UCSC Review Winter 1996

Alumni bring the campus's library into the 21st century

In 1991, to celebrate the university's 25th anniversary and to mark the acquisition of the UCSC library's millionth volume, the Alumni Association inaugurated an annual tradition: presenting a gift that enhances the library's collection of technologically advanced resources. The original gift funded the acquisition of Voyager Gallery: A Hypervideo Database, an innovative compilation of text and images on astronomy in laser-disc format. The Alumni Association also underwrote the purchase of a laser-disc workstation for the newly established Cowell Room of the Science Library.

Subsequent Alumni Association gifts have added to the McHenry Library's collection of visual material. The World History Videodisc, given in 1993, introduces the histories of Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia through sound and video clips, presenting 2,400 still images documenting political and historical movements, objects, and representations. In 1994, the Alumni Association provided funding for a four-volume laser-disc series, Masterpieces of Italian Art, which documents three and a half centuries of the work of Italian architects and painters with 2,200 still images and several motion sequences.

By its annual gift giving, the Alumni Association has created a tradition of funding cutting-edge technologies for campus instruction and research.