1. Publishedby>UniversityofSouthernCaliforniaInformationServices
Annual_Report_Edition > 2004
B1BL10TECH_USC
Publishedby>UniversityofSouthernCaliforniaInformationServices
From_the_Archives
125 Years of Excellence and Tradition
Los Angeles was little more than a frontier town in 1880 when USC first opened its
doors to 53 students and 10 teachers. Today it is a world-class research university,
the largest private employer in the City of Los Angeles, the oldest private research
university in the West and home to more than 32,000 students and 3,000 full-time
faculty.
> Top: The Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library was designed and built in 1932
by architect Samuel Lunden. The library was constructed with a $1 million gift from
the Doheny family. The centrally located landmark continues to serve as USC’s
research library, the anchor of its Archival Research Center and an intellectual and
cultural treasure for generations of students, staff and faculty.
> Middle: In 1930, George F. Bovard and Rufus von KleinSmid, the fourth and fifth
USC presidents, respectively, lit the semi-centennial cake in recognition of 50
years of academic excellence.
> Bottom: Now a campus landmark affectionately nicknamed “Tommy Trojan,” this
life-size bronze statue of a Trojan warrior casts its shadow on Bovard Administration
Building and sits across from the Hancock Foundation Building. Sculpted by Roger
Noble Burnham, Tommy Trojan’s granite pedestal has inscribed on it the qualities of
the ideal Trojan: “faithful, scholarly, skillful, courageous, and ambitious.”
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University of
Southern California
USC Information Services
Los Angeles, California 90089-0183
2004 > Collection > Archives
high_visibility
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An impressive demonstration of the new system is a wall of
screens in Waite Phillips Hall that can simultaneously dis-
play up to 30 events taking place in various buildings across
campus. With a couple of keystrokes, an operator can lower
a large video screen in a lecture hall 10 minutes away and
make sure the video projector is ready for use without leav-
ing his seat.
Seconds later, he can call and offer assistance to an
instructor who seems to be experiencing technical difficul-
ties, turn off and secure equipment in a room where a class
has been let out early or monitor the comings and goings of
multimedia carts in a distant storage room.
MOMS is the brainchild of Information Services’ mul-
timedia program manager, Alain Durocher, and its multi-
media operations supervisor, Adrian Rodriguez. The duo’s
masterstroke was combining two standard technologies to
create a unique system for the remote management of mul-
timedia.
The two core MOMS technologies are a Lenel Systems
International total security management system, which
has been deployed university-wide by USC’s Department
of Public Safety (DPS), and Netlink, an AMX multimedia
control system that allows instructors to control multimedia
equipment and room lighting with a single touchpanel in
the classroom.
Durocher and Rodriguez were the first to combine
these two technologies to manage multimedia. In 2001,
they began to use AMX’s Netlink hardware and software to
develop a prototype of MOMS. Joining them early on was
Gary McDougall, formerly of DPS. It was McDougall who
programmed the Lenel interface to manage lectern locks and
security sensors in multimedia auditoriums and classrooms.
McDougall’s successor at DPS, security systems specialist
David Beeler, has worked closely with Durocher to enhance
and expand MOMS.
“The MOMS video cameras give DPS monitoring oper-
ators the ability to assess alarm activations prior to sending
patrol officers, while its video-recording capabilities help us
clarify events after an incident,” Beeler said. “DPS and ISD
have deployed a system that integrates security and multime-
dia services into a seamless solution,” he said.
In addition, multimedia auditoriums and classrooms
are equipped with help phones that allow Information
Services’ support personnel to communicate with instruc-
tors quickly.
MOMS grew out of a project begun three years ago by
Information Services — in collaboration with the Office of
Academic Records and Registrar, with assistance from the
University Space Planning Committee, and with support
from the Provost’s Facilities Improvement Fund — to upgrade
multimedia instructional technologies in auditoriums and
general-use classrooms on the University Park campus.
Taking_Control,_Remotely
As part of the project, auditoriums were equipped with
new podiums, video projectors, electronic screens, room
lighting that can be dimmed, video and DVD players, com-
puters, network connections and a standardized central con-
trol touchpanel.
Lecturers are able to project PowerPoint presentations,
visit a Web site, show a movie — and even alternate from
one medium to another — with the tap of a finger.
The other part of the project involved upgrading gen-
eral-use classrooms. Information Services provided these
classrooms not only with network access, but also with mul-
timedia technology carts that are deployed, upon request,
from strategically located equipment storage facilities.
Where space restrictions limited cart storage, “multimedia
lite” classrooms were equipped with network access, speak-
ers, a help phone, video projectors, cameras and, in some
instances, room lighting that can be dimmed.
In addition, a new Web-based multimedia equipment
information and reservation system was created and imple-
mented. This system describes the services provided and
what equipment is available for each classroom or audito-
rium, and allows faculty to submit reservations online.
One of the best attributes of MOMS is that its deploy-
ment is not bound to auditoriums. MOMS has proven it
can work in any lecture hall, lab or classroom that is outfit-
ted with the appropriate equipment. Because MOMS has a
modular design, it can be replicated easily and adapted to
multiple environments. This is why MOMS has spread so
rapidly across the university.
“We are able to control all MOMS functions with a
variety of wireless handheld devices from anywhere on cam-
pus,” Durocher said. Durocher was awarded Information
Services’ Trojan Spirit Award in fall 2004 for the time- and
space-saving MOMS technologies.
In fall 2004, MOMS successfully began supporting not
only 18 auditoriums across campus, but also 12 “multimedia
lite” classrooms in the von KleinSmid Center, and by fall
2005, 19 more “multimedia lite” classrooms will be simi-
larly configured. There are also plans to install a multimedia
package in the upgraded Mayer Auditorium on the USC
Health Sciences Campus by 2006.
“With MOMS, Information Services has been able
to alter the dynamics of how multimedia is integrated,
deployed, controlled, managed, maintained and secured,”
said Jerry D. Campbell, USC’s chief information officer and
dean of the University Libraries.
“By developing this excellent state-of-the-art service
technology, Information Services has created a model for
other organizations to follow,” Campbell said. o
By Kevin Durkin
A unique system enables instructors to manage multimedia equipment
in buildings across campus at the touch of a key.
2004 > Feature > MOMS
USC’s Information Services has developed a unique remote system to assist instructors using mul-
timedia equipment in the lecture hall or classroom — the Multimedia Operations Management
System, affectionately known as MOMS.
> Alain Durocher, Information Services’ multimedia program manager
m
4. They are images of smiling, affluent African-American Angelenos in
gorgeous clothes, mingling with such celebrities as Dorothy Dandridge,
Pearl Bailey and Louis Armstrong.
Gathered from friends, family and photographers’ discard piles at
the historic California Eagle newspaper by attorney Walter Lear Gordon
Jr., the images document a people who overcame oppression during an
era of segregation.
Documenting a vibrant black culture that included businesses,
resorts, clubs, and fraternities and sororities from the 1920s to the
1960s, the collection of more than 700 images — now on deposit
to USC from Gordon and his friend retired Superior Court Judge
William Beverly — is an invaluable resource for scholars studying Los
Angeles and race relations.
USC is collaborating with Beverly to catalog and digitize the pho-
tos and preserve these rare glimpses of a nearly forgotten time. The
entire archive will eventually be available for viewing online.
Beverly, whose nonprofit organization, Eighth and Wall, owns the
photographs, facilitated the Gordon collection being deposited at USC.
Eighth and Wall was created to preserve and present almost-forgotten
stories of black history in Los Angeles. Beverly makes presentations
at museums, on television, and to community groups, communicat-
ing long-forgotten stories of the black community. (A portion of the
images from the Gordon collection can be found at Eighth and Wall’s
Life_As_He_Knew_It
Rescued images of African-Americans from a bygone era chronicle a vibrant culture,
providing a key resource for scholars studying race relations in the City of Angels.
“When I opened my law practice, my office was in the front of
[California Eagle editor] Charlotta Bass’s shop at 41st and Central,” he
said. “My chair was ten steps away from her press room. After she
finished with photographs, they would just lie on a table, sometimes
in a stack that would fall to the floor. I could just go and get whatever
I wanted.”
Gordon also obtained pictures from photographers capturing the
social scene. “They [photographers] were all coming to my office all
the time, showing what they had taken of somebody else and asking if
I wanted another copy,” Gordon said. “They would say, ‘here are the
pictures I took at the party the other night. Want any of them?’ And,
of course, I did.”
Tyson Gaskill, Doheny Library’s director of programming, found
the collection to be a unique resource. “Something we found interest-
ing was that these photographs form a very idiosyncratic collection.
Many of the images are of people from Gordon’s extended social circle,
so it’s not a panoramic survey of Los Angeles black history by any
means,” Gaskill said.
The library staff mounted an exhibition of the photographs in
Doheny Memorial Library for Black History Month, working with
Beverly to choose the most captivating images.
Many of the photographs show fraternity and sorority events.
“Fraternities dominated the social scene,” Gordon said. “They
were the top of the [black] social life in the city. Everyone aspired to
get invited. The Alpha Phi Alpha and Omega Phi Psi were the old
fraternities. The leading sororities were Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta
Sigma Theta. Organized at Howard University, they never became
quite as prominent out here.”
Of these Greek organizations, Gordon commented, “…they really
taught you. You would go there, and they would talk to you about
principles and responsibilities.” o
For more information about the Gordon collection, contact Dace Taube at
213.821.2366 or taube@usc.edu.
2004 > Collection > Walter Lear Gordon
@ Photographs of the Langston Law
Club, founded in response to the Los
Angeles Bar Association’s refusal to
admit African-Americans — a policy that
remained in effect until 1951 — and of
the Wilfandel Club, which provided
people of all races with a public meet-
ing place;
@ Images of Count Basie performing
with Buddy Rich at the Club Alabam,
and of Louis Armstrong celebrating at
an after-hours club known as Lovejoy’s;
@ Photographs of black resorts such
as Val Verde, a recreation center in
Simi Valley nicknamed the “black Palm
Springs.”
