.apter One

African American History Archives

Enhanced by Cunningham Collection

he Smathers Libraries recently
acquired the business papers
of the Cunningham Funeral
Home located in Ocala, Florida. To be
known as the A. L. Cunningham, Sr.,
Cunningham Funeral Home History,
the collection documents the largest
minority-owned business in Marion
County. Brothers Albert and James
Cunningham founded the company
in 1955.
Besides burial records, the collec-
tion contains photographs, financial
transactions, oral histories, maps,
letters, secretarial notes, political
history, and notes on dress and life in
Florida all of which form the lega-
cy of the Cunningham Funeral Home
Collection. As African-American
morticians in Ocala, Florida from the
1950s through the 1970s the brothers
and their business document a color-
ful, professional life that has become a
quilt of southern history.
Part of the collection's signifi-
cance is due to the fact that until the
1970s the only comprehensive listing
of African-American communities in
any Florida county is to be found in
morticians' records. For instance, if a
researcher wants to know where

L to R: Bruce
Chappell, archivist,
Algernon
Cunningham, Albert
L Cunningham, Sr.,
andJoel Buchanan,
archivist, look over
some of the
Cunningham
Funeral Home
records donated to
the Department of
Special and Area
Studies Collections.

African-American churches and
schools were located, that informa-
tion can be found in the records.
Morticians have been and contin-
ue to be the means of knowing
what was happening in the communi-
ty: they knew everyone, and they
could give directions to houses in
obscure locations. They were truly the
heart of the community.
The Cunningham Funeral Home
records have become a part of the
Department of Special and Area
Studies Collections at UF because of
of their diverse subject matter. In addi-
(Continued on page 3)

c 2 Libraries Lead with Electronic
Technology
S4 Kevin McCarthy: Frequent
Libraries Researcher
c 5 Libraries Receive Donation
From Athletic Association
S6 What Gift Plans Work Best
Now?; Easing of IRS Rules
S7 Desiderata

S8 A Message from the Director

Leading With New Electronic

Technology is Tradition at UF Libraries

he University of Florida
libraries have a history of
being on the leading edge
with use of new technologies. When
the online "chat" reference service,
RefeXpress, was introduced in the
spring of 2000, UF was one of the first
in the United States to offer such a
service, thus staying with the trend.
The UF libraries have been an early
adapter to technology. In 1989 the
Humanities and Social Sciences
Reference Department was the first
member of the Association of Research
Libraries to create an e-mail based
reference service as a way to reach out
to the campus community. The first
library home page was put online as a
demonstration in February 1994.
According to Suzy Covey, systems
librarian, "Ours was one of the first
library Web sites in the country, and
even was featured in a CNN news story."
Other examples of early electronic
public services are numerous,
including book renewal and inter-
library loan request forms that have
been able to be submitted via e-mail
since 1994; electronic access to
periodical articles put on reserve by
professors; subscription to
netLibrary so that students and
faculty can read approximately

es

300,000 books online; and digitized
collections put online as a way to
preserve and distribute rare materi-
als to a wider range of users.
RefeXpress is an interactive refer-
ence service that allows users to con-
sult online with a UF librarian on the
Web without leaving their computer.
RefeXpress offers a chat, or conversa-
tional feature that allows the user and
the librarian to discuss the question,
as well as the time frame for getting
an answer. As the librarian starts to
work on answering the question,
RefeXpress has powerful features that
allow him or her to help while online.
The librarian can push a Web page
that displays on the user's computer
or the two can collaboratively search
the Web and certain databases togeth-
er. The librarian can demonstrate how

to perform a search by typing
keywords in the blanks in a database.
When finished, the user has the
option of receiving a transcript of
the chat.
RefeXpress often reaches students
and faculty who have not previously
used the reference department. When
using their computers for research,
it's convenient for users to log on to
RefeXpress and "chat" with a library
staff member in real time.
From a survey sent to each user
after they disconnect from the service,
one person had this to say: "I needed
an answer fast and I was in the class
that I teach. I was able to get online
while my students were working on a
group activity and find the answer
that I needed." Another user said she
has small children and can do

Jana Ronan, RefeXpress coordinator, left, Alice Primack, science librarian, and Mimi
Pappas, E-mail reference coordinator and instruction librarian, demonstrate
RefeXpress interactive reference service.

Page 2 c- Chapter One

research while they are napping. And
many use the service because they are
on off-campus research facilities or
live far from the university.
Currently 28 librarians and para-
professionals staff RefeXpress an
average of two hours each per week
with some working from home in the
evenings. RefeXpress offers the same
flexibility as the reference desk inside
the library and the two are staffed
separately to allow for faster, more
personalized service. Staff can offer a
quick answer or use the opportunity
to teach the user how to find the
information for themselves.

