Friday. November 20, 1959 University Daily Kansan
Page 3
Library Watches Bogus Books
By Priscilla Burton
One of six machines for exposing bogus books is in the special collections section of Watson Library.
"The human eye takes a long time to study copies of a book and the eye makes mistakes," said Joseph Rubinstein, assistant professor, bibliographer and Special Collections librarian.
To operate the machine, two copies of the same edition of a book are placed on the machine, one on the left and one on the right. It is then focused and one page is superimposed over the other so that only one page appears.
An oscillating light is turned on so that one copy of the book is lighted up and the other is dark. Any point that is not identical produces a flash in the eyepiece. This discrepancy is noted on a writing pad.
"The machine is about 100 times faster than the human eye and it does not make mistakes or get tired. It's infallable," Mr. Rubinstein said.
The machine, which takes four to five hours to learn to operate, has been used for one master's thesis in the English department, he said.
Faster Than Eve
Maps and signatures, up to a certain point, may be compared on the machine, he said.
Maps and Signatures Compared
The oldest book to be processed here was a 1616 first folio edition of Benjamin Jonson's plays. KU had five copies of this famous and important book.
Charlton Hinnan, a bibliographer, compared photographs in the Navy department during the war. He used a more simple type of machine which gave him the idea that a similar principle could be used for bibliographical studies.
"A number of points were discovered which probably would never have been found without the machine."
Mr. Rubinstein said;
A machine was built for the Folger Library, Washington, D.C., by Arthur Johnson. He built all six machines which are hand made. It takes a while to get delivery of the machines. The mechanism arrived at KU about six months after the order was placed.
IS IT AUTHENTIC-Mrs. Sondra Alden, of the Watson Library staff, checks a book on the collating machine of the Rare Books section of the library. The machine can detect a bogus copy of a book.
Fraser Library Is Not for Use Of KU Students
Playwrights Consider Their Work in Pattern
In Fraser Hall there is a door marked Extension Library, which students never enter.
Only for Kansas Residents
Inside that door is a mass of books, pamphlets and newspapers covering all conceivable subjects. Yet no KU student passes through these doors to take advantage of this service. It is not for use by the KU student body.
"It is a department to help the people throughout the state of Kansas who need certain information and can't find it in their community." Mrs. Virginia Maddox, director, said.
These people send in their request by mail and the library sends out all the material available on that particular subject.
The majority of these requests are answered by a unit called the package library, which consists of articles, pamphlets and books.
7,146 Requests
NEW YORK—(UPI)Whether their works deal with frivolous or serious matters, playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee see them all as part of a pattern. $ \textcircled{4} $
Mrs. Maddox said that last year the total number of individual requests was over 7,146. Requests came from all of the 105 counties in Kansas.
The extension library has a staff of five full-time members and six part-time assistants. It was established on the campus in 1913 by the Bureau of General Information and is the only one of its kind in the state institutions in Kansas.
"There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn." —Samuel Johnson
He draws on his old friends to fill cabinet and other vital posts, and they lose no time in lining their
Has Political Thesis
"We want all our plays to be comments on events or customs of our own times," Lawrence explained. "Some of these things may have occurred before we became knowledgeable adults, but nevertheless they are, by proximity or inheritance, matters that have had certain influence on our generation."
The thesis is couched in terms of a thinly disguised treatment of events during the administration of Warren G. Harding. The leading character in the play is a U.S. senator and newspaper owner from Ohio, a likeable, good-time, handsome fellow who becomes President after convention maneuvering makes him the darkhorse nominee.
Roughly, that would include events from 1920 on. The first Broadway venture to bear the names of Lawrence and Lee was a musical comedy called "Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'," which, 11 years ago, dealt with the growth of ballet in America. Their next was that fine serious drama, "Inherit the Wind," concerning the Scopes "monkey trial" in Davton. Tenn.
Shangri La Followed
Now the pair has "The Gang's All Here" at the Ambassador Theater. Again a deadly serious work rooted in the 1920s; a political satire that the authors quite frankly have designed to carry a message.
There followed "Shangri-La," a mystical and philosophical musical related to our times that did not come off well; then the antic "Auntie Mame," which was not without social pertinence despite its frivolous nature.
The message is this — don't look merely at the character and qualifications of a presidential candidate; look beyond him to his friends and associates. For they will be involved, directly or indirectly, in the filling of those powerful non-elective jobs that have so much control of our welfare.
This year, when Sciera decided to have his house painted, the painter found it necessary to place the foot of his ladder on the Chilinski property. Mrs. Chilinski, now a window, would have none of it.
pockets at the public's expense. Finally, the President is forced to believe that his friends have betrayed him and their trusts. He sets the legal wheels turning to stop them, then commits suicide.