There are even rare, candid photographs
of singer Billie Holiday awaiting trial for
assault and battery. The story goes
that Holiday was in West Hollywood
singing her 1939 song Strange Fruit
— a powerful protest message against
lynching — when a member of the audi-
ence heckled her. She allegedly left the
stage, slashed the heckler with a knife
and resumed singing. Gordon, her attor-
ney, got the case dismissed when her
accuser refused to give his name and
address.
The Gordon collection is an impor-
tant part of USC’s Historic California
Collections Initiative (HCCI), a program
that seeks to gather resources related to
the history of Los Angeles and Southern
California.
Highlightsofthecollection
Web site, www.eighthandwall.org.)
Gordon was born in Santa Monica
in 1908. Admitted to the state bar in 1937,
he blazed a trail as one of the first African-
American attorneys in Los Angeles at a time
when the city’s legal establishment remained
segregated.
Elegant, well spoken and one of the most
successful attorneys of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s,
Gordon practiced law in Los Angeles for more
than six decades. During that time, Gordon
was considered the foremost criminal lawyer
on the West Coast and was one of the most
sought-after attorneys in the country — by
both black and white defendants.
In April 2003, the Los Angeles County
Bar Association awarded Gordon its highest
honor — the Shattuck-Price Outstanding
Lawyer Award.
Now a spry nonagenarian retiree, Gordon
opened his law practice in the front office of
the prominent African American newspaper,
the California Eagle, in 1937.
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> Opposite page: Billie Holiday poses
with Gordon in L.A. Superior Court,
ca. early 1950s (left); Gordon enter-
tains friends in his Central Avenue
law office in the early 1940s (middle);
Singer/actress Pearl Bailey shares
a moment with chorus girl Vivian
Jackson in the 1940s (right).
> Gordon, seated in his office on Central Avenue
in 1938, one year out of law school.
By Jennifer George
5. The USC Center for High Performance
Computing and Communications
(HPCC) is home to the world’s 31st-
fastest supercomputer, according to
TOP500 Supercomputer Sites, an
international online publication that
twice a year ranks the sites operating
the 500 most powerful computer sys-
tems in the world.
The latest TOP500 rankings were
announced November 8, 2004, in
Pittsburgh at the SC2004 Conference
— the leading conference on high-per-
formance computing, networking and
storage.
Among supercomputers in an aca-
demic setting, HPCC’s cluster is now
the seventh-fastest in the world and
the fifth-fastest in the United States.
The cluster claimed these distinctions
by achieving a benchmark in October
2004 of 5.5 teraflops, or 5.5 trillion
calculations per second.
In the previous TOP500 rankings
released six months earlier, the HPCC
supercomputer clocked in at 3.1
teraflops and was ranked 44th in the
world.
“The efforts of the HPCC staff, the
HPCC faculty advisory board and our
vendor partners have helped make this
significant jump in our ranking pos-
sible,” said James Pepin, director of
HPCC.
An October 2004 upgrade of the
HPCC cluster, which increased the
system’s total number of compute
By Kevin Durkin
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2004 > Cover Story > Data Visualization Center
High_Visibility
The unique USC Center for Data Visualization and Collaboration
brings world-class supercomputing into sharp focus.
Located in the university’s Science & Engineering Library, the USC
Center for Data Visualization and Collaboration (DVC) houses three
different technologies that are designed to provide researchers with a way
to teleconference, collaborate and share complex information in high-
resolution visual forms.
The center is divided into two rooms. The main room houses an
AccessGrid and a tiled display wall. The second room, known as the High
Performance 3D Display Room, contains an ImmersaDesk powered by
a multiprocessor Silicon Graphics workstation. The center’s video, audio
and networking equipment provides high-speed access to distributed data
and computers and may be linked to support group-to-group interactions
across USC’s network and the Internet.
“No other university in the world has all three of these technologies
— a tile wall, an AccessGrid, and an ImmersaDesk — together in one
space,” said Priya Vashishta, chair of the Faculty Advisory Council for
SUPERCOMPUTERJUMPSINRANKINGS
6. and former co-chair of HPCC’s Faculty Advisory Council.
“Current trends in research funding are tending toward large and
more diverse multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional grants. In order
to facilitate these more complex collaborative projects, USC needs to
take advantage of technologies such as the AccessGrid that enable mul-
tiple users separated by space to work together in real time,” Katsouleas
said.
ImmersaDesk
The ImmersaDesk enables users, who wear goggles and manipulate a
wand, to experience simulations in three dimensions. On its single screen
— roughly seven feet wide and five feet high — the ImmersaDesk creates
a semi-immersive and interactive virtual environment that makes users
feels as if they are inside the image being projected. In fact, thanks to
head-tracking devices in the goggles, users can move around in a three-
by-eight-foot area in front of the screen and have the sensation of what it
would be like to walk around inside the projected image. If the image is
a million-atom simulation of a ceramic material after the impact of a bul-
let, for example, a user of the ImmersaDesk can study fracture patterns
and note where the material has held together. Gaining such an intuitive
feel for simulation data could lead to advances in protective armor.
“One of the biggest things faculty must overcome when using new
technology is fear of the unknown,” said Priya Vashishta. “Once they
have had some time to use these technologies for their own purposes
and cross over the threshold of discomfort, they can customize them to
suit their own needs. The DVC gives faculty and graduate students an
opportunity to use these innovative technologies to test their current
the USC Center for High Performance Computing and Communications
(HPCC) and professor of materials science and computer science in the
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, as well as a professor of physics and
astronomy in the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences. “Combined
with the supercomputing power of the HPCC, the DVC gives research-
ers powerful ways to view and share their simulation data,” he said.
The AT&T Tile Wall
The AT&T Tile Wall, named in recognition of that company’s support,
provides researchers with an economic and scalable means of display-
ing wall-size images or computer simulations with very high resolution.
Moving or still digital images are sliced up into a dozen smaller images
by a bank of computer processors and then projected by a dozen state-of-
the-art digital projectors onto a 14-foot-wide and eight-foot-high acrylic
screen. The rear-projected composite image, which contains roughly 9.5
million pixels, has remarkable clarity both overall and when viewed close
up. In fact, the resolution of USC’s tile wall is slightly higher than the
new screen-resolution standard set by the film industry in 2004.
The trickiest part about the tile wall is getting the edges of the 12
sections of a single image to align seamlessly. To achieve this, Ashish
Sharma, a USC doctoral candidate in computer science and a member
of Vashishta’s research group, painstakingly fine-tunes the alignments of
the tile wall’s projectors. He uses a laser positioner to project right angles
on the back of the acrylic screen and then adjusts the projectors on their
platforms to make sure that what they are projecting lines up. The pro-
jector platforms can be adjusted along six different axes and then locked
into place. Getting the orientation of the projectors just right is exacting
nodes from 989 to 1,364, fueled the
supercomputer’s higher performance
level. In addition, the system’s back-
bone network was upgraded and its
disk storage was enlarged.
HPCC consists of a diverse mix of
computing and data resources. The
principle computing resources are a
Linux cluster supercomputer and a Sun
Fire 15K shared memory system. In
addition, HPCC has a condor cluster
that uses spare cycles on Unix work-
stations in USC’s public user rooms,
as well as a large facility that provides
more than 30 terabytes of combined
disk storage and potential access to
more than a petabyte of tape storage.
“USC has made modest local invest-
ments to achieve our current status
among the world’s top supercomputer
sites, while many of the higher-ranked
systems are mega-projects supported
by national funding sources,” said
Michael Pearce, USC’s deputy chief
information officer.
“The local aspect of our project allows
USC researchers unfettered access to
a world-class resource,” Pearce said.
Launched in 2000, HPCC has
become an interdisciplinary partner-
ship supported by numerous schools
and departments across the univer-
sity. Bridging USC’s unique strengths
in scientific computing, computer sci-
ence and communications, HPCC sup-
ports more than 80 research projects
SUPERCOMPUTERCONT.
in a variety of disciplines, ranging from
genomics and geophysics to materials
science and sociology.
HPCC resources are helping USC
scientists improve earthquake predic-
tion, design nanotechnology-based
photonic circuits, understand metal
fatigue and failure, and simulate ion
channel transport in living cells. HPCC
intends to bring supercomputing simu-
lations from these and other fields into
the classroom, empowering students
with an enhanced perspective of the
world that only large-scale simulations
can provide, and training them in the
advanced methodologies of parallel
and grid computing.
“HPCC strives to provide the fastest
and highest-quality resources available
to our researchers,” Pepin said. “In
addition, we expose USC students to
powerful computing resources that are
unavailable at most other universities.”
–Kevin Durkin
2004 > Cover Story > Data Visualization Center
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work, but Vashishta believes that such hands-on
experience with hardware is invaluable for com-
puter science graduate students.
“A student like Ashish, who put together all
the equipment in the DVC, has a big advantage
over most computer science graduate students
elsewhere because he has hands-on experience
with cutting-edge hardware,” said Vashishta.
AccessGrid
The AccessGrid allows users to videoconfer-
ence and collaborate interactively by way of the
Internet. Three projectors, suspended from the
ceiling, project onto a wall-size screen what-
ever collaborators wish to share, whether it
be a computer simulation, film, live television
feed, PowerPoint presentation, or a Web site.
Participants from a variety of locations — rang-
ing from university classrooms and labs to hotel
lobbies and government offices — can come
together virtually for meetings, collaborative
work sessions, seminars, lectures, tutorials and
training.
“The power of the AccessGrid cannot be
underestimated,” said Thomas Katsouleas, pro-
fessor of electrical engineering and electrophys-
ics at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering
> Priya Vashishta, chair of the Faculty
Advisory Council for the USC Center
for High Performance Computing and
Communications
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In spring 2004, USC Information Services completed the
implementation of a new antivirus and antispam feature for
all e-mail coming into the USC network. E-mail messages
that arrive from both inside and outside USC are scanned
with a software application called Brightmail to determine if
they contain viruses or could be considered spam.