Anyone may use RefeXpress.
Undergraduates make up the largest
group of users, with graduate students
and faculty following in number. How
to obtain online full text articles, how
to get into databases, and which
resources to use are frequently asked
questions by users. RefeXpress staff
will continue to extend their outreach
to encompass distance learners,
including those who have been using
the chat reference from the recently
closed Florida Distance Learning
Reference & Referral Center that was
based at the University of South
Florida. c-,

Cunnngha (contina ei a

tion to their intrinsic value for
research in African-American social
history, the records are also valuable
because they retain Albert
Cunningham's organizational scheme
for the records and thus open an all
too often obscured window into the
pragmatic arrangement of minority
business papers.

A reception was held Sunday,
November 18 in the Research Room
of Smathers Library to commemorate
the donation and to honor Mr.
Cunningham. A diverse audience
from Marion and Alachua Counties
attended, including two other morti-
cians from Marion County who
apprenticed under Mr. Cunningham.
Albert Cunningham is a man who
is highly respected and liked among
family, friends and the community,
and his influence continues to reach
far beyond the borders of Marion
County. He has always felt that his
place is to be of service to those who
need him, and his high level of com-
mitment to people has earned him
his special position in the community.
The Cunningham Collection will
be processed over the next two years
and once cataloged will be available
for generations of researchers inter-
ested in the many facets of the
African-American community in
Marion County. c-

Top left: Albert Cunningham at the reception in his honor. Above: A portion of the
donated materials were displayed at the reception. (Photos by Earnest C. Williams)
Chapter One c-- Page 3

o u t h l o rs

Professor Kevin McCarthy: Frequent

Researcher of the Collections

During the academic year, the
University of Florida
Smathers Libraries welcome
4,500 individuals per day through the
doors of Library West, Marston
Science Library, Smathers Library, the
Education, Music, Architecture and
Fine Arts, and Journalism and
Communications libraries. Not
surprisingly, most are members of the
campus community undergradu-
ate and graduate students, faculty, and
staff. The primary role of an academic
research library on a campus of a
major research university is to serve
the academic mission of teaching
and research.
One faculty researcher, English
professor Kevin McCarthy, Ph.D., has
been a frequent user of numerous
Smathers Libraries collections and
resources since he began teaching at
UF in 1969. He teaches linguistics,
modern English structure, history of
the English language, writing about
football, and the teaching of English
as a second language. He is executive
director of the Marjorie Kinnan
Rawlings Society and also a prolific
writer and editor with 26 published
books. He takes his interests in Florida
topics, themes and areas of the state,
researches and writes about them.
McCarthy says that because the
University of Florida is a land grant
university, he feels some responsibility
to write for the people of Florida. He
enjoys writing books that will appeal
to a wide range of the public.
Page 4 c- Chapter One

Kevin McCarthy reads through
microfilmed newspapers with
assistance fromJo Talbird.

Twenty-one of his books are about
Florida topics, including recently
published Outhouses in Florida (2002)
and Ocala (2001). Others include
Florida Lighthouses (1990), African
Americans in Florida (1993), The
Gators and the Seminoles (1993),
Baseball in Florida (1996), Guide to
the University of Florida and
Gainesville (1997), Alligator Tales
(1998), Native Americans in Florida
(1999), and Christmas in Florida
(2000).
He has also edited books of short
stories such as Florida Stories (1989),
More Florida Stories (1996), and Nine
Florida Stories by Marjorie Stoneman
Douglas (1990).
Whether he's searching for photos
in the University Archives of the
Department of Special and Area
Studies Collections; looking for Jewish

sites in Europe at the Price Library of
Judaica; tracking down military histo-
ries in Library West or Florida ballads
in the Music Library, McCarthy some-
times seeks out the help of librarians
and staff at the Smathers Libraries to
complete his research.
"The nice thing about working at
the libraries is there are so many good
resources here," he says. For example,
he spent countless hours reading pre-
1900 newspapers on microfilm with
the assistance ofJo Talbird.
"For the book I did on Ocala, I read
every issue of the Ocala newspaper
that was relevant spanning 10-12
years. Jo has done a remarkable job
of keeping that collection in really
good shape.
(Continued on page 5)

McCarthy (Continued from page 4)

