More than half of the world’s languages are spoken by 2 percent of the population, according to a presentation given by linguists Gregory D.S. Anderson and K. David Harrison Tuesday night in a packed room at the Oviatt Library. The two have traveled the world, from Siberia to Bolivia to Papua New Guinea to document the world’s most threatened languages, some of which have only a handful of remaining speakers. “One language every two weeks goes extinct,” said Harrison, the… Read more

Emergency notifications were sent to students over an hour after police received reports of a suspected gunman on campus Tuesday, and CSUN police said the delay was caused by concern over the situation itself. “I think what happened was that we were very focused on the fact that we had a person with a gun,” said Ann Glavin, CSUN police chief. “And it sidetracked people from looking at the messaging issue in the time that had elapsed, because things unfolded… Read more

CSUN students aim to clear misconceptions of Haitian culture with an exhibit in the Oviatt Library. Curated by CSUN anthropology students, the Images of Haiti: Selections from the Dolores Yonker Collection in the library lobby display personal drawings, journals of first hand experiences and authentic artifacts collected by a former CSUN professor of art. Students enrolled in the Museum Anthropology course spent the semester organizing the most effective way to display Dolores Yonkers’ donated collection of Haitian artifacts and honor… Read more

The Oviatt Library was evacuated Tuesday afternoon due to a mechanical failure of the fire alarms in the building. A little past noon hundreds of students were asked by library employees to gather their belongings and  leave the building. Administrators, dressed in orange vests, made sure that students stood away from the building after they exited. Students gathered outside the building were not aware why they had to leave the premises.They remained outside the building for a relatively short time… Read more

The Oviatt Library has a new dean. Mark Stover is taking over the position after former library Dean Susan Curzon retired last semester. Stover is the interim dean of the San Diego State University library and will begin work in July 2011. “I love libraries because they are a combination of all the things that I’m interested in,” Stover said. He said that his first love is books and reading, his second is technology and his third is working with… Read more

The magnitude 6.7 earthquake that shook Northridge at 4:31 a.m. on Jan. 17, 1994 caused $400 million in damages. All buildings were damaged, including the Oviatt Library, which suffered damage to both wings and a partial collapse of the roof. Since the quake, the university has mandated that the campus and its individual colleges have an Emergency Action Plan in the event that another earthquake strikes the Valley. Each college has staff and faculty appointed for duties such as crisis-management,… Read more

The Oviatt Library is extending its exhibit of the work of Richard Fish, a prolific, California-based photographer. Fish (1919-2005) is known for photographs that covered a variety of subjects for publications like the Los Angeles Times Home magazine, Sunset magazine, Better Home and Gardens and Chicago Daily Sunset magazine. “Richard had such an interesting career photographing gardens and movie stars,” said Marie Fish, his widow.  She donated Fish’s work to the Oviatt Library’s permanent collection. The library is displaying Fish’s… Read more

Norman Tanis, former dean of the Oviatt Library has died.  He was 81. Tanis died Nov. 28 at TLC Hospice in Moorpark from complications with Alzheimer’s disease, said his daughter, Laura Tanis. Tanis began working at CSUN in 1969 as director of the library and was soon named dean. He launched the Oviatt Library’s Special Collections and Archives in 1973, a repository of rare books and manuscripts, available to the CSUN community for research. “He was a renaissance man,” said… Read more