“Since e-mail is getting more and more popular every
day and since computer viruses and spam are becoming more
prevalent, we need software like Brightmail that can handle
ever-increasing demands,” said Chester Burgess, Information
Services’ manager of enterprise collaboration services.
When Brightmail identifies an e-mail containing a
virus, the message is “cleaned,” if possible, and delivered to
the recipient. If the virus cannot be removed, the message is
blocked altogether. If Brightmail determines that a message
is spam, it inserts the character string “<<SPAM?>>” at the
beginning of the subject line and adds a header.
These modifications enable users of Messenger Express,
USC’s main e-mail client, to employ spam filters on the serv-
ers and allow users of other e-mail clients, such as Microsoft
Outlook, to enhance the effectiveness of their own filters.
Departmental e-mail servers are able to take advantage of the
tagging and provide their own filtering, should they want to.
Users have three options regarding how they deal with
their spam-tagged messages. They may manually delete
them, set their computers to delete them automatically, or
save them in a junk file folder for future review.
The antispam feature is a first for the university, Burgess
said.
“Spam is on the rise and getting harder and harder to
screen out. It’s also challenging to decide what is spam and
what isn’t — what one person deems spam, the next may
not,” he said.
“In the past, stopping spam was a matter of blocking
messages sent from a particular address,” Burgess said.
But, in recent years, he said, spammers have grown
more sophisticated.
“They often send their messages from thousands of
addresses simultaneously, so you have to use software that
can scan e-mail content and apply criteria for determining if
the message is spam. And the criteria are constantly chang-
ing. One great aspect of Brightmail is that they update their
criteria once a minute,” Burgess said.
The new e-mail features are the most visible part of a
comprehensive Information Services project to enhance e-
mail services across the university.
Burgess and his team overhauled the entire architecture
of USC’s e-mail system, installing new hardware and rede-
signing the system so that it is more robust and can handle a
greater flow of messages.
“We had to reposition a lot of technology behind the
scenes to make what looks so simple happen,” Burgess said.
Burgess’ team increased the e-mail system’s border from
two to six servers, allowing for the effective management of
massive quantities of e-mail, including those generated by
virus attacks.
Responsible for roughly 75,000 e-mail accounts,
Information Services conveys an average of 1.3 million mes-
sages per day during the workweek and 800,000 messages
per day on weekends. However, the number can surge to
as many as three million messages per day during a virus
attack. One such virus attack in fall 2003 pushed the former
e-mail system nearly to its full capacity and greatly slowed
the delivery of messages.
The new e-mail system has the capacity to handle five
million messages per day. In addition, Information Services’
Message Store has been separated into four parts — one for
faculty, one for staff and two for students — to eliminate the
single point of failure that formerly existed.
“We expect our increased e-mail capacity, separated
Message Store and new antivirus and antispam filtering to
improve the reliability and performance of USC’s e-mail
system significantly,” said Michael Pearce, USC’s deputy
chief information officer.
“By improving these systems, Information Services helps
keep USC faculty, staff and students better connected.” o
For information about Brightmail visit http://www.usc.edu/isd/
doc/brightmail/.
By Kevin Durkin
Hit_Delete
2004 > Cover Story > Data Visualization Center 2004 > Feature > Technology Update
USC overhauled its e-mail system by installing
new antispam, antivirus software.
research and learn how to manage them in a relatively risk-free setting,”
said Vashishta.
The potential for linking some of these technologies is currently
limited by the speed of computer processors and available bandwidth,
but Vashishta is confident that in coming years, such linkages will become
possible and even the norm. In the meantime, USC faculty and students
will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with these individual
technologies and learn how to apply them to their own research interests.
“Chief Information Officer Jerry Campbell and his Information
Services staff deserve credit for providing the space and support neces-
sary to make these innovative visualization technologies available to the
USC research community,” said Vashishta.
The DVC also has been designed to enhance grid computing both
on campus and beyond.
Grid computing is a way of applying the resources of many comput-
ers in a network to a single problem at the same time — usually to solve
a scientific or technical problem that requires a great number of computer
processing cycles or access to large amounts of data.
As a leader in grid technology, USC is helping to spearhead the
National Science Foundation’s National Middleware Initiative, whose
goal is to develop new ways of sharing unique scientific instruments,
data and programs. The creation of the center also has been an important
step toward realizing USC’s goal to build immersive technologies such
as virtual reality.
“The DVC is a high-profile resource that will help attract top fac-
ulty and students and enhance USC’s reputation as a leading research
university,” said Michael Pearce, USC’s deputy chief information offi-
cer. “We are grateful to AT&T, SBC and others for their support of the
project, and we thank the many individuals and organizations across the
university who partnered with Information Services and worked tire-
lessly to make the center a reality.” o
> (Left) The AccessGrid allows users to
videoconference and collaborate inter-
actively by way of the web.
(Right) The Immersadesk enables
users to experience simulations in
three dimensions.
m
> Chester Burgess
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Quick_Clicks
Grappone. “It’s impossible for a modern
[professor] to know everything,” said
Grappone. “It’s my job to deliver what
they need to know when they need to
know it.”
Nazarians’ $1 Million Gift
Philanthropists Soraya and Younes
Nazarian have given $1 million to
establish the Nazarian Pavilion in
the Doheny Library courtyard. The
gift, made through the family’s Y&S
Nazarian Family Foundation, will help
fund the renovation of the library’s out-
door courtyard and the construction of
an adjacent indoor café.
With a completion date slated for
fall 2005, the 2,800-square-foot court-
yard will be refurbished and reconfig-
ured with new entrances to the space.
Enhancements to the courtyard will
include the addition of café tables and
chairs, planters, wall-sconce lighting
and new signage. The indoor café, to
be located next to the courtyard, is
envisioned as a welcoming teahouse
and eatery with food and beverage
service. More information about — and
photographs of — the new courtyard will
be posted on the ISD Web site as they
become available.
Easy Access
The Information Services Division
recently made USC’s three large general
use student computer rooms — known
as Instructional Computing Centers —
more accessible for disabled persons,
while providing space for Trojans to use
their own laptops. Staff also installed a
number of adjustable computer tables
and monitor arms in the facilities at King
Olympic Hall, Henry Salvatori Computer
Science Center and Waite Phillips Hall
of Education.
The height of the tables can be
adjusted electronically so that wheel-
chair users or persons with other mobil-
ity challenges can sit closer, bringing
the computer, keyboard and mouse
within reach. The monitor arms also
make it possible for persons with poor
vision to bring the monitor much closer
to their eyes.
Another new feature at the Salvatori
facility is tables with wireless Internet
access and power strips for students
using laptops.
Premiere Award
The winners of the first annual
Wonderland Award were announced at
a reception in Doheny Library on April
14, 2005. Creative writing undergradu-
ate Charles Mallison and theatrical
design major Lauren Tyler shared the
$1,500 first prize.
The Wonderland Award is a new
multidisciplinary competition that
encourages interest, new
scholarship and creative work
related to Lewis Carroll, who
is especially remembered for
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
(1865) and Through the Looking
Glass (1871). The entries were
judged on their combination of
scholarly research and creativity.
The goal of the award is to
promote the use of the G. Edward
Cassady, M.D. and Margaret Elizabeth
Cassady, R.N. Lewis Carroll Collection.
The Wonderland Award is made pos-
sible through the generous gift of Linda
Parker.
All Aboard!
Three new board members recently
have been elected to the Friends of the
USC Libraries.
Beverly Braun resides in Pasadena,
California. She earned her master’s
degree in clinical psychology from
Antioch University and serves on
the USC Scripter®
Award selection
committee.
Michael Rogers graduated with a
business degree from USC and works
as a manager at the Merrill Lynch
Century City Wealth Group.
Valerie Sugar earned her bache-
lor’s degree at UCLA and her master of
library science degree from USC. She
is married to Ronald Sugar, the CEO of
Northrop Grumman Corporation and a
newly elected USC Trustee.
Riding the Pacific Wave
In spring 2005, the National Science
Foundation awarded $5 million over
five years to USC under a cooperative
agreement to support the develop-
ment of Pacific Wave, an international
research and education network “peer-
ing” facility.
Pacific Wave will greatly enhance
the network connectivity between the
U.S. science and engineering research
community and their counterparts
around the Pacific Rim, enabling collab-
orative research that is computationally
intensive or requires access to massive
data sets.
John A. Silvester, USC’s vice-pro-
vost for scholarly technology and chair-
man of the Corporation for Education
Network Initiatives in California
(CENIC), was the principal investigator
on the winning proposal.
“The development of Pacific Wave
gives researchers at USC and other
participating research institutions a reli-
able and extremely fast way to transfer
massive data sets and collaborate inter-
nationally on multi-institutional research
projects,” said Silvester.
“Significant opportunities for break-
throughs in many science and engineer-
ing disciplines, including astronomy and
high-energy physics, will be facilitated
by these high-speed network con-
nections. Access to high-bandwidth
networks is also important for the devel-
opment of high quality tele-presence,
visual collaboration and digital imaging
technologies,” said Silvester.
Administered by USC, the Pacific
Wave project will be executed in col-
laboration with CENIC and the Pacific
Northwest Gigapop. The Pacific Wave
international peering exchange facility
currently offers connection points in
Seattle and Los Angeles.
Delivering Information on a
Need-to-Know Basis
Todd Grappone has been recently
appointed the associate executive
director of information development
and management at USC. He began his
duties in November 2004. Grappone is
in charge of developing and maintaining
knowledge and information resources
and technologies at USC and will be
pushing forward with the digital library
agenda that defines a library of the 21st
century.
Among the numerous projects
Grappone is working on is the develop-
ment of an Institutional Repository (IR)
for USC. An IR is a centralized place
where USC students, staff and faculty
can digitally publish research or original
writings.
Before coming to USC, Grappone
was the head of Computing and
Network Systems at the Lane Medical
Library and associate director for wire-
less computing development at the
Stanford University School of Medicine.
