Dr. Norman Hoyle retires

            The Library staff  will bid a fond farewell Friday, March 29, to Dr. Norman Hoyle, who retires after 17 years as a reference and electronics resources librarian.

            For Norman, who is 78 years young, this is his second retirement – he was a professor for 25 years in the School of Library and Information Science graduate program at the State University of New York at Albany, as well as working in the library of Washington State University and as a professor of English at Linfield College.

            “Norman is very focused on projects until they are done. He is detail oriented,” added Library Director and good friend Marla Roberson, who referenced the large scale literature database, numerous research guides, and the design of the library website as his major accomplishments since he became full time in 2007.

            He created and mainained a database that provides online access to  thousands of scholarly analyses and interpretations of individual literary works.  “This is a unique resource --  no one has anything like this.  It’s a Norman invention,” said Marla.   All of our literature courses rely heavily on the database.  His second accomplishment was designing the library subject portal pages.  He also created coding for MegaSearch, which simultaneously searches all of the TCTC Library’s catalogs and databases; additionally, he created Journal*Browse, which provides faculty and staff  an easy means to keep up with the literature of their field by browsing online the tables-of-contents of selected professional journals and printing out articles of interest.

            “He created remarkable products that will last a long time,” said Marla. “Student surveys always refer to him and applaud his service.”

            “In terms of student success, if we didn’t have the literature database and the subject portal pages he created himself, we’d be back to the 1980s.”

            “I’ll miss working with the people here,” said Norman.  “I take pride in the projects I have been responsible for, what they have done for students, and how these readily accessible resources have contributed to their success.”

            “There’s not another Norman,” said Marla. 

          Berry McMurray, discovery service engineer, EBSCO Publishing, agrees.  “I still remember the first day we met way back when I first started in sales at EBSCO.  I have met many librarians over the years, and it was quite clear even that first day that you were truly committed to your profession and diligently worked to make resources easily available to your patrons/customers/students.  It was a pleasure to have had the opportunity to work with you, and I wish you the best of times in your retirement.”