“The visceral, physical effort of saving books"

Teresa Mangum, associate professor of English, joined colleagues in moving library materials out of harm's way:

"As a member of the English Department, I was not surprised to find many of my colleagues—both faculty members and graduate students—in the UI Library 'book brigade.' In my line alone, I saw Mike Chaucer, Corey Creekmur, Eric Gidal, Loren Glass, Rob Latham, Laura Rigal, and Phil Round. Many of us had been working in the sandbagging lines during the week, but I suspect we felt especially grateful for the visceral, physical effort of saving books—the words, ideas, conversations, and knowledge at the heart of university life that we treasure deeply.

Being reminded that we share those values with the hundreds of students, staff, community members, and faculty from across the University who showed up to volunteer at the library was a heartening gift during a tough week. But we are, after all, ourselves—English professors. To great general amusement, everytime a lull fell, most of the book brigade grabbed snacks or bottles of water. Not the members of the English department. Given two minutes to rest, we opened whatever books we found in our hands...and started reading. Heartfelt thanks to the library staff members for your efforts and for letting us play a small part in preserving our library."