During his time at Stanford, Grappone
was responsible for creating an “elec-
tronic information center” that incor-
porated digital library and informatics
technologies (such as laptop comput-
ers, cellular telephones and PDAs) for
education, clinical care and research
activities. He helped to create a mobile
computing application for physicians
that made vital information available at
their fingertips.
Grappone, who received his mas-
ter of library science degree from the
University of Pittsburgh, was drawn to
USC because he felt he could have a
significant impact on an even larger
research community than he affected at
Stanford. He also said that the unique
internal structure of USC Information
Services enables information profes-
sionals to develop and implement tools
that researchers demand while offering
them new ways to publish their results.
And providing information is vital to
02_ 03_ 04_ 05_ 06_ 07_ 08_ 09_ 10_ 11_ 12_Home_
2004 > In Brief > Quick Clicks
*
9. I have read that you were astonished when The
Hours, which you call “your peculiar little book
about gay men and lesbians,” was nominated for
the Pulitzer Prize, and then actually won it.
MC: Yes, yes. I was astonished. Of course I was.
It just didn’t seem to me like the kind of book
that would win a prize like that. The Pulitzer
Prize — according to its credo — is given to a
book, of whatever literary merit, that in some way
reflects an essential American experience. When
The Hours was short-listed, I thought, This is such
a wonderful surprise, but there is no way a book about
three women of ambiguous or complicated sexuality, one
of whom is Virginia Woolf, is going to be considered by
any jury to reflect an essential American experience.
And the fact that the jury did decide that says
something really encouraging about our increas-
ing collective sense of what the American experi-
ence can be said to include.
What has happened in terms of society?
MC: We are beginning to understand just how big
and diverse the world and this country is. We are
beginning to really grasp the fact when we talk
about Americans, we are talking about an array of
people so different from one another that the fact
that we are Americans is about the only thing we
have in common. And I think that’s great. You
certainly see it in literature. You see more and
more books by writers who are not white, straight
men. Not that I have any objection to the books
of white, straight men. But we’re seeing more dif-
ferent kinds of stories about more different kinds
of people, and that’s good for everybody, includ-
ing white, straight men.
For so many decades that’s all we were offered.
MC: Right. It’s just a question of getting to
choose from a broader spectrum, of having more
items on the menu. Who doesn’t like that?
Someone wrote that your writing often shows a
preoccupation with redefining the American family
for a new age, and that’s kind of what we’re talking
about here. Do you think that’s accurate?
MC: I would have to say yes. But I would have to
add that I’ve only come to realize that myself as
the books have begun to accumulate. I certainly
didn’t start out writing novels 20-plus years ago
thinking that I was going to spend the better part
of my life writing about the new post-nuclear
nuclear family. I think that’s true of most writers:
We look back at our books and begin to see, along
with our readers, what themes seem to move us
over and over again.
I guess it’s usually literary critics who presume all
of this is known the minute you sit down.
MC: Right. And I’m sure for some writers it’s
true, but I can certainly tell you for me it’s not. I
just write about whatever feels interesting to me at
the time, and then certain themes start to emerge.
Surprise!
Isabelle Allende has said something similar. For a
lot of writers it is a big surprise.
MC: As I think it should be. Too much control is
deadly for a writer. You have to let your subcon-
scious range around, go wherever it goes.
Related Cunningham Readings
> Specimen Days (2005)
> Land’s End: A Walk in Provincetown (2002)
> The Hours (1998) (which was inspired by Virginia Wolfe’s 1925 novel,
Mrs. Dalloway)
> Flesh and Blood (1995)
> A Home at the End of the World (1990)
> Golden States (1984)
By Zsa Zsa Gershick
m
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2004 > Conversation > Michael Cunningham
In 2003, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Cunningham won the USC Scripter®
Award —
honoring the author and screenwriter of the year’s best filmic adaption of a book — for The Hours.
In summer 2004, he again came to the USC campus as part of the Friends of the USC Libraries
Literary Series to discuss A Home at the End of the World, another of his books then opening as
a film. Zsa Zsa Gershick of USC News & Web Publishing talked to Cunningham about his work, life
and the notion of overnight success.
PHOTOBYRICHARDPHIBBS
Man_of_the_Hours
10. Is that your process?
MC: Yeah, yeah. And I know in this regard I’m very differ-
ent from a lot of other writers. I never know what the book’s
going to be about when I sit down to write. I have characters
in mind and some vague idea of what is likely to happen to
them, but that’s it. And I just write my way through it. My
favorite sentence on another subject was something Flannery
O’Connor once said, “How can there be any surprises for
the reader if there haven’t been any for the writer?” And I
abide by that.
So you sit down, you do a little rain dance, you pray, you
meditate …
MC: I do a rain dance. I pray. I wait and see. I throw away a
lot. Actually, the only system that works for me is not very
economical because you go down blind alleys. You write a
lot of things that don’t go anywhere. And I probably throw
out at least a book’s worth of pages. I probably throw out at
least two pages for every page that gets published.
Is there a hesitation to throw that material away, or do you do
it with faith, knowing that the next right thing will come?
MC: Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I was younger and I would
realize that the last 50 pages actually hadn’t worked out, and
I had to get rid of them, I was terrified. Oh no! Oh no! All
those months of work!
But once I understood that was simply how the process
works for me, I got accustomed to it. I even take a kind of
perverse joy in it — not unlike going through your closet
and getting rid of all those clothes you never wear. You
know? That sense of liberation.
Was there ever a point in your writing when you thought —
“This is too hard, this is too scary, waiting for what? Let me go
off and be a lawyer, a teacher, a doctor, a plumber?”
MC: Oh, I think that all the time! Well, not every single day,
but periodically. One thing I’ve learned just from doing this
as long as I have is that every book of mine seems to reach a
point around about midway when it just falls apart. When I
look at it and think, I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know
what this is about. I don’t know if I care about it anymore. I guess
this one just isn’t coming together, and maybe I should just dump it
and start a new book that would be easier and more fun to write.
But I’ve never done that. I’ve always stuck with it. And
what I’ve learned is that when that happens, what’s actu-
ally taking place is the book is overcoming my own little
plots, little plans and schemes, and taking on a life of its own
that is very different from what I might have thought I was
writing.
It’s actually a painful but good and necessary part of the
process.
So you’re really endeavoring all throughout this process to
get out of the way.
MC: That’s exactly right. You know, I don’t think we’re
really smart enough to write novels. I mean as a species. I
don’t think the human brain is actually able to produce a
good novel all by itself.
What I do is try to sit in one place long enough for
something to come through me. I’m not quite sure where
it comes from. My unconscious, the magma, the gods and
goddesses. I couldn’t tell you. But so much of the process for
me is trying to get over myself. Trying to — as you actually
put it very well — to sort of get out of the way and let the
book take its own shape.
Do you ever look at one of your books, after the fact, on a
shelf or in a bookstore, and say, “Did that come from me?”
MC: Oh yeah. All the time. Almost the minute I hand it in,
it begins to feel strange to me and slightly foreign. I created
that? Beats me.
When someone quotes a line to you and says, “Yeah, that’s a
great line. I love that!” Do you think, “Oh? Did I say that?”
MC: Yes, I do. Half the time people can quote my stuff to
me. I couldn’t quote lines from the books. People will say
— “What did you mean when you wrote such and such?”
And my reaction is, “Damned if I know. I don’t ever remem-
ber writing that.”
When I was reading A Home at the End of the World, I saw that
there’s a note in the new edition in which you say that that
book was begun during a hard time, and that six years later
when the book was done things had eased. What was hard
about that period?
MC: I think that line may have a certain Dickensian con-
notation that I didn’t mean. Compared to almost everybody
alive on the face of the earth, I’ve had an incredibly easy
time as a white, American guy with enough money for food
and shelter.
What I wanted to do was sort of pay particular homage
to the people who had faith in me during those six years,
who treated me as somebody doing something that mattered
and who provided me with everything from encouragement
and moral support to a quiet room with a typewriter in it.
You know, one of the difficult things about being a new
writer is you think of yourself as a fraud, a crank and a crazy
person, and most of the rest of the world thinks so, too.
There are few quicker ways to end a conversation at a party
than to tell someone that you’re a writer but you haven’t
published anything yet. Everyone I knew when I was writ-
ing A Home at the End of the World, who simply had faith in
it, who simply treated me as if I was doing something worthy
of respect, was heroic and crucial to me.
An overnight success really does take about 20 years, doesn’t
it?
MC: Yeah! I am sure there are people out there whose over-
night successes have been literally that, who just sat down
and, with the minimum trauma, wrote a novel, which
received instant acclaim. I am not one of those people. And
I do think that, for most of us, the overnight success is any-
where from 10 to 30 years in the making.
When you were starting out, did you envision yourself at any
point receiving this or that award? Or were you thinking about
telling your story, delivering a message …
MC: When I started out, I had wild fantasies. I was practic-
ing my Nobel acceptance speech at the age of 22. We are all
prone to delusions of grandeur, or, anyway, many of us are.
Then, as the years went by, I began to realize that I
might very easily turn out to be one of those people who
worked and worked and worked and wrote and wrote and
wrote and never really got anywhere. When I began to real-
ize that — everybody starts out thinking that they’re going
to be a big deal and hardly anybody actually ends up being
a big deal — it threw me. It was a big shock as I turned 30,
and then turned 35. I began to think, Oh, well, I guess this’ll
never happen.
But when I finally understood that I might never, ever
get to be any kind of famous writer, that I might never even
get to be a published writer, but that I was going to do it
anyway, then I felt free.
And interestingly, that’s when things started to hap-
pen. Looking back, I actually think that it was tremendously
good for my work when I stopped worrying about winning
prizes and being successful and simply started to think about
what I was writing. o
2004 > Conversation > Michael Cunningham
m
Cunninghamdownloaded
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The Los Angeles Times has deemed him “one of our
very best writers.” Indeed, Michael Cunningham’s
extensive list of accomplishments supports the dis-
tinction of being singled out as one of contemporary
literature’s most compelling and imaginative writers.