The play is an interesting one, finely acted by Melvyn Douglas as the President and a cast jammed with wonderful character players, and director George Roy Hill has turned out smooth-running production.
Lacks Depth
Sciera argued on the other hand, that part of the Chillinski garage and concrete driveway was on his property. His contention was upheld by a court in 1945 and Sciera made the Chillinski rip out the driveway—leaving them without access to their garage.
There is, however, not much depth to the drama. This perhaps is not so much the fault of any concerned as it is that the material and most of the characters are political cliches, whether or not the Harding details may be familiar to you. The authors have not been able to provide that extra something to give them a new polish.
Douglas does give the Kermit Bloomgarden production a lift with his acting, and, all in all, it is worth a visit.
It was the latest development in a feud that began in the early 1940's when Alexander Chilinski and his wife complained that Sciera's new backyard fence and the eaves of his house overlapped their property.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — (UPI)— John Sciera recently put up a sign in front of his home announcing: "Woman next door will not let us paint side of house."
Feud Has Development
Those Noisy Machines Speed University Clerical Work
By Thomas Hough
The University's noisy machines are proving the sweat of the brain is more productive than the sweat of the muscles.
Nestled in the basement of Bailey Hall, the Statistics Service can do in a few hours an almost inestimable amount of tedious human labor.
For instance, KU's 9,260 students carry about 40,000-50,000 courses. Class hours and the number of students in each classroom must be checked for conflicts Class schedules for individua students also must be recorded.
Impossible Task, A Breeze
This task would be almost impossible with human labor only. With KU's IBM machines, the work is completed in 10-12 hours.
Lilas Jerome, tabulator operator III, explained that the vari-colored IBM cards are coded by punch marks.
When the cards are run through an IBM machine, the punch marks activate the machine's mechanism.
The index to the punch marks is examined, dials are set, and 9,260 cards are placed in the sorting machine. With a touch of a button, 1,000 cards a minute are whirred through the sorting process.
As an example, a poll might be conducted to learn which students from Kansas City are taking a certain foreign language.
Information Recorded
After the cards are sorted, the information is recorded on the accounting machine which interprets the punch marks at 150 cards a minute and prints the results on an endless sheet of paper.
The cards are then resorted to their original position, or—if there are not too many—they are replaced by hand.
Mrs. Jerome makes it look that simple. "I learn something new every day. I've been here four years, but I'm still fascinated." she said.
But KU's IBM machines are expensive. Fred Thornton, tabulator operator II, explained:
"They are noisy,but when they
aren't making noise, we're losing money."
Statistics Service Pays
Surprisingly, the Statistics Service is an independent, self-supported department of KU.
The machines are rented from International Business Machines for about $2,000 a month. The Statistics Service charges $3 to $10 an hour for operating the machines, depending on the complexity of the work.
"Actually our independence tends to make the department more efficient because we are more aware of the cost. Our independence also gives us the incentive for doing more work and expanding our facilities." Mr. Thornton continued.
Who Uses IBM?
He said that 50 per cent of the
He pointed out KU has a new computing center in Summerfield Hall.
"They are a separate section from our work here and are engaged essentially in research," Mr. Thornton explained.
IBM work is done for the business office, 35 per cent is done for the registrar's office, and 15 per cent of the work is for special services, class elections, the Jayhawker fee cards, governmental research questionnaires, and others.
More Codes
Mr. Thornton explained that the IBM cards are coded either numerically or by an alphabetic punch.
The numerical code has a possible 800 combinations. The alphabetic punch, which has two holes in one column, has a possible 2,080 combinations.
BEREA, Ohio — A special faculty report concerning fraternity discrimination on the Baldwin-Wallace College campus, released here recently, summarized the opinions of three Negro students who discussed intra-campus discrimination.
"We don't usually use more combinations than that, but, if necesarv, we can punch three holes in a column," he said.
Baldwin-Wallace Has Discrimination Problem
Negro students wish for steadier and more noticeable progress toward
The students charged that "restrictions exclude Negroes from membership in all but one Greek letter organization," that there is a lack of adequate and equal social opportunities on the campus and in the community, and that "there is a problem in housing in campus residence halls."
social equality on the campus, the report stated.
In a review of eligibility for membership clauses in the constitutions of national fraternities represented on the campus, the committee found that only one Greek letter organization's national constitution "specifically restricts membership on the basis of race, color and creed."
No Greek letter organization, with the exception of one, has had Negro members to this date, the faculty committee's report stated.
The committee found that "all students are eligible without racial, creedal or color restrictions to become members of honorary, religious or student government organizations on the Baldwin-Wallace campus.