"And Robena Cornwell [head of
the Music Library] has been a tremen-
dous resource for tracking down old
songs. I would have a hard time find-
ing the information without her help.
The Documents Department is an
incredible storehouse of information
and maybe a lot of people don't know
how much is there. The Interlibrary
Loan Department was very helpful
when I was researching Lighthouses of
Ireland. The people in Special
Collections -Jim Cusick, Carl Van
Ness, Joyce Dewsbury, and others -
have been very helpful in many areas
of my research."
Robena Cornwell says that Dr.
McCarthy is a frequent and welcome
user of the Music Library. "He always
does preliminary research on his own,
so when he presents us with a ques-
tion, we know it will be challenging
and thought provoking."
Jim Cusick says "Kevin ranks
among the library's ideal researchers
- an author who writes about
Florida for the popular audience and
brings home to people the magnitude
of the state's fascinating heritage."

McCarthy
uses the Map
and Imagery
Library for
researching sites
in and around
Europe where he
and his wife
spend time each
summer lectur-
ing on cruise
ships. They
point out to the
sightseers what
they can see as
the ship docks
in locations -
such as Lisbon,
Malta, Gibraltar,
or Istanbul so
they get a good orientation of what
is in store for the next day on land.
To do that he often goes to the Map
and Imagery Library to study loca-
tion maps.
McCarthy, who grew up on an
island off the coast of New Jersey,
praises his mother for taking him to
the library at an early age.
"The only library we could get to
was a bookmobile. So every Tuesday
we would walk up to the bookmobile

and get books.
S Because I would see
my mother reading
so much I really
S came to appreciate
how much you can
learn from books
and how you can
open up the world
through reading
the books."
With a half
dozen more books
in progress -
Aviation in Florida,
Apalachicola Bay: A
History Through its
Places, Fish Tales of
Florida, and Babe
Ruth in Florida -
Kevin McCarthy will surely continue
to enlighten and entertain those of us
interested in Florida's heritage. And
surely he will continue to use the
libraries' collections and services. c-,

For a listing of additional books by
Kevin McCarthy, see his Website at
www.clas.ufl.edu/users/kmccarth/

University Athletic Association Donates $40,000 to Libraries

The University of Florida Athletic
Association has donated $40,000
from proceeds of last season's pay-
per-view televised football games to
the George A. Smathers Libraries.
Over the years, Athletic
Association donations helped the
libraries provide computers for
student access to the Internet and
helped maintain the libraries' ability
to purchase books and journals
when state budgets fell.

Last year, with the approval of
the Athletic Association, the libraries
endowed some unexpended funds
from Association gifts. The purpose
of the endowment is the libraries'
greatest needs. This year's gift was
added to the endowment, which now
stands at $340,000.
"We will continue to use the
proceeds where we have the greatest
needs. In this period of rapid tech-
nological change, when state budgets

lag far behind the need for electronic
equipment to make information
readily available to students and
faculty, this source of funding makes
the difference between being unable
to keep up with the best schools
nationwide or being a leader in
applying the new technologies to
UF's academic programs. As you can
see from the article on page 2, UF is
a leader and this source of funding
is a big help."

Chapter One c- Page 5

What Gift Plans

Work Best Now?

he tax law is always in a state
of change. And with each
change, some things are taken
away. The good news is that some
changes bring us better opportunities!
That's a strong signal from the pass-
ing of the new Federal tax law.
There are a few gift planning ideas
which might fit most situations. In
keeping with the sense of possible
opportunity, consider the following
options, using $100,000 as the
amount of each planned gift amount:
* Option 1: Would you like a raise?
Would it be to your advantage to now
do something different with one of
your appreciated assets? Think about
an example, say, of $100,000 of stock,
or closely held C-corp. stock, or
unmortgaged real estate. You could
transfer $100,000 of appreciated
stock, say, into a UF lifetime income
plan which would pay out to you 7%
of its value annually. Initially, that
would be $7,000 for you to spend. As
the UF plan principal increases in
value, the payout does too.
* Option 2: For your heirs surviving
you, you could have your UF plan (in
Option 1) continue to pay them for 15
years after your lifetime. They might
receive nearly the entire value of the
principal over that 15-year period as
payout.
* Option 3:You could set up a sepa-
rate UF plan funded with $100,000 to
provide your heirs 5% income for
their lifetimes. You could do that now
or testamentarily (after your lifetime.)
Page 6 c Chapter One