Raised in Pasadena, Calif., Cunningham
received a Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the American
Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgendered Book Award and a PEN/Faulkner
Award — all for The Hours — in 1999; a Guggenheim
Fellowship in 1993; a National Endowment for the Arts
Fellowship in 1988; and a Michener Fellowship from
the University of Iowa in 1982.
The Hours also won a slew of best book of 1998
awards, including those from the Los Angeles Times,
The New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune
and Publishers Weekly.
Cunningham’s latest novel, Specimen Days, was
published in June 2005. Like The Hours, Specimen
Days is a fugue in three parts: it consists of three dis-
tinct stories, each set in a different historical period —
the Industrial Revolution, the 1920s and the far future.
And each is cast in a different genre: ghost story, hard-
boiled mystery and science fiction.
In addition to garnering awards for The Hours,
Cunningham has earned glowing reviews for his other
books. A Home at the End of the World, for example,
was described by the Boston Globe as “extraordinary”
and “a constant pleasure.” The San Diego Tribune
called it “a novel so spellbinding in its beauty and sen-
sitivity that the reader devours it nearly whole.”
Yet Cunningham remains humbled by his suc-
cess.
When he learned The Hours was on the Pulitzer
short list with Russell Banks’ Cloudsplitter, Cunningham
said he was surprised. Banks’ book, an expansive
American saga set during the Civil War, seemed like
the obvious choice to him.
“I thought, that’s the winner,” he said, “that book
has Pulitzer Prize written all over it. To my great aston-
ishment, my book won. It was stunning. Slightly surreal.
The prize seemed then and still seems like something
that other people get.”
–Dan Knapp
2004 > Conversation > Michael Cunningham
11. 02_ 03_ 04_ 05_ 06_ 07_ 08_ 09_ 10_ 11_ 12_Home_ 14_ 15_ 16_ 17_ 18_ 19_ 20_ 21_ 22_ 23_ 24_13_
George Isaacs knows prime real estate — land, farms and
ranches — when he sees it. The philanthropist and USC sup-
porter has spent his career buying it and selling it.
But some real estate he would never part with — even
though he doesn’t own it.
Last summer, Isaacs made a gift of $1 million to USC’s
Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library. Regarded as the
academic heart of the university and one of its most beautiful
buildings since it opened in 1932, Doheny Library made a
lasting impression on Isaacs when he was a student at USC.
“I’ve always said that Doheny Library is the best-look-
ing building on campus,” said Isaacs. “I hadn’t been in the
building for years, so when I took a tour of it a year ago, I
was very impressed with the retrofit.”
Closed from December 1999 to August 2001 for a seis-
mic retrofit, Doheny Library is the subject of on an ongoing
historic preservation effort. Some of the areas remodeled and
refurbished in recent years include the Treasure Room (home
to the Doheny Library Exhibition Program), the Intellectual
Commons and the Humanities Reading Room.
Isaacs developed an appreciation for real estate during
his days in Los Angeles. Today he lives on Oahu, Hawaii’s
most populous island.
USC is a family affair for Isaacs and his children. All
three of them — George Jr., Mark and Holly — attended
the university, and while they did, he became involved with
USC as well. He has been making significant gifts to the
university since the 1960s.
“Back then, I knew 80 to 85 percent of the trustees quite
well,” he said. “I would host them and President Hubbard
for football pre-game parties in Honolulu when the Trojans
came to town. I also hosted Rod Dedeaux’s baseball team for
several years when they played the University of Hawaii.”
Isaacs supports many other nonprofit organizations as
well, such as hospitals, schools, universities and museums.
“I’m a philanthropist,” he explained. “I’d rather see my
money go directly to helping schools and hospitals than leave
it to the federal government.”
One of his most significant recent philanthropic endeav-
ors has led to the opening of the Isaacs Art Center in Waimea.
A part of the renowned Hawaii Preparatory Academy, the
center combines two of Isaacs’s passions: art and education.
In addition to displaying art from many periods, the cen-
ter sells artworks — as many as eight pieces a week — and
50 percent of the proceeds support scholarships for students
throughout the Hawaiian islands.
“It’s already regarded as one of the best art centers and
museums in Hawaii,” said Isaacs.
The 5,580 square-foot center has received rave reviews
since opening last August. Its creation owes much not only
to Isaacs’s generosity but also to his expertise in real estate
development.
“A condemned 1910 school building was found that we
knew would be perfect for the center,” he said. “We paid to
move it five or six blocks and then completely refurbished
it.”
Isaacs has remained busy with other projects as well.
He has finished writing his partial memoir, SOLD, which
recounts his 35-plus years of buying and selling real estate
around the world. o
by Darren Schenck
Sold_on_USC
Torrential rain did not dampen the excitement as celebrities,
film industry executives, USC trustees and senior adminis-
trators, and friends and supporters of the university gathered
on February 20, 2005, to honor the winners of the 17th
annual USC Scripter®
Award.
Dry inside the Los Angeles Times Reference Room of
historic Doheny Memorial Library, attendees forgot about
the inclement weather and celebrated the contributions of
the writing duo responsible for the film Million Dollar Baby,
author F.X. Toole and screenwriter Paul Haggis.
The Scripter Award recognizes both the author and
screenwriter of the year’s best film adaptation of a book,
while raising visibility and support for the USC Libraries.
Even with the uncooperative skies, the sold-out, black-
tie event provided an evening of laughter and even a few
tears.
With Hal Kanter serving as grand master of ceremonies,
emcee Henry Winkler presented the author award to Erin
Patricia Boyd, daughter of the late Toole (pen name of Jerry
Boyd), while screenwriter and co-chair of the selection com-
mittee Nicholas Kazan presented the screenwriter award to
Haggis.
In a poignant and emotional acceptance speech, Boyd
recounted her father’s path to publication. “My father told
me once that writing a story for his children had helped him
take a thorn out of his heart. It didn’t. The thorn dug deeper
as he endured two failed marriages and decades of rejection
slips,” Boyd said.
“But in 1988, he had his first heart surgery, and after-
ward he became reunited with his faith. He continued to
fight his battles, and finally his faith was rewarded. He pub-
lished his first short story at 69, his first book of stories at 70,
and then Hollywood came knocking on his tiny apartment
door.”
In 2002, two years after Rope Burns: Stories From the
Corner was published, Toole died. He was 72.
While accepting his Tiffany & Co.-designed “crystal
book” award, Haggis — who adapted two of Toole’s short
stories into the screenplay — praised the author for his com-
mitment to turning out a substantive piece of literature from
which he could draw inspiration.
“Throughout the process of writing this script, what I
really I wanted to do was protect the beauty of Jerry Boyd’s
deeply felt stories,” said Haggis. “I want to thank Boyd for
trusting us. He didn’t want to make just another Hollywood
boxing movie. He wanted it to be real, to have the stink of
the gym.”
Proceeds from the event — sponsored by the Friends
of the USC Libraries — benefit the Doheny Library
Preservation Fund.
Jerry D. Campbell, USC’s chief information officer and
dean of the USC Libraries, spoke to the crowd of more than
400 people about the significance of the Scripter Award to
the USC Libraries and the Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial
Library. “Million Dollar Baby inspires and moves us because it
is about daring to dream big and making the personal sacri-
fices necessary to achieve our dreams,” Campbell said.
“By joining us tonight, you are helping us preserve this
library so that generations to come will never be at a loss for
words — or for the dreams those words convey.”
Other finalists for the 17th annual Scripter Award were
The Bourne Supremacy, The Door in the Floor, Friday Night
Lights and Sideways.
“Our selection committee co-chairs are very respected
and lead a very talented and diverse committee that really
value good writing and the notion of celebrating writers
in an industry that most often favors actors, directors and
producers,” said Toni Miller, producer of the USC Scripter
Award.
“We believe that the convergence of the support of the
Friends board of directors, the strong selection commit-
tee and the increased press coverage have put the Scripter
Awards on the proverbial map.” o
Author F.X. Toole and screenwriter Paul Haggis received
crystal book awards at the 17th annual USC Scripter Award ceremony.
By Dan Knapp
Scripter_Reloaded
2004 > Profile > George Isaacs 2004 > Recap > Scripter XVII
Philanthropist and real estate developer George Isaacs donated
$1 million to the preservation of Doheny Library.
m
> Paul Haggis and Erin Patricia Boyd
12. Lasting more than 50 years, the
entertainment form eventually died out
as a result of increased competition and
poor business choices, but the legacy
of vaudeville still echoes today through
film, television and the recorded arts.
Comedians, singers, plate-spin-
ners, clowns, escape artists, high divers,
contortionists, ventriloquists, dancers,
musicians, acrobats and animal trainers
all shared a single stage and delighted
audiences from coast to coast.
Noted artists to emerge from the
era of vaudeville include George Burns
and Gracie Allen, Buster Keaton, Charlie
Chaplin, Sophie Tucker, Will Rogers,
Bob Hope, Eubie Blake, Fanny Brice,
Ethel Waters (a.k.a. “Sweet Mama
Stringbean”) and tap dance legend Bill
“Bojangles” Robinson.
With the advent of radio, however,
America found a cheaper and more
convenient way to tap into the variety
of entertainment they had enjoyed in
vaudeville. This, coupled with the pro-
liferation of silent films, the economic
woes of the Great Depression and a
shift in public taste — a shift that many
vaudeville managers and performers
failed to acknowledge — contributed to
the demise of the once-great bastion
of American entertainment. The more
than 25,000 individuals who performed
on the vaudeville circuit possessed an
indelible spirit and motivation to make
audiences happy. Even though vaude-
ville died out in the late 1920s, the
legacy of talent and rich cultural history
remains.
For additional information about the
exhibition, contact Tyson Gaskill at
213.740.2070 or gaskill@usc.edu
Fight On! Celebrating 125
Years of the USC Spirit
Doheny Library’s Ground Floor
Rotunda, September 16, 2005 –
May 14, 2006
This display celebrates the people,
events and accomplishments that
have made the University of Southern
California one of the finest research uni-
versities in the world since its establish-
ment in 1880.
