting. Now we're a little over 84,000 objects
described, I think something like 44,000 photographs. And
we've received collections from Collections, some volunteers
have contributed images to it as well. And so it was funny when,
when it was 10 or 12 items, you know, describing things was
relatively easy. You just have 10 or 12 items, right? It was
very small. And then gradually it's grown to, you know, it, you
know, I don't know, I don't want to predict how soon we'll reach
100,000 objects, but it's going quickly, you know, things are
growing. So, yeah, but it's, but and what I, as I said, what I
value about it is how it's, it's open to all, how it supports
staff work, as well as—so a lot of our earlier conversations
about ACORN were, "Well, the Centennial is coming, people are
gonna want historic images." Well, the Centennial is here.
And they do want images, and they're available, you know, so
I think that's been a benefit. And then, and then also ACORN
allows us to gather and tell stories and capture those
stories, whether they're audio or video or written stories. So
I think I think it offers a lot of, it's been a quite a
development for us.
Kristin Arnold: So how does the Sterling Morton Library support
or influence the Arboretum, but also the broader community? I
know we've talked a little bit about, you know, doing
presentations, and it definitely sounds like a lot of the, you
know, the collections, you said are, are really meant to support
the work being done at the Arboretum, whether it's the
Children's Garden or journals for staff to reference, but I
guess are there any other ways that the Sterling Morton Library
supports and—or influences the Arboretum? Or the broader
community?
Rita Hassert: Yeah. You know, sometimes when I give a tour, I
start out saying that—something along the lines of "I like to
think of the library as the very heart of The Morton Arboretum,"
and that I usually say, "But some people might think we're
the spleen or the pancreas." I'm not sure if we can capture
heart, but, but there is, you know, even even though I say
that, and it seems vaguely silly, I do think that by the
ability to capture memories and capture stories and—and preserve
them and save them, and also, and I haven't really talked
about this, but that the idea that the stories are going to be
available in the future. So you know, oftentimes I say, like
seven generations from now. So it's not like we're just, we're
just hearing Clarence Godshalk's words, but we want people around
the world and into the future to hear them. I feel like the
support and influence, and I think it goes in tandem with the
influence of the Arboretum. But I think it's profound. I think
this is where the library through the archives and other
collections has the ability to, to capture these, you know, I
kind of talked about standing on the shoulders of giants, but
capturing these giants' stories, capturing things and then
sharing them with a broader, greater community, I think the
library in the past—at least past decade—has worked very hard
to, you know—talked a little bit about reducing barriers—but to,
to try and to increase access, to, also to encourage more
voices to be heard. So working with staff related to diversity,
inclusion, making sure that we're hearing broader voices,
and more voices kind of capturing those stories. So I do
feel, you know, I kind of sometimes say that we're
changing the world, one tree at a time, but to, to whether it's
a family coming in for a children's story, a gardener
hesitant about pruning and would like a book, a staff member
who's putting a video together who needs some historic images,
I mean, it kind of comes in all shapes and sizes. And that's
honestly one of the pleasures of the job, you know, our
positions—we get to partner and collaborate with people on a
host of things. I mean, you know, it's kind of when people
say, like, "What's your typical day?" And it's like, "Well,
there's no typical day." You know, but I mean, it does allow
you and even, even, and I try to share it with volunteers as best
I can. But every act is building kind of this pyramid that we're
putting together, you know, that this idea that every act,
whether it's shelving books, or adding metadata to photographs
that have been uploaded, that's helping people that you can't
even see or imagine, you know, and I'm—
Kristin Arnold: You don't know what they might use it for
either—
Rita Hassert: No—at all.
Kristin Arnold: And so that's really, that's, that's kind of
exciting to—
Rita Hassert: Well, that's the thing—
Kristin Arnold: —that you don't, you don't know how someone might
use that photograph, or that letter, or something.
Rita Hassert: Absolutely, totally. And you, you don't
know. And it's not that you don't care, you just in some
ways might never find out. But as I said, I'm fine with that. I
just know that, that those words are available and accessible.
And sometimes, you know, the knowledge in the world, people
talk about like information a lot more than they used to, you
know, sometimes it seems really closed. And I feel like, this is
like the opposite, what we're doing. We're trying to—the goal
is to try to reveal more and share more as best we can. And I
know we work with copyright and permissions and things like
that. And we, we wouldn't want to, you know, sensitive
information, but, but for most things, if we're able to share I
mean, I think that's that spirit. And I think that's kind
of like, kind of the opposite to other things to control things.
Kristin Arnold: Yeah.
Rita Hassert: And to make it equitable, to allow acc—to
encourage access and make it equitable, that others will have
access to it, not just limited people would have access.
