In November 2010 the Miller Library will celebrate its 25th anniversary. Please help us recognize this moment by sharing your stories and memories of the last 25 years. Do you remember your first visit? Were you amazed so many books existed on plants and gardening? Did you know Betty Miller (pictured below)?
Elisabeth Carey Miller at the front desk in 1990
My first visit to the Library was as a student at Edmonds CC in Greenhouse Management. While I didn’t have plans to ever manage a greenhouse, it was an interesting course. Our assignment was to write a report describing all the features of our ideal greenhouse, including glazing, lighting, heating, etc. The instructor recommended the Miller Library, a place open to everyone, not just UW students. Eureka! The library had everything I needed and more. Who knew there was not one, but two magazines dedicated to greenhouses?
The only problem was how distracting all the other books and magazines were! I spent that first visit slowly walking up and down the shelves of books in awe of all the books about my favorite hobby – gardening.
My earliest memory of the Miller Library must be from about 1995. I was working full time at an office in Wallingford, and my job wasn’t too inspiring, so I decided to volunteer at the Center for Urban Horticulture for fun. Over the summer I helped the Propagation staff keep things watered, and when winter came along I got word from someone that the library was looking for volunteers. I don’t recall who told me, but if that person remembers, THANK YOU! Once I saw all the plant information I could find and got to know the fabulous staff (almost all of them are still around a decade and a half later!), I was spending all the time I could here. The library has grown a lot since then, and has so much more to offer, but even in those days, I was impressed!
I first visited the Miller Library in 1989 when I was in library school. The library was a stop on my orientation as a work-study employee in the Education Department at the Arboretum. From that moment on, the Miller Library became the library I dreamed of working in when I got my degree. I visited over the years, browsing Orion and other journals at the reading tables, and borrowing from the lending collection (far smaller then than now!) in the original building, and then the temporary location. In 2005, I quit a long-time job as a library director, and began volunteering in the place where I most wanted to be…and where I now have the great privilege to work!
My most memorable time at the Miller Library (though not my first) was during study of
The herball or generall historie of plantes. Gathered by John Gerarde … very much enlarged and amended by Thomas Johnson (John Gerard, 1633).
The Miller Library copy of this old yet lasting work was temporarily housed in Special Collections in the Allen Library (after the fire), but many of the works I used during my research were (and still are!) only found in the Miller Library. I spent many hours there and in the surrounding gardens, contemplating the plants in Gerard’s tome. I will always think of the Miller Library as a refuge for reflection as well as a place for reading and study.
My fondest memory of the Miller Library was created somewhere else. In 2008, I visited the Lindley Library of the Royal Horticultural Society in London, the finest horticultural library in the world. I identified myself as the Miller manager, and immediately the head librarian of Lindley, Barbara Collecot, made time to meet with me. After more than half an hour of hob-knobbing on matters dear to the hearts of horticultural librarians, I left glowing with pride that our little library is known and respected amongst the world’s best.
I came into the Library in the summer of 1988 when I was contemplating a career change. I’d been working with plants since going through the Edmonds Community College Horticulture program nearly ten years earlier. I was beginning a library technician’s course at Highline Community College and it seemed to me like the best possible place to get some library experience would be in the Miller Library. I knew I loved libraries and books, but I had never worked in one. I met Val Easton and Laura Lipton and gave them my funky hand written resume and took a look around. I felt like a kid in a candy store! I volunteered for only a few months until there was a job opening which seemed like it had been designed just for me. I was thrilled to accept the position and I am still thrilled to be here to see the library grow, adapt and mature into a fabulous regional resource.
For me one of the greatest things about the Miller library is the memories it brings back of how other libraries used to be. A library is magic in that around every corner lies a voyage of discovery and in today’s modern libraries that experience is slowly disappearing as shelves are only half full and check out is done on an impersonal computer. Every time I walk into the Miller library I know I am in for an adventure. Whether I am looking for a book on restoration ecology, growing vegetables, or books written by gardeners past and present, I know there will be an excellent selection and one or another title will excitedly pop out at me. I also love that I can spend time with the librarians as they check out my finds the old-fashioned way, there’s just something special about that. Every time I step through the doors I’m grateful that a place of such enchantment lies right in our midst.
The Miller Library came into my life in 1989, after serving the mandatory apprenticeship on the CUH front desk and after reminding Martha almost daily that I really wanted to be a volunteer in the library.
The library was Shangri-la for me, because of my love of gardening and trees and because of my need to be an amateur horticultural literature researcher. Friends learned not to pose a gardening query for fear of being inundated by reams of information.
Congratulations on your noteworthy anniversary – especially in light of the tragic arson and the faltering economy. Best wishes to Martha, Brian, Tracy, Rebecca, Laura, and the rest of the staff (and good memories to Val, Marty, and Laura). It’s nice to see the original lending collection with the red spine labels in the photo on the website.
Ellen Morrison
President, Center for Rural Horticulture
Cloverdale, OR
My first visit to the Miller Library was when I arrived as the CUH Gardener. At this time, the library was temporarily located in Isaacson. The Miller Library helped me aquaint myself with the flora of the Pacific Northwest. Being from the great gardening climate state of California, I was struck at this great resource–an entire library dedicated to horticulture. Topped with a decidated and knowledgable staff that are enthusiastic about plants and gardening. How cool is that?!
Although I’m no longer at CUH, I continue to use the Miller Library as a professional gardener. What a gem! Congratulations to 25 years. I look forward to celebrating with you.
Thank you for the lovely party tonight and for being invited to be there. Judy and I had a wonderful time and saw so many friends.
I also want to thank everyone on the Miller Library staff, especially Brian, Martha,
Carrie and volunteers, most especially Liz, for all the help and kindness in getting that little water color show of flowers up and looking good back in January. It looked so good, sold well, and wow, what a good opening party! Thanks for making it such fun. You were all so incredibly generous with your efforts.