For additional information, contact
Tyson Gaskill at 213.740.2070 or
gaskill@usc.edu
Friends of the USC Libraries
Literary Luncheon with Robin
Swicord
Doheny Memorial Library, November
9, 2005
Screenwriter Robin Swicord — whose
film credits include Little Women
(1994), Matilda (1996) and Practical
Magic (1998) — discusses her adap-
tation of Arthur Golden’s best-sell-
ing novel Memoirs of a Geisha, a film
directed by Rob Marshall and slated for
theatrical release in December 2005.
For tickets or for more information on
the Friends of the USC Libraries, con-
tact Toni Miller at 213.740.2328 or visit
http://friendsofthelibraries.usc.edu.
18th Annual USC Scripter®
Award Ceremony
Doheny Memorial Library, February 11,
2006
Film industry and literary figures, as
well as book and movie buffs, gather in
Doheny Memorial Library to celebrate
Hollywood’s best adapted film of 2005.
The Scripter award is the only award
that honors both the author and the
screenwriter for the best book-to-film
adaptation.
For additional information, visit the
Scripter Web site at http://scripter.
usc.edu or contact Toni Miller at
213.740.2328 or scripter@usc.edu
Alice in Wonderland
Doheny Library’s Treasure Room,
Spring 2006
An amazing variety of printed material
from the Cassady Collection highlight
the worldwide fascination with Lewis
Carroll’s beloved Alice in Wonderland.
(For more on the Cassady Collection,
turn to page 24.)
An international conference set
for March 31-April 1, 2006, in Doheny
Library will use the exhibition as a point
of departure.
For additional information about the
exhibition or conference, contact Tyson
Gaskill at 213.740.2070 or gaskill@usc.
edu
Throughout the year, USC Information
Services sponsors a number of events
that educate, entertain and inspire.
Below are a few highlights of upcom-
ing events taking place in 2005-2006.
Additional events will be posted on the
library Web site (www.usc.edu/isd/
libraries/) and on the main USC events
calendar (www.usc.edu/calendar/).
Friends of the USC Libraries
Literary Luncheon with
Sue Grafton
Doheny Memorial Library, Room 240
June 22, 2005
Author Sue Grafton discusses her
career, inspiration and writings, and
reads from her most recent book, R
is for Ricochet, the lat-
est adventure of plucky
Southern Californian pri-
vate investigator Kinsey
Millhone.
Since 1982, Grafton
has sold millions of
books in her chronologi-
cal “alphabet series” of
murder mysteries (A is
for Alibi, B is for Burglar,
C is for Corpse, et al.).
She has now covered
nearly three-quarters of
the alphabet.
R is for Ricochet
has been described as
“deliciously zingy,” “sexy” and “excit-
ing.” Romantic Times wrote, “Grafton
has done her usual superlative job with
one of mystery fans’ favorite females.
Welcome back, Kinsey!”
For tickets or more information about
the Friends of the USC Libraries, con-
tact Toni Miller at 213.740.2328 or visit
http://friendsofthelibraries.usc.edu.
Digital Library Round Table
Semimonthly
The brown bag luncheon and discussion
series offers an open forum on digital
library initiatives and issues. Upcoming
guests include Herbert Van de Sompel,
the noted digital library researcher from
the Los Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL) Research Library and win-
ner of the 2003 Frederick G. Kilgour
Award for Research in Library and
Information Technology for his work on
OpenURL and SFX; and Carl Lagoze,
a senior research associate in Cornell
University’s Information Science
Program and the 2004 recipient of the
Kilgour Award. Previous guests have
included Stephen Davison (UCLA),
Barry Boehm (USC), Johan Bollen (Old
Dominion University/LANL) and Naomi
Dushay (Cornell).
For additional information about the
Digital Library Round Table and a com-
plete list of upcoming lecture dates
and lecturers, contact Jewel Ward at
213.821.2298 or jewelw@usc.edu
The Best Seat in the House:
Photographs of Classical
Musicians by Jim Arkatov
Doheny Library Ground Floor, June 14
– August 14, 2005
With subjects ranging from Midori to
Isaac Stern, cellist and photographer
Jim Arkatov’s images showcase many
of the world’s most recognizable and
accomplished musical artists.
For additional information, contact
Tyson Gaskill at 213.740.2070 or
gaskill@usc.edu
Setting the Stage: The Rise of
American Popular Theater
Doheny Library’s Treasure Room,
September 9 — December 9, 2005
At the beginning of the 20th century,
nothing was bigger than vaudeville.
Vaudeville was America’s outlet for
escape and a welcome pause from its
battles with social and cultural unknowns.
More than anything else, vaudeville was
the theater of the general public.
This exhibition includes rare photo-
graphs, archival audio and video record-
ings, playbills, stage props, prints,
journals and ephemera that showcase
the rich history of American theatrical
entertainment.
m
*
Pop_Ups
2004 > In Brief > Upcoming Events
PHOTOBYSTEVENHUMPHREY
24_23_22_21_20_19_18_17_16_15_14_13_12_11_10_09_08_07_06_05_04_03_02_Home_
13. 02_ 03_ 04_ 05_ 06_ 07_ 08_ 09_ 10_ 11_ 12_Home_ 14_ 15_ 16_ 17_ 18_ 19_ 20_ 21_ 22_ 23_ 24_13_
By Kevin Durkin
Making_Online_Research_Academic
“USC joined with Dartmouth, Iowa State, the
University of Arizona, Arizona State, the University of
Utah, and the University of California, San Diego in
the initial phase of what became a three-year project,”
said USC librarian and digital information specialist
Deborah Holmes-Wong, who has been working with
ARL on the project since its inception.
On January 10, 2005, a pilot version of the Scholars
Portal was launched at http://www.usc.edu/isd/sp. For
this first phase of the project, forty resources were con-
figured for searching, including all of the participating
universities’ library catalogs and subscription databases.
The Scholars Portal does not replace USC library cata-
logs or other systems already in place but rather facili-
tates their use.
The current Scholars Portal is focused on data-
bases whose content is most suitable for upper division
undergraduate and beginning graduate student research.
During spring 2005, project team members have been
conducting an evaluation of the Scholars Portal inter-
face with students, soliciting fac-
ulty feedback and assembling focus
groups to determine what databases
should be added and which profiles
need to be created to make the por-
tal useful to scholars pursuing more
in-depth research.
Jerry D. Campbell, USC’s
chief information officer and dean
of University Libraries, has been a
national leader in the creation of a
Scholars Portal. Campbell devel-
oped a white paper in 2000 that
enticed ARL to plan a project to
develop a multi-institutional portal
under Campbell’s initial leadership.
In spring 2002, the ARL signed a contract with a soft-
ware developer, Fretwell-Downing Inc., to begin work
on the project.
Fretwell-Downing’s software allows users to exe-
cute a single search that queries library catalogs, sub-
scription databases and Web sites to retrieve results from
all of these resources through a common interface. The
user can then click on the appropriate button either to
acquire information about local holdings or to call up
full-text displays, should they be available.
The potential benefits of the Scholars Portal are
substantial. “Existing library Web pages are focused on
individual libraries,” said Campbell.
“Consequently, with rare exceptions, Web access
hosted by libraries is not designed to serve as a general
entry point for the larger world of Web services. Neither
are the multitude of individual library Web pages equal
to a single, widely known, dependable beginning place
for research in the Web environment,” said Campbell.
Existing commercial search engines, such as
Google, do not yet fill the bill. While current search
engines do search efficiently for resources on pages that
their indexing programs can access, most library pages
are locked away, out of reach. Some universities have
placed signature collections in special areas that make
them hard to find. But the missing link needed by a
researcher may be hiding in plain sight, in an unlikely
spot, and never be found unless a scholar tries every
index in the country individually.
Many universities also subscribe to specialized
indexes whose content is not made freely available on
the Internet and not indexed in popular search engines.
Unlike Google, these indices cover not only digital con-
tent, but also resources available exclusively in print,
many of which go well back in time. The Scholars
Portal geological database, for example, indexes geosci-
ence articles, books and papers dating back to 1785.
Turning what is known as “federated searching”
into reality has required an extensive program of refine-
ment. The initial idea of a single, standard interface that
would search holdings everywhere in the academic uni-
verse was modified in favor of an interim structure in
which sites retain their individual institution’s person-
ality.
The original seven ARL institutions will report
back to ARL’s general membership on their pioneering
experiences. Now that the initial project is completed,
several of the original partners are planning a new proj-
ect to enhance the portal. Though a single, consolidated
Scholars Portal will not take shape for years, Campbell
continues to believe in the vision and believes that it
will be achieved.
“Whether it will evolve from Google’s current
efforts, this particular Scholars Portal or another portal
project, what we have created at USC will enable us to
improve user search capability during the interim,” said
Campbell. o
If you have questions about the Scholars Portal or would
like to provide feedback about its usefulness, please contact
Deborah Holmes-Wong at dhwong@usc.edu.
USC collaborated with six peer research universities to
create a test version of a smart Web browser.
Thanks to an innovative Scholars Portal, developed by USC and partner
institutions — all members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL)
— a USC student can now sit down at a computer, open a single Web inter-
face, and search across not only the university’s conventional library hold-
ings, but also its subscription databases. Such a “smart” browser for academic
researchers has never been available before.
2004 > Profile > Scholars Portal
m
14. For more than a century, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has
remained a classic.
A tale that forever changed the way children’s books
were written, the story — with all its unassuming charm
and quirky characters — continues to delight readers, young
and old.
USC’s Alice collection recently grew by five new addi-
tions: the first American, second English, first German and
first French printings of the book, as well as the 1886 printing
of author Lewis Carroll’s original manuscript notebook.
The collection, donated by USC alumnus George
Cassady, is housed in Doheny Memorial Library’s Horton
Rare Book Room.
