Tag: Beeghly Library

Artist Carlos Fresquez comes to OWU

OMSA had Carlos Fresquez come to OWU to talk about his artwork that has been displayed in the Beeghly Library. He visited on April 2, 2019 at 6:30 PM in the Bayley room. Fresquez presented a slideshow that started from his younger days to the present on how he experienced racism, which is in some of his art and how he was influenced by pop culture. Go take a look at his artwork!

Beeghly Library celebrates 50 years

By Matt Maier, Transcript Reporter

The Ohio Wesleyan campus celebrated a monumental birthday Oct. 21.

OWU’s Beeghly Library turned 50 years old. The celebration included cupcakes, alumni, a chance to win an Amazon Fire and pictures which showed changes the li- brary has undergone over the years.

L.A. Beeghly donated the library 50 years ago in recognition of his children and grandchildren who had attended OWU. One of his great-grandchildren is currently an OWU student.

“Celebrating 50 years is definitely an amazing accomplishment for OWU,” said junior Jeb Beeghly. “It’s humbling to know my family had something to do with this milestone.”

Current students who work in the library said they can feel its history every day.

“Although I’ve only worked in the library for a short time, I feel as though I learn something new about it each day,” said senior Clara Ellis. “The history is rich and I always am finding out new things.”

This birthday both marks an accomplishment for the univer- sity, but it also serves as reminder that the library needs to strive for greatness, said Dee Peterson, in- terim director of libraries and coordinator of user services.

“Physically, we have returned to a more open floor plan simi- lar to when the building first opened,” Peterson said. “We now have more tables and areas for group study and collaboration, especially on the first floor with the creation of the ICEcube. We have worked to accommodate different studying styles and user needs with our spaces.”

Beeghly Library is home to one of the country’s oldest government document depositories, as well as rare books, manuscripts and artifacts collection.

Getting loud at the library

Librarian Jillian Maruskin opens the show. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.
Librarian Jillian Maruskin opens the show. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

Ohio Wesleyan public services librarian Jillian Maruskin first began planning “Live at the Library” at the start of last semester, and it was finally held Feb. 19 in the Bayley Room.

She received assistance from library social media intern Kyle Hendershot, a senior, and fellow librarian Ben Daigle; performing groups included the JayWalkers, Babbling Bishops and Pitch Black.

“We really wanted to figure out a way to use the library’s spaces that they have, so we figured this (the Bayley Room) was kind of an under-utilized space,” Hendershot said.

They set the event up between the Grammys and Oscars, and it too had a red carpet atmosphere, with Hendershot serving mocktails and senior Caleb Dorfman taking photos.

“We really want attendees to dress up and feel kind of fancy and special,” Maruskin said before the event. “The red carpet and paparazzi will hopefully make attendees and performers feel like movie stars, at least for a little while.”

Students chat before the show. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.
Students chat before the show. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

By the start of performances, the seats were all filled, with more attendees standing in the back.

“I think the attendance surpassed what we thought it would be, we had a lot of fun,” Maruskin said. “I think on this campus, performing groups support other performing groups and that helps a lot. I was really happy with the (Babbling) Bishops; that was so fun – I’ve never seen them before.”

The Babbling Bishops, a campus improv group, brought out a few new routines they had developed. One, “Story Story Die,” had direct audience participation for the first time.

In the skit, participants have to take turns telling a story; anyone who can’t keep up has to act out a death scene of the audience’s choosing.

Sophomore Dane Poppe of the Babbling Bishops explains "Story Story Die" while sophomore Jenna Chambers and senior Rhiannon Herbert listen from the center aisle. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.
Sophomore Dane Poppe of the Babbling Bishops explains “Story Story Die.” Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

Junior Spencer Dick was selected to take part with the Babblers, and together they told a story of Taylor Swift’s fight against unicyclists, Martians and ex-boyfriends.

“I thought it would be fun, I love doing skits and stuff,” Dick said; he has similar experience as a summer camp leader.

Junior Dane Poppe, who led the “Story Story Die” skit, said they’d been planning to get audience members involved in short-form games like that.

“It gets more people to come back,” he said.

“I’d heard about the Babbling Bishops before, I didn’t really know what they did but I knew they were kind of an improv group,” said sophomore Jenna Chambers, an audience member.

“It was fun seeing their different games, and everyone got really into it.”

Senior Christian Gehrke of the JayWalkers solos on "Last Kiss." Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.
Senior Christian Gehrke of the JayWalkers solos on “Last Kiss.” Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

Chambers and several other members of Delta Zeta came to watch some of their fellow members in the Babbling Bishops and Pitch Black. Senior Rhiannon Herbert was one of them, seated next to Chambers, but they didn’t know in advance about the formal, red carpet aspect.

“If I knew we would have (the red carpet), I would have dressed up,” Herbert said.

The improv act was bookended by a cappella performances, with the JayWalkers leading off the event with seven songs and Pitch Black finishing with a rendition of their recent competition set.

The JayWalkers performed a series of songs – some, like All-American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell” and Fergie’s “Clumsy,” for the first time.

Senior Audrey Bell leads Pitch Black's performance of a boy band mashup. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.
Senior Audrey Bell leads Pitch Black’s performance of a boy band mashup. Photo courtesy of Spenser Hickey.

“Of the stuff we knew, we tried to get an even mix of fun, fast (and) slow songs,” said their president Gabe Incarnato, a senior.

While Pitch Black performed the same songs from ICCA, they added snapping to their second song “Run To You” and cut out the choreography, due to the smaller performance space.

“We had a week off after ICCA so we haven’t much rehearsals yet, obviously that’s fresh in our minds,” said senior president Grace Thompson. “We like supporting the library and Jillian’s one of our biggest fans, so of course we were willing to do it.”