* Option 4: You could set up under
your will (or design your IRA pro-
gram) to create a testamentary chari-
table trust to pay 5% annual payout to
your children or grandchildren for a
term of 20 years. This UF plan would
provide professional management for
this part of their inheritance, protect
the principal from lawsuits and liens,
and make a wonderful endowment
gift at UF 20 years after your lifetime.
* Option 5: The best possible UF
plan for your grandchildren is to set
up a testamentary trust. Then, after
your lifetime, assets go into a special
trust that pays out 6% income to UF
for a 20-year term until your grand-
children reach a responsible age.
Then they get all the principal (with
any appreciation) outright with no
additional estate or generation-
skipping tax.
* Option 6: Some people are consid-
ering a combination of Options 4 and
5 to benefit their heirs. They can put
both trusts under their will to run for
a term of 15 years after the parents'
lifetimes. The trust in Option 4 pays
the heirs income for 15 years. Then
that stops and the trust in Option 5
pays the heirs all the principal free
and clear no more estate tax due.
Each option can have specific
benefits to you under the new tax law.
For more information contact the
Offices of Planned Giving and Major
Gifts at the University of Florida by
calling (352) 392-5516 or (352)
392-5512.c>,

Easing of IRA
Rules Makes Gifts
of Assets Easier

Private support of the George A.
Smathers Libraries has always been para
mount to maintaining and enhancing its
mission. Estate gifts are extremely impor
tant. If you are planning to include the
Smathers Libraries in your estate plan, you
may now, more than ever before, wish to
consider a gift using retirement assets. This
includes donating your 401 (k) plan, 403(b),
IRA, or other qualified retirement plan.
Libraries can now be named in the
qualified retirement plan agreement as a
successor beneficiary to all or part of the
plan's assets, without causing an increase
in the minimum amount the participant
is required to withdraw each year. Tax
lawyers, accountants, and financial plan
ners are pl.'i'i; il,11 *-. new rules as being
very favorable to both donors and charities.
Using qualified plan assets to make a
contribution to charity has always been a
smart move for another reason. If you
have a choice between giving a non
spouse beneficiary the assets from a quali
fled plan or from other appreciated estate
assets, you will almost certainly want to
avoid giving the non-spouse beneficiary
qualified plan assets. Currently, your heir
receives a stepped-up basis on the appre
cated estate assets equal to their fair
market value at date of death. As a result
of the higher basis, the heir can sell the
estate assets without recognizing any gain
(unless the assets have further appreciated
after your death). Conversely, if you
bequeath the qualified retirement assets to
a non-spouse beneficiary, not only might
your estate have to pay estate tax on the
assets, but your heirs would also have to
pay income tax on the assets received.
One word of caution is cited, how
ever. A participant's beneficiary design
tions are effective as of the date of death.
This means the charity cannot be named
as a beneficiary after the participant's
death through post-mortem planning. c

Students, faculty and librarians are always looking for the perfect resource to
complement their research. While we do our best to be responsive to special needs,
there are always a few titles or equipment needs that lie beyond our grasp. If you are
interested in helping the Smathers Libraries acquire any of the following, please contact
the director of development at (352) 392-0342.

Margarita, Anton, DergantzJadisch Glaub [The Whole Jewish Faith]. Frankfurt am
Main, 1544. Includes wood engravings. An influential anti-Jewish work, first published
Augsburg, 1530, by a Jewish apostate. Frequently cited by Martin Luther in his Of the
Jews and Their Lies. $3,800

Johannesburg, South Africa. Mail & Guardian (formerly WeeklyMail) newspaper 1985-
Sept. 1989. South Africa's leading independent weekly newspaper. In its early years, the
paper built up an international reputation as a vocal apartheid critic, leading to a
number of clashes with the government, culminating in the paper's brief suspension
in 1988. It remains a must read for anyone interested in South African politics and as
an archive and beacon for recent South African political, social, and economic
developments. $500

"Viage y sucessor...contra los costarios pirates. Barcelona, 1621. A rare relation of
Spanish naval missions against British & French pirates in the Caribbean. (For Latin
American Collection) $7,500

Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Proceedings Series for 1993-1999 and
2001. $7,400

Afghanistan Strategic Intelligence: British Records 1919-1970. Four print volumes
issued in Jan. 2002. Essential for research on Central Asian history and politics, and
helpful in gaining an understanding of recent events in Afghanistan. $1,295

0] N L! ./ r

Giving to UF is now
just a click away

UFgiving.uff.ufl.edu

Visit our new online giving
Web site and find out how
simple it is to support
the Smathers Libraries

Fr ends
of the Libraries

Name
SArlrlm

City State Zip
Home Phone Business Phone
Yes. I/we wish to support the George A. Smathers Libraries with a gift of $ Make
checks payable to the University of Florida Foundation, Inc. and mail to Dir. of Development,
George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, P.O. Box 117001, Gainesville, FL 32611-7001.
To pay by credit credit card fill out the following: MasterCard Visa
Credit Card No. _Exp. Date_
Cardholder's Name
Cardholder's Signature
Your gift may be eligible for a charitable contribution deduction.