When Cassady — a physician known for reading Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland to his sons and inserting lines
from the story into his medical lectures — finds new or old
editions or spin-off items, he purchases them for the USC
collection.
Named after Cassady’s parents, G. Edward and
Margaret Elizabeth Cassady, the collection includes rare
printings, such as the first issue of Through the Looking Glass
and What Alice Found There from 1872; offshoot items like
Victorian-era playing cards based on the books’ original
illustrations by John Tenniel; and books about Carroll’s
photography.
Known mostly for his stories about Alice, Charles
Lutwidge Dodgson — who used the pen name Lewis Carroll
— was also a mathematician, university scholar, inventor of
educational board games and children’s photographer.
“Carroll is an enormously important cultural figure,
noted for his photography almost as much as his writings,”
said USC’s James Kincaid, the Aerol Arnold Professor of
English. “He also marks an important turn not only in the
writing of children’s literature, but in the way we understand
‘the child’ in modern culture.”
The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland — first published in
1865 — emerged at a time when it was thought that children
did not need their own imaginative world.
In addition to his initial collection in 2000, Cassady has
pledged a gift of $100,000 to support future acquisitions and
related programs. A symposium hosted jointly by USC and
the Lewis Carroll Society of North America is planned for
spring 2006 and will coincide with an exhibition of objects
from the collection. o
Oh_My_Ears_and_Whiskers
USC’s rare collection of a beloved Victorian-era tale — including first printings
and international editions of its many incarnations — continues to grow.
By Gia Scafidi
Acquisition Highlights
During the year, Information Services
acquired several collections of primary
resources, for the most part under the aus-
pices of the Research Center in Edward L.
Doheny Jr. Memorial Library, the univer-
sity’s home for such materials. A few of the
new acquisitions are highlighted below. For
more information about these and other pri-
mary research resources at USC, please call
213.740.7119
@ With a name derived from the
Greek word for “paradise,” Elysian
Park is the oldest public park in Los
Angeles and, with its more than 575
acres, the second largest after Griffith
Park. It is home to numerous historic
sites, including the Portola Trail and
the famed rock garden. While the park
has been threatened over the years with
encroaching development, the Citizens
Committee to Save Elysian Park has
been striving to preserve the park and
restore it. The organization’s board of
directors donated an active collection
to USC, which contains organizational
files and correspondences, lawsuit and
court papers, newsletters, pamphlets
and photographs of one of the most
historic areas in Los Angeles.
@ Berta Helene Amalie “Leni”
Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was a dancer,
actress, film producer, director and
photographer, but her career was
shadowed by her history as a propa-
ganda and documentary filmmaker for
Germany’s Third Reich in the 1930s.
Critics said her work glorified a
regime responsible for the deaths of
millions. But she adamantly claimed
that she was not a supporter of the
Nazis, and had made the films for the
sake of art and not politics. Following
the war, Riefenstahl found herself shut
out of the film industry. During the
postwar period, she corresponded with
German film journalist and émigré
Ernst Jaeger. USC acquired numerous
correspondences — dating between
1953 and 1971 — between Jaeger and
the documentarian from his step-
daughter, Linda D’Aprix, along with
original manuscripts for Jaeger’s articles
and novels, and photographs from his
private collection.
@ Home to more than 35 mil-
lion people and encompassing more
than 155,900 square miles of land,
California ranks as America’s most
populous state and third largest in total
area. It is also considered to be one of
the most beautiful, comprising serene
deserts, lush mountains, coastal plains,
sun-drenched beaches, small commu-
nities and major metropolises. Lillian
J. Allard’s son, USC alumnus Frank A.
Allard, has donated nearly 800 vintage
postcards of California, documenting
the Golden State’s picturesque appeal.
@ Leonard Wibberley (1915-1983),
a prolific author and journalist, was a
native of Ireland and the father
of six children. His greatest suc-
cess came in the 1950s, when his
book The Mouse That Roared — a
cold war satire about a duchy that
defeats the United States with
the long bow — was made into
a film. The secretarial offices
of Shell Aviation International
in the United Kingdom have
donated a first-draft manuscript
of The Mouse That Roared to the
Leonard Wibberley Collection,
housed in USC’s Specialized Libraries
and Archival Collections.
@ Cuban-born Aurelio de la Vega
originally came to Los Angeles from
Havana to continue his music career,
studying composition and serving for
a time as cultural attaché at the Cuban
Consulate before Castro’s Revolution.
Living in exile since 1959, De la
Vega has been an active participant
in the cultural life of Los Angeles as a
composer, lecturer and professor. He
has received international acclaim for
his compositions.
A Distinguished Professor
Emeritus at California State University,
Northridge, De la Vega’s published and
recorded compositions include sym-
phonic, guitar and piano pieces, canta-
tas and chamber, ballet and electronic
music. He recently donated materi-
als from the 2004 performances of
his music to the Boeckmann Center’s
Cuban California Archive
@ The Research Center received
a donation from alumnus Terrance
Rodsky of 130 books related to the
writings of Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938)
and his literary circle. One of the great
writers of the twentieth century, Wolfe
elevated his life to legendary status in
four autobiographical novels noted
for their opulent language and unique
style: Look Homeward, Angel (1929), Of
Time and the River (1935), From Death
to Morning (1935) and The Story of a
Novel (1936). These books, along with
many short stories published in maga-
zines, comprise the works of Wolfe that
appeared in print before he died at the
age of 38. o
2004 > Collections > Cassady Collection
annualreport2004
25
annual report
14_ 15_ 16_ 17_ 18_ 19_ 20_ 21_ 22_ 23_ 24_
m
13_
15. events&exhibitions
Below is a partial list of events and academic programs spon-
sored by USC Information Services during fiscal year 2004.
For more information on academic events and lectures,
please call 213.740.2070; for upcoming donor events, contact
213.740.2328.
Special Events
> Overseas Korean Studies and Heritage Foundation (OKSHF)
Ceremony (August 28, 2003) Oh Tae-Hyun, the chairman
of the Overseas Korean Studies and Heritage Foundation
and an alumnus of the USC Rossier School of Education
(Ed.D., Education Policy and Administration, 1991),
was honored with a Top Drawer Society box bearing the
name of the OKSHF in a ceremony in Doheny Library’s
Hall of Honor. The ceremony was followed by a recep-
tion in the USC East Asian Library.
> Doheny Memorial Library Open House (September 18, 2003)
This day-long event included tours of the library’s special
collections, hands-on demonstrations of the research ser-
vices provided by the library’s reference staff and recep-
tions for the opening of two exhibitions: Out West: L.A.’s
Influence on the Gay and Lesbian Movement and Town and
Gown: A Centennial Celebration.
> “Libraries and Technology in the 21st Century: The Start of
Something Big — Really BIG” (San Diego: October 22,
2003) In a regional reception and special presentation for
San Diego area alumni and friends, Chief Information
Officer and Dean of the USC Libraries Jerry D. Campbell
spoke about the increasingly fluid lines between library
resources and digital technologies, and about the future
of USC’s libraries.
> Leo Braudy: Great Faculty — New Books Series (Doheny
Library: November 4, 2003) The Friends of the USC
Libraries hosted USC professor Leo Braudy (English and
art history) as he discussed and signed his latest work,
From Chivalry to Terrorism: War & the Changing Nature of
Masculinity, in the inaugural event of a series that high-
lights some of USC’s finest faculty.
> Friends of the USC Libraries Literary Luncheon (Doheny
Library: November 6, 2003) Author Mark Salzman pre-
sented both his critically acclaimed novel The Soloist and
his most-recent book, True Notebooks, an account of his
experiences while teaching juveniles at a maximum-secu-
rity prison.
> USC Archive in Twentieth Century American Letters —
Fresno Poets (Fresno, California: December 6, 2003) USC
English professor and poet David St. John — along with
other well known Fresno poets, including Peter Everwine
and Charles Hanzlicek — read from their work during
an event hosted by David and Elizabeth Taylor in their
Fresno home. The event supported USC’s efforts to
enrich its archives of primary materials related to Fresno
poets.
> Ed Cray: Great Faculty — New Books (Doheny Library
Intellectual Commons: March 4, 2004) USC journalism
professor Ed Cray presented his book Ramblin’ Man: The
Life and Times of Woody Guthrie, in which he chronicled
Guthrie’s passionate and troubled life, from his hum-
ble beginnings in Oklahoma in 1912 to his death from
Huntington’s disease in 1967.
> 16th Annual USC Scripter®
Award (Doheny Library’s Los
Angeles Times Reference Room: February 15, 2004) The
Friends of the USC Libraries presented the annual USC
Scripter®
Award — the only award that recognizes both
author and screenwriter for the best adaptation of a book
or short story to film. This was the first time in the his-
tory of the award that two films shared the honor. Author
Dennis Lehane and screenwriter Brian Helgeland were
honored for their work on Mystic River, while author
Laura Hillenbrand and screenwriter Gary Ross were feted
for Seabiscuit.
> Rare Instrument Demonstration and Recital (Hancock
Museum’s Alfred Newman Recital Hall: March 24, 2004)
Musicians and rare instrument aficionados Curtis Berak
and Bruce Teter demonstrated dozens of unusual musical
devices, including the bagpipe and the hurdy-gurdy.
> Writing L.A.: Urban Noir, Postmodern Malaise and Suburban
Angst in the Capital of the 21st Century (Doheny Library
Intellectual Commons: April 3, 2004) Experts discussed
Los Angeles’ diverse literary landscape, attempting to
explain the swift rise of the metropolis known as the City
of Angels. Among the day’s activities were a David Ulin-
moderated discussion with panelists Chris Abani, Aimee
Bender, Suzanne Lummis and D. J. Waldie; a debate/con-
versation with David Freeman and Marianne Wiggins;
and a poetry reading by USC’s Abani and Carol Muske-
Dukes.
> Friends of the USC Libraries Literary Reception (Doheny
Memorial Library: April 14, 2004) Pat Hitchcock
O’Connell discussed her book, Alma Hitchcock: The Woman
Behind the Man. The book traces the life and career of the
wife of renowned filmmaker Sir Alfred Hitchcock and
reveals her significant influence on the Hitchcock oeuvre.
