lib.nmsu.edu: New Mexico State University Library Newsletter

              Page 1 Vol. 17, No. 3 September 2002
lib.nmsu.edu
New Mexico State University Library Newsletter
Stacy Birch and Colleen McGrath enjoy
the Library’s spring exhibit honoring El
Dia de los Ninos/El Dia de los Libros.
Grants Received
The Library received a grant of $5,200
from the Southwest and Border Cultures
Institute to acquire a portion of the manu-
scripts of poet Keith Wilson.  Portia Vescio
is the project director.  The Library re-
ceived a gift of $2,500 from the Robert E.
and Evelyn McKee Foundation of El Paso
for the purchase of current engineering
materials  for  the  Library s  collection.
NMSU s International Programs Office has
contributed $1,000 for the purchase of
books  on  the  teaching  of  English  as  a
second language.  The Library is sincerely
grateful to these generous donors.
of the Agreement  Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies and an interview with former astronaut Frank Borman.
In This Issue
Four Staff Members Retire                       2
Library Staff News                                     2
Fall Workshops Set                                       3
Multimedia Classroom is Popular               3
Chilean Librarians Pay Visit                        3
Poetry Winners Announced                   4
Exhibit Displayed in Cleveland                     4
News Notes                                            4
Special Library Catalog Poetry Insert
Lunar Legacy Project Flies High
The Lunar Legacy Project is an effort by New Mexico State University, in conjunction
with NASA and the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium,  to preserve the archaeologi-
cal information and the historic record of Apollo 11, and to eventually preserve Tran-
quility Base as a World Heritage Site.  The project was first conceived in NMSU anthro-
pology professor Beth O Leary s 1998 graduate seminar on cultural resource man-
agement.  Students Ralph Gibson and John Versluis posed the question  whether the
federal preservation laws they were studying would apply to artifacts left behind on
the moon.  O Leary asked them to research it, and NMSU history professor Jon Hunner
soon joined them in their work.  In December 1999, the team received a grant from
the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium and began researching an inventory of ar-
ticles left on the moon, a prerequisite for submitting a National Historic Landmark
nomination.  In preparing the nomination, the team discovered that there was not a
full inventory of items left behind by the Apollo 11 astronauts.  A 1969 NASA press
release contained an inventory of 25 items; the Smithsonian had a list of about 60
items.  The Lunar Legacy team compiled a list of more than 106 items.
 In 1967, the United States signed a United Nations treaty governing activities on the
moon that states that the nation that launched the object into space or to the moon
retains jurisdiction over the object.  The Lunar Legacy team interprets this to mean
that the United States still has jurisdiction over the items left behind by Apollo 11.
Neither NASA nor the federal government
is willing to pursue preserving these prop-
erties on the moon at this time; however,
the team feels strongly that the site must
be preserved before it is destroyed. For
more  about  the  project,  visit  http://
spacegrant.nmsu.edu/lunarlegacies/  or
see  Gibson s thesis,  Lunar Archaeology:
The Application of Federal Historic Pres-
ervation  Law  to  the  Site  Where  Humans
First  Set  Foot  Upon  the  Moon   (Zuhl
GN999.G523 2001).  For more informa-
tion on the archival records, please con-
tact  Portia  Vescio  at  505-646-4746  or
pvescio@lib.nmsu.edu. -- Portia Vescio,
Southwest and Border Research Center
Apollo 11 capsule in the Smithsonian Air
and Space Museum. Photo, University
Archives.
Apollo 11, the first manned mission of
the  NASA space program, landed on the
moon on July 20, 1969.  More than six
hundred million people watched as Neil
Armstrong  took  the  first  steps  on  the
moon.    Thanks  to  the  Lunar  Legacy
Project,  records  of  this  historic  event
were donated to the Library s University
Archives and are now available for use
by researchers.  Comprised of two linear
feet, the collection contains an archaeo-
logical inventory of items left behind by
astronauts,  correspondence,  news  ar-
ticles,  oral  histories  and  photographs.
Notable items  include a list of artifacts
on the moon and their locations, a copy
Reference Unites
Reference and research services provided
at the reference desks in both the Branson
and Zuhl library buildings are now united
in one department.  Within the Reference
& Research Services Department, subject
specialists in the subject areas of life sci-
ences, business, agriculture, humanities,
education, Latin American studies and the
social sciences are available to work with
both faculty and students in reference and
research, library instruction and develop-
ment of the Library s collections.
Service  is  available  at  505-646-5791
(Branson) or 505-646-5792 (Zuhl) or visit
the  web  site  at  http://lib.nmsu.edu/
depts/reference/.  Students enrolled in
programs offered at a distance through
NMSU  can  get  reference  assistance  toll
free at 866-835-9826.  For more infor-
mation about the Reference & Research
Services  Department,  contact  Susan  E.
Beck, Interim Department Head, at 505-
646-6171 or at susabeck@lib.nmsu.edu.
-- Susan Beck, Reference & Research
Services