Henry Terrill Looks Back on 40-Year Library Career

Earlier this year, Henry Terrill, Professor and Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian, Brackett Library, Harding University, Searcy, AR, announced his retirement effective June 30. ¿Que Pasa? recently visited with Professor Terrrill about his 40-year career as a librarian.

QP: Over a career that has spanned so many years, you’ve doubtless witnessed a number of changes in the library profession. Will you share some of your career highlights?

HT: I began my librarian career at Woodsboro High School in Refugio County, Texas, in 1971, and established many friendships through the Texas Library Association. I met my wife in Woodsboro in 1973. She and her family, along with our children, have blessed me during 38 years of marriage. School library work inspired me to expand my horizons and I experienced so much more than I ever would have imagined in my 32 years here at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.

I began my Harding career by typing Interlibrary Loan Requests and consulting the National Union Catalog (green volumes) to try to determine which library to send a request to. It was a slow process. Harding had become a member of Amigos in 1977, using OCLC for cataloging. Then they introduced the new ILL subsystem. Wow, what a change! We could request a title from five libraries at a time, and our request would automatically move to the next library without any personal intervention. What an improvement!

I was also placed in charge of Federal Government Documents. Harding was a depository, but no one was handling what we received and we had an entire room of backlog volumes to deal with. Through the years we migrated through print documents, then microfiche documents, and then phased out both in favor of online documents. I guess a highlight was when I realized that I began Harding’s government documents process and I saw it grow and then eventually phase itself out some 28 years later in favor of online access. It was like having a child mature and leave home.

Amigos and OCLC gave us a taste of what a difference a computer could make. Later, we received an IBM PC through a state-side grant and I became the Computer Systems Liaison for the library. Within one budget cycle, we had acquired five more PCs and we began looking for an ILS for our new library building. Building on our positive experience with Amigos, we moved into the world of computer systems with a new building full of computers in 1990. In 1993, we hired a full-time Systems Manager so I could take over the Serials Department. Another of my career transitions to a different job.

Expansion of automation in the library world continued, as we migrated from early ILS technology to higher-level ILS technology and dealt with data migration. This was a multi-year task even as standing orders and e-journals were added to my job description. Space restraints at the Brackett Library forced us to begin a massive weeding project just as online databases and full-text replaced the space-consuming printed volumes in the periodical stacks. We subscribed to some 1,600 print journals at one time, but we are now down to about 600. We currently offer some 50,000 unique online titles across every discipline to our students on the campus and worldwide.

Through all of these transitions I have always had the full support of our current Library Director, Ann Dixon, and learning opportunities from Amigos. Because of this, I have been able to take on new duties and expand functional expertise as the needs of the library where I work have changed. I have changed along with the times.

My career has been a great blessing and I look forward to a new adventure as I transition to some avocation, yet to be determined, in my retirement years.

QP: Thank you for sharing some of your highlights with us, and all the best in your retirement.

HT: My thanks to all of the Amigos staff for your continual spirit of service and the professionalism each of you has rendered during my association with you. I will miss you greatly. ¡Adios mis amigos!