Author: Halley Johnson

Finding space to study at the University of Memphis’ Ned R. McWherter Library is easy. Finding a book might prove a bit more difficult.

The library was recently placed on probation by the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries. The group’s membership standards include a minimum expenditure requirement each year, and because of funding issues, since 2007 the McWherter Library has added fewer volumes each year than any other member library.

Once placed on probation, a member library has five year to correct the funding deficit.

The action didn’t surprise Ed Frank, head of Preservation and Special Collections, who says the library’s current budget doesn’t allow for both filling library shelves and paying for electronic resources.

“The year we first lost good standing with the association, our acquisitions budget was essentially eaten up by journals and subscriptions to databases. We had to cut 30 percent of our print subscriptions to journals,” Frank says.

In the last 10 years, the library staff has gone from more than 100 people to roughly 70.

“We need to change the historically chronic underfunding of the library, especially in light of the ambitious message of President [Shirley] Raines,” Frank says.

Membership to the regional library association is not something the school can afford to lose, he says.

“The association provides a consortium for buying access to databases, and it’s our method for interlibrary loans. If we were on our own, we’d be virtually unable to borrow,” Frank says.

The library has a small endowment and earns some money with fines but is vulnerable to administrative funding decisions.

Ralph Faudree, provost for the university, says the library’s 2009 funding “fell slightly beneath the amount that was our target.”

Since then, $625,000 in stimulus money was added to the budget, and Faudree is optimistic that the library will retain its good standing with the association.

“Libraries are struggling, just like all parts of the university,” Faudree says, “but there’s no issue for us in terms of our five-year plan.”

Since stimulus money isn’t a regular revenue stream, there are concerns about the future.

“There’s no long-term funding plan that we can see,” Frank says.

Earlier this week, the most recent installment of web series Mind Over Memphis featured Church Health Center Wellness, “where they break the natural cycle of illness, hospitalization, and medical bills with this prevention thing. It’s terrible.”

That’s according to the series’ star, “Dr. Harold Toboggans.” The so-called “psychologist” and “certified water boarding specialist” sets out “to cure Memphis of the artists, volunteers, and chronic compassionates that infect the city with their irrational drive to be the change they want to see.”

“Memphis is filled, fairly bursting, with artists, philanthropists, and such things,” Toboggans says. “They’re not bad people; they’re just sick.”

Mind Over Memphis, started last year by Brent Diggs and with a handful of YouTube videos, works to alleviate that sickness, following Toboggans as he intervenes in well-meaning citizens’ plans. So far the video series has covered Nightshade Manor, which accepted canned food for admission, and the Visible School, which produces musicians — a thing Toboggans sees as a sick contradiction to the economy. Currently, Mind Over Memphis is in the midst of a three-part exposé of Church Health Center Wellness.

According to Toboggans, the center is a special case deserving of extra attention: “Life has a certain order. You get sick, you see a doctor, you pay that doctor lots of money. These people are subverting the economy.”

Of course, not everyone agrees.

Marvin Stockwell of the Church Health Center gave his take: “Dr. Toboggans means well, but frankly, we think he has a lot to learn about health care, which in his view is strictly focused on treating disease. That’s important, of course, but we think it’s just as important to give people the tools and resources to stay healthy.”

No victim of volunteerism is undeserving of Toboggans’ attention, though he plans to begin with curing “things that start right here in Memphis” because “I can stamp them out before they spread.”

Mind Over Memphis is searching for organizations that fit the bill, and Toboggans has made it clear that he’ll stop at nothing to cure them.

Do-gooders of Memphis, it’s time to turn yourselves in.

The third segment of the Church Health Center Wellness exposé comes out March 15th at mindovermemphis.com.

Working to improve your neighborhood is generally something you do near home. But for Matt Soavics of Philadelphia and Megan Brook of Atlanta, “local” service extends across the country.

Soavics and Brook are members of AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) and recently have been working with local and national nonprofits in the Memphis area. The group, composed of 18-24-year-olds from all over the United States, has been in town since mid-January and will stay through March. Their largest project has been to work with the Wolf River Conservancy, clearing brush and weeds.

“It’s like a temp agency for nonprofits,” Brook says of the NCCC. “Organizations apply for us to come do work, and we go where we can help most.”

Most of the work the NCCC does is environmental or construction, while other branches of AmeriCorps focus on poverty or education. Soavics’ and Brook’s NCCC group, based in Vicksburg, Mississippi, has about 150 members; it’s one of five campuses in the nation.

“The experience has helped me with teamwork in ways I wouldn’t have otherwise experienced,” Brook says. In addition to the personal benefits of volunteering, NCCC members get a stipend during their year of service and receive a scholarship after they complete the program.

While in town, the group is also working with other local organizations such as the Vollintine-Evergreen Community Association. The group will be leaving Memphis in mid-March and heading to another Mid-South location to help. Their three-month stay in Memphis is typical. With members serving for 10 months, they’re able to impact several areas in a short time.

“It’s something I can turn into a job,” Soavics says. “Before AmeriCorps, I thought I’d just stay in town and get work anywhere, really, but now I’ve seen how a nonprofit works. I’ve met people who travel and do it for a job; it’s not just volunteering. Now I can do that kind of work.”