> 70th Anniversary of “The Constance McCormick Collection
in CNTV” (Cinema-Television Library: April 22, 2004)
This reception and lecture by television critic and USC
professor Leonard Maltin honored Constance “Connie”
McCormick Van Wyck, the curator of a remarkable col-
lection of archived newspaper clippings and magazine arti-
cles about motion picture personalities.
Exhibitions
> Out West: L.A.’s Influence on the Lesbian and Gay Movement
(Doheny Library Treasure Room: September 18-
December 18, 2003) Rare books, artifacts and graphics
illustrated the role that Los Angeles’ lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender community has played in the nationwide
struggle for rights and equality.
> Town and Gown: A Centennial Celebration (Doheny Library
Ground Floor Rotunda: September 2003 – May 2004) This
two-part exhibit documented the history of this important
university women’s auxiliary organization.
> La Frontera Portatil/The Portable Border: Perspectives on the
U.S./Mexico Borderlands (Doheny Library Feuchtwanger
Room: November 13-December 17, 2003) Featuring
rare books, pamphlets, maps, vintage photographs and
facsimiles of Aztec codices, this display, selected from the
Boeckmann Collection, offered a look at Borderland his-
tory through the artifacts of a portable border culture.
> 75 Years of Storytelling (Doheny Library’s David L. Wolper
Center: February 2-December 1, 2004) In celebration of
the USC School of Cinema-Television’s diamond anni-
versary, the exhibition traced the school’s rich history
through archival photographs, press clippings, artifacts and
memorabilia. Included in the exhibition were such items
as a scenic matte painting from The Wizard of Oz, various
costumes — including the cape Kim Basinger wore in
the Scripter Award-winning film L.A. Confidential — and
one of the most comprehensive collections of vintage still
and moving cameras in the world. Also on display were
student films by leading industry filmmakers.
> Charlotta A. Bass and the California Eagle (Doheny Library
First Floor Humanities Reading Room: February 1-
March 31, 2004) As part of USC’s Black History Month
Friends of the USC Libraries Literary Luncheon
Doheny Library Courtyard: April 23, 2004
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley read from her non-fiction book, A Year at
the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck. In her book, Smiley
drew upon her lifelong love of horses, personal experiences and industry insight to
establish unexpected connections between humans and the equine.
The author of more than 10 works of fiction, and of many nonfiction essays for
U.S. News & World Report, The New York Times and other publications, Smiley taught
for fifteen years at Iowa State University, leaving in 1996 to live and write full-
time in northern California. The native Angeleno and Vassar graduate has written in
each of the four major narrative forms: epic (The Greenlanders [1988]); tragedy (the
Pulitzer-Prize winning A Thousand Acres [1991], a retelling of King Lear on an Iowa
farm); comedy (Moo [1995], an academic satire); and romance (The All-True Travels
and Adventures of Lidie Newton [1998]). Other books by Smiley include The Age of Grief
(1987) and the recent Good Faith (2003).
Following the reading, thanks to Smiley’s thoughtful comments and good humor,
which delighted the capacity crowd, fans raced to the book-signing table to meet with
the author.
Wonka Wonders
Doheny Library’s David L. Wolper Center: May 28-November 26, 2003
Two years before the remake starring Johnny Depp hit theaters, this special-engage-
ment exhibition of memorabilia from the 1971 musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory featured rare on-set photographs, production designs and other material from
the much-loved cinematic masterpiece.
Roald Dahl wrote the film’s script, based on his own book. Dahl’s offbeat vision
was so unexpected in a children’s film that the movie was initially received with bewil-
derment. It has since been recognized as a classic.
The film starred Gene Wilder in one of his most famous roles, as the mysterious,
reclusive and judgmental chocolate magnate Willy Wonka.
The exhibition included original drawings by art director Harper Goff, and the
original costume worn by Wilder, designed by Helen Colvig.
annualreport2004
26
annualreport2004
27
16. celebration, the exhibition chronicled — with pho-
tographs, letters and memorabilia — the professional
career of Charlotta Bass, publisher of the groundbreaking
African-American newspaper, The California Eagle.
> Sacred Rattles and Sympathetic Strings: The Gale Collection of
Instruments from the USC Thornton School of Music (Doheny
Memorial Library: February 27-May 17, 2004) Music
books, scores and objects, including Western and non-
Western musical instruments from the USC Thornton
School of Music’s Gale Collection, De Lorenzo Collection
and Early Music Ensemble Collection, were displayed. The
installation featured early European and American instru-
ments and Native American percussion instruments.
Lectures and Seminars
> New Learning Opportunities: Peer Instruction and Rethinking
the Traditional Lecture (Leavey Library Auditorium:
October 7, 2003) Eric Mazur, the Gordon McKay
Professor of Applied Physics at Harvard University, dis-
cussed “peer instruction” as an enlivening and demon-
strably more effective way to teach a traditional lecture
course.
> New Learning Opportunities: The Impact of Online and Mixed-
Mode Courses on Faculty, Students and Universities (Leavey
Library Auditorium: November 3, 2003) Charles Dziuban
and Patsy Moskal of the Research Initiative for Teaching
Effectiveness summarized findings from a seven-year
evaluation of the University of Central Florida’s distrib-
uted learning initiative. Dziuban and Moskal examined
both online and mixed-mode (hybrid) courses.
> An Evening of Poetry: Readings from “Out West” (Doheny
Library Intellectual Commons: November 13, 2003)
Poets Dan Bellm, Kathy Fagan and Susan McCabe read
selections from their work, using the theme of the Out
West exhibition as a point of departure.
> Stay Out: Graphics and Gay Liberation in Los Angeles
(Doheny Library Intellectual Commons: November 17,
2003) USC Professor Richard Meyer and ONE Institute
Executive Director Stuart Timmons discussed the way
in which graphic artists have contributed to the local gay
and lesbian movement.
> French and American Republics: Two Philosophies of
International Relationships? (Doheny Library Intellectual
Commons: December 5, 2003) Blandine Kriegel, senior
adviser to French President Jacques Chirac, discussed the
relationship between the United States and France.
> UT Grid: A 21st Century Campus Cyberinfrastructure
for Research and Education: High Performance Computing
and Communications Seminar Series (Jefferson Building
Conference Room: January 30, 2004) Jay Boisseau, direc-
tor of the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at
the University of Texas at Austin, presented the overall
mission and vision for development of the University of
Texas Grid — an integrated campus cyberinfrastructure
being created by TACC.
> Personal Reflections in the Landscape of the Natural World
(Doheny Library Intellectual Commons: February 5,
2004) Poets Sebastian Matthews and Maurya Simon read
selections from their work.
> Curator’s Discussion (Doheny Library Humanities Reading
Room: March 1, 2004) Regina Freer, a professor of poli-
tics at Occidental College and curator of the Charlotta
A. Bass and the California Eagle exhibition, discussed the
career of the journalist who effectively demonstrated the
power of the written word during civil rights struggles.
> Words Behind Locked Doors: An Evening of Poetry with Gerald
Stern and Arthur Vogelsang (Doheny Library Foyer: April
23, 2004) Renowned poets Gerald Stern and Arthur
Vogelsang read selections from their work. o
Digital Resources
Network
Network port connections 45,100
Telephone outlets 27,000
Network switches 1,006
Network routers 63
Fiber cable 37 miles
Underground copper cable 36 miles
Underground conduit 35 miles
Station (building) cable 730 miles
Wireless cards 6,300
Access points 325
Instructional Support
Classrooms equipped with
multimedia carts 121
Auditoriums equipped with
multimedia equipment 18
User room/instructional lab equipment:
PCs 255
Sun machines 108
Macs 80
Blackboard*
usage:
Total courses 11,024
Total users 76,595
Total enrolled users 58,331
Fall 2004 courses 1,699
Spring 2004 courses 1,484
Summer 2004 courses 228
Related statistics:
> USC’s Center for High Performance
Computing and Communications is home
to the 31st-fastest supercomputer in the
world and the seventh fastest in an academic
setting.
> Information Services maintains more than
130 terabytes of disk storage with 200 tera-
bytes of tape storage.
> E-mail and directory services support more
than 70,000 users with approximately 1.3
million messages daily.
> The Integrated Library System contains
approximately 2.04 million records, repre-
senting 2.82 million volumes in 22 collec-
tions.
> The division supports all registration,
financial aid and admissions systems for
1,469 users and 32,160 students.
> The Customer Support Center handles
roughly 91,000 computer-related concerns
from faculty, students and staff per year.
> The Call Center handles approximately
600,000 calls for 22 university clients,
including USC Care, operator, ticket office
and cashiers office.
> The Communications Support group
handles roughly 16,000 customer service
requests per year and 21,000 calls.
> Information Services responded to 141,424
service requests in 2004.
> More than 950,000 Web pages are viewed
each day on USC’s primary public Web
server, www.usc.edu.
Library Collections
Total volumes (including government
documents): 3,865,914
Serial subscriptions: 25,821
Electronic journals, books, and
reference sources: 140,098
Microfilm units: 6,169,134
Manuscripts and archives
(linear feet): 45,627
Digitized archival items: 44,812
Audiovisual materials
Graphic: 3,189,297
Audio: 27,668
Film and video: 26,354
Cartographic: 84,490
Library Services
Total circulation transactions: 705,349
Instruction
Number of sessions: 1,109
Number of participants: 10,159
Reference transactions: 62,314
Electronic reference transactions: 4,903
Interlibrary lending
Items loaned: 27,565
Items borrowed: 11,297
*
Blackboard is the software for USC’s Web-based learning portal.
Figures reflect the most recent information reported to the Association of
Research Libraries, effective June 30, 2004, and include all USC libraries.
collections&connections
> Throughout the year, USC Information
Services hosts or sponsors numerous
events, including book readings by authors
such as Ed Cray, Leo Braudy and Pat
Hitchcock O’Connell.
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