Kristin Arnold: So before I ask you my last question, I just
wanted to make sure, were there any other major events or
projects or changes that occurred while you've been
working at the library that maybe we didn't touch on yet?
Rita Hassert: Um—yeah, let me think. I feel like I've
mentioned the highlights.
You know, I talked about the change. Well, I, you know,
talked about the changes and as digital content has become
available. And I think that in the future that will continue.
You know, but we have our feet firmly planted in both worlds.
We have our feet in the digital world, but we also have our, our
minds also on the print or the, the artifact world too and so
that's, that's always that, you know, sometimes I've described
it as a tight rope. You want to protect collections, you want to
limit light exposure and temperature, humidity controls,
and at the same time, you want more people to have access to
it. So you know, you're always kind of navigating that. You
know, making sure that you're not—I don't want to say
overprotecting—but sheltering it in a way that no one has access
to it and maybe no one will become interested in it, but
you—so you want to reveal that as much as possible to the best.
And that's when, sometimes when digital surrogates are the most
helpful, because then you can reveal things. But I—
Kristin Arnold: Well, also protecting the original—
Rita Hassert: —yeah, yeah. But, but I think—I feel like, you
know, in parallel with the Arboretum, we've, you know,
we've advanced and, and things have changed. We've all had to
pivot as programs changed, or research interests, and topics
have changed and subject focus. You know, we've also had to, you
know, to the best of our ability within, within budget and things
we've, we've had to change, but I feel like some of the things
that I've mentioned are probably some of the larger
accomplishments. And then there have been lots of other
victories. I mean, they might not be headlines, but they're
still, they're still all contributing, you know, every
time someone contacts us saying, "I have some photographs," you
know, or "Here's a letter would you be interested in it?" That
builds to the bigger community. So I feel fortunate that we've
had so many opportunities.
Kristin Arnold: And so I think you've kind of touched on my
last question, but I just wanted to pick your brain a bit to see
if you had any suggestions or predictions of how you think the
library might develop in the future.
Rita Hassert: I think technology will continue. And I don't mean
this in a negative way, but will continue to challenge us,
inspire us, change us, I think, and also, you know, even, even
when, you know, like, our first website was launched, well, no
one was using their phone to access it, you know, I mean, so.
So that's—so first technology, and there's, there's websites,
and there's digital content and now we can carry it in our
pockets. And so what's the future? I, you know, I am not,
you know, I was—I'm still waiting for the roast beef pill
from the Jetsons. So I don't know that I can predict. But I
do think how we connect with technology, how we use it will
continue to evolve and change, our expectations are changing. I
think other challenges are, you know, whether it's digital
technology, or physical print collections, or artwork, how we
conserve them, preserve them. The—I'm not pretending that
digital collections will have no issues of preservation, because
I think they will. And we'll have to migrate things. But, but
I also think, physical items, too. And so kind of making those
determinations and using the resources we have to the best of
our ability to, you know, so that future generations can have
access. I think those are probably the larger ones. I
would imagine, we will have, at some point, a new president and
CEO. And so it'll be interesting to see if there are any changes.
Even just—and not specifically or it could be related to the
mission, but maybe there'll be a different focus or a different,
you know, I mean, there's, there have been changes through the
years. And so will there be, what will that bring to us? And
so, I think that'll be, that'll, you know, the library will, will
want to not just respond, but to be assisting with that. So I
think there'll, there'll be things like some of those
changes. But you know, it's always—I often say, when I speak
to groups, but I feel like we're at one of the best points
because we have these amazing digital resources, the idea that
I can scan a letter to someone who didn't even know we existed
and send him a letter his father wrote, that's amazing. And yet,
you know, you can go in the vault, and you can pick up a
letter that Joy Morton wrote, or you can open a book that was
published in 1481. And you can turn the page. And that's a
remarkable time to be able to do both. I don't feel like we have
to choose one over the other. We just have to work at ensuring
that all of these different avenues of access remain open
and viable, I think, to the best of our ability. So the future is
going to be great. That's what I'm thinking.
Kristin Arnold: Well, thank you so much, Rita, for your time and
sharing your experiences and how you've observed the library
change over the years. It's been very informative, and I really
enjoyed hearing your stories, and how the library has, has
developed over time.
Rita Hassert: Well, thank you. It's been a pleasure. It's kind
of fun to go in the Wayback Machine every once in a while.
And also, I always like when you have the opportunity to talk
about the library because it kind of—as I listened to my
words, it's like, oh, that's right. I remember, not everyone
would know about the walkway would they? You know, or know
about where the entrance was and things. So it's just, it's just
interesting to kind of be able to share and, you know, and then
to think about the future too, to think about what what that
might be like. So thanks. Thanks so much. I appreciate the
opportunity.
Kristin Arnold: Thank you so much, Rita.