November 16, 2007
Stop, thief! All in a librarian’s work
http://www.wvgazette.com/section//2007111510By Dawn Miller
Staff writer
ONE day about 20 years ago, librarians at the state Archive had their eye on a suspicious-looking visitor who was known to have a criminal record. After he left, one of the staff members flew urgently back to the boss’s office.
“He just took off with the book!”
Archive Director Fred Armstrong charged down the hallway, out the doors and down the front steps, taking each group of steps in a single, long-legged leap.
The thief had turned left toward a parking lot, in the vicinity of the current site of the Veterans Memorial.
Fred ran to the man and said something to the effect of “I need you to come back inside. That book belongs to the collection.”
The man did not fight, but came back. The Archive filed charges against him. As part of a plea agreement, the man promised never to return to the Archive. He did come back a couple times, and the staff chased him out.
The book, a history of Nicholas County, was returned to the shelf. It would have cost the Archive more than $200 to replace, although the money is not the point.
Aside from the quirky comic-book potential of this story — Fred Armstrong, Library Crimefighter! — it also illustrates one of the longstanding weaknesses of the state Archive. Security is a big deal when trying to maintain a collection of rare or unique historical items, while also giving access to the public.
Other libraries of the Archive’s size and stature have more strict procedures. It is common to be asked to lock up your bags and possessions before entering research and reading rooms, for example. Armstrong’s attempts to convince his bosses to make the Archive more secure have always failed.
This is one of the concerns voiced by researchers and historians over plans to combine the Archive with the Library Commission’s reading room and lending library on the other side of the Cultural Center. The Mining Your History Foundation is planning a demonstration at 5:30 p.m. today outside the Cultural Center to protest such changes they believe will be damaging to the Archive.
As news of Armstrong’s sudden dismissal this month has spread, more stories of his service have drifted in.
One night several years ago, Armstrong took a stroll to check on the Veterans Memorial, as was his habit.
As he approached, he saw a man wading in the pool around the structure. His pants were rolled up and he was scooping out change that had been tossed in by visitors and mourners.
Armstrong ran to the spot, jumped up on a low wall and yelled, “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The startled plunderer looked up and stammered an inarticulate reply. Only then did Armstrong look to his left and see an accomplice.
He thought to himself, “Oh, good. There are two of them.”
He coerced the guy into dropping the money, and they took off. “I let them go,” he said. “I wasn’t about to take on two guys.”
After it was all over, he had a pang of doubt. “What if they were a couple of down-and-out Vietnam vets?” he wondered.
Incidentally, when he oversaw it, the money from the memorial was removed periodically and deposited in a fund for the memorial’s upkeep.
Armstrong has worked since he was 12 years old, first on farms, then as a painter, which helped to put him through college. He taught social studies and became a librarian and archivist. He has never been without a job. He’s not quite sure what to do with himself these days.
On Thursday, Armstrong had a longstanding appointment to give a tour of the Capitol for Leadership West Virginia. He offered to bow out, but the tour went on as scheduled.
In the past, when he needed a vacation, he sometimes traveled to Maryland to paint for some friends. He found that while painting, he could organize his thoughts and mentally map out projects back at the office. Feeling a need to get out of town, he tried that old technique last week. But painting brought him little peace this time.
Others have shared more demure examples of Armstrong’s service. One told me that Armstrong went with her to go through the family home of her late husband and to help her identify which of his family’s documents and artifacts might be of value to the state. A letter writer described turning over treasured documents to the Archive, only to be surprised by receiving a beautiful set of copies for the donor’s own family to enjoy. Still another reader recalled participating in one of the overnight lock-ins organized by the Mining Your History Foundation. The event gives researchers a chance to work all night, a special benefit to out-of-town visitors. Fred would escort smokers outside for smoke breaks, and as people were ready to leave he escorted them to their cars, so no one was left alone outside during the small hours.
Instead of fitting Armstrong for a cape for his feats of derring-do, or even for his quieter day-to-day tasks, the Manchin administration fired him just short of his 30th anniversary. Judging from the widespread and sustained reaction, people value a good public servant. Like Armstrong, they deserve an explanation.
Miller, the Gazette’s editorial page editor, can be reached at 348-5117 or at
dawn@wvgazette.com.