Please use my gift for the following:
_Smathers Libraries Purchase Fund
_ Special & Area Studies Collections
Latin American Collection
Price Library of Judaica
P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History
Baldwin Library of Historical
Children's Literature
Belknap Performing Arts Collection
Africana Collection
Rare Books
Manuscripts
_ Architecture & Fine Arts Library
_ Education Library
_ Journalism and Communications Library
_ Map and Imagery Library
_ Music Library
_ Marston Science Library
_ Digital Library Center
Other
Please send information about
making a planned gift/bequest.

Chapter One c-- Page 7

Cr

~UUI~33

1

GEORGE A. SMATHERS LIBRARIES
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
DaleB.Canelas
Director of University Libraries
Martha Hruska
Director for Technical Services
John Ingram
Director for Collections
Stephen Shorb
Director for Support Services
Carol Turner
Director for Public Services

Chapter One is published quarterly and
distributed to friends of the Libraries
and selected institutions. Questions
and comments should be addressed to
the editor, Barbara Hood, Public
Information Officer, George A. Smathers
Libraries, University of Florida, P.O. Box
117001, Gainesville, FL 32611-7001,
(352) 392-0342. Email: bhood@ufl.edu
Smathers Libraries Web address:
http://www.uflib.ufl.edu

NON-PROFITORG.
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
PERMIT NO. 94
GAINESVILLE FL

1 UNIVERSITY OF
FLORIDA
Chapter One
University of Florida
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117001
Gainesville FL 32611-7001

Library West Addition
t's an exciting time for the library; we
are busy designing a new addition for
humanities and social science stu-
dents! Library West, completed in 1968,
had needed additional space for growing
collections and expanding electronic serv-
ices for 15 years. However, the university
had just finished the Marston Science
Library in 1987, so a second major library
project was out of the question. In the
meantime, university-wide, our collec-
tions grew by 1.2 million volumes and
public access computers grew from 0 to
350. We were desperate for more space to
house expanded collections and services.
A 100,000 net square foot addition
has been approved, planning funds
received, and we expect construction to
begin in the late autumn. The selected
architects are Ross Barney + Jankowski of
Chicago partnering with Long &
Associates of Tampa. Ross Barney
+Jankowski have recent experience
working on main library renovation with
the University of Chicago, Northwestern,
and the University of Illinois.
The concept for our library project is
that the new building will house the collec-
tions in environmentally controlled space

while the current Library West will be
renovated to provide state-of-the-art user
space. The goal is to create, in the heart of
the humanities and social science part of
campus, a library designed to emphasize
support of the scholarly needs of faculty
and the learning needs of students.
We expect the expanded building to
house a collection of four million volume
equivalents (books, journals, microforms,
electronic, and multi-media formats) and
provide space for 3,500 readers, creating
an environment where scholars can move
easily between books and journals and
electronic, micro and multi-media for-
mats by providing readily available serv-
ice space for each, so that the flow of ideas
and research need not be interrupted. In
increasing the amount and diversity of
reading space for students and faculty, we
hope to create habitats suited to learning
and research in multiple disciplines by
diverse users. The new "Library West" will
have a stack area closely related on each
floor to reading areas with combinations
of carrels, tables, group study rooms, and
closed studies so that scholars at every
level will find appropriate working condi-
tions as they use the needed collections.

We plan to
have the main
service areas on
the first and
second floors,
leaving the upper
floors for quiet study and reflection.
There will be well-designed workspaces
for the use of online databases, digitized
images, video and audio formats and
micro-formats. All of these formats are
permanent parts of UF's research library
collections because they provide infor-
mation that cannot be stored and
accessed in traditional ways and they are
essential to meet university requirements
for access to information. There will be
training facilities for group instruction in
the use of electronic information or use
of library collections.Upper floors will
have quiet reading areas, wired group
study rooms, carrels and tables for the
use of personal computers, centrally
located photocopiers, etc. Noise produc-
ing activities will be isolated insofar as
possible from study areas. We anticipate
that this building will create library
conditions genuinely supportive of UF's
faculty and students. c-

A message from the director I I

	African American History Archives...
	Leading with new electronic technology...
	Professor Kevin McCarthy: Frequent...
	What gift plants work best...
	Desiderata
	A message from the director