Purdue News
Purdue News
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September 15, 2000 Toni Morrison to lecture at PurdueWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University Libraries will celebrate its 125th anniversary by welcoming a Nobel Prize-winning novelist to the West Lafayette campus on Sept. 28. Toni Morrison, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, will lecture and answer questions from the audience beginning at 7 p.m. in the Elliott Hall of Music. "An Evening With Toni Morrison" is open to the public, with free general admission seating available on a first-come, first-served basis. Morrison's seven major novels — "The Bluest Eye," "Sula," "Song of Solomon," "Tar Baby," "Beloved," "Jazz" and "Paradise" — have received extensive critical acclaim. She won the National Book Critics Award in 1977 for "Song of Solomon" and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for "Beloved," which was later made into a major motion picture. Purdue Dean of Libraries Emily Mobley said Morrison's standing as both an author and an intellectual made her an ideal speaker on the occasion of the libraries' 125th anniversary. "The libraries are part of the intellectual heart of the university and the printed word is just as important today as it was when academic libraries were founded," Mobley said. "Toni Morrison is an artist with words and the expression of ideas, so it's very fitting that her appearance be part of our celebration." Morrison is a strong advocate of libraries and currently serves as a trustee of the New York Public Library. She also is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her lecture is being funded by an anonymous donor to the Purdue libraries. The anniversary celebration will continue on Oct. 25 with a symposium on the transformational future of scholarly communication. The all-day session, titled "The Networked Academy: New Frontiers in Knowledge Dissemination," will feature four nationally and internationally recognized communications experts and scholars. "The 'Digital Age' is here now and it's changing the way scholarship is conducted," Mobley said. "We want to raise awareness and stimulate discussion in the Purdue community on how knowledge creation, discovery and dissemination are being transformed." The Purdue libraries started as a single entity first funded by the state legislature in 1875. It initially was housed in a small room of the men's dormitory until the completion of University Hall in 1877. The system has since grown to encompass 15 libraries that house 2.2 million volumes, 2,100 electronic data files and 16,000 current periodicals. The library system is electronically linked, and many of its services are available to students, faculty and staff via the World Wide Web. CONTACT: Emily Mobley, (765) 494-2900, emobley@purdue.edu NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: A limited number of seats have been reserved for media wishing to cover the event. No audio or video recording will be permitted. Still photography will be permitted during the Q&A session with the audience. Contact Jesica Webb, (765) 494-2079, jwebb@purdue.edu. A publication-quality photograph is available at the News Service Web site and at the ftp site. Photo ID: morrison.t
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