An addendum for those who remember Dan Seldin:

Dan at the banquet of the Monon Railroad Historical‐Technical Society
in Monticello, Indiana, in 2003.

Three Indiana University Geography and Map Library pictures from about
2005-2007.

--Heiko

Heiko Mühr

Map Metadata and Curatorial Specialist

Earth Sciences & Map Library
50 McCone Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000

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he/his/him



On Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 4:21 PM Heiko Muhr <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thanks Ronda! Thanks Paige!
>
> Dan Seldin hired me in the fall of 1990 to work in the map collection of
> Indiana University’s Geography and Map Library when I was a graduate
> student in Bloomington, Indiana. He administered a geography test to all
> job applicants and this drew the ire of the Human Resources Department of
> the IU Libraries. The administrative brass wanted Dan to employ only work
> study students or MLS interns. But Dan persisted in his hiring practices
> and that opened the door for a number of international students who were
> looking for a second job to supplement the income from positions as graders
> or associate instructors. It was an interesting place to work.I learned a
> lot working there.
>
> Dan was a bit of a micro manager until he was convinced that the students
> understood the classification schemes used in the map collection, both the
> G-schedule of the Library of Congress classification system and an
> alphanumeric system, a variation of the AGS system, originally created by
> staff working in the library of the American Geographical Society.  But
> once Dan trusted the students then they would have a library key, the run
> of the place, flexible work hours, and work on their own projects. Dan was
> a great boss. His father had been a National Labor Relations Board
> negotiator. And Dan followed in his footsteps, he was an unrepentant New
> Deal Democrat.
>
> Every Friday morning Dan would close his office door and he would be on
> the phone with his friend Paul Stout, map librarian at Ball State
> University in Muncie, Indiana. Those who knocked on that door during the
> phone call did so at their own peril. They took their lives in their hands.
>
> In 1991 Dan supervised the move of the Geography and Map Library into the
> Student Building, into a space that had originally been designed as the
> Lady’s Bathhouse. My spouse Chrystyna still had a swimming class there in
> 1989. And she was amazed when she saw the space after its conversion into
> the map library. It had a huge Palladian window and when I worked the
> circulation desk I would feel the warmth of the sun gradually rising on my
> back. It was a beautiful library.
>
> Dan was a great collector and used seven summers working at the Library of
> Congress to add depth to IU’s collection which had started out as a
> departmental library. In 1997 he transitioned into a map cataloger
> position. He would still visit the library occasionally when I started
> there as branch coordinator in 2002.
>
> In 2009 the IU Libraries decided to shut down the Geography and Map
> Library and move the collections into the Big House. The maps are today
> housed on the second floor of the Wells Library together with the
> Government Publications reference collection, which works well. Lou
> Malcomb, Dan’s successor as Geography Librarian, was also the head of the
> Government Publications Department. She took good care of the maps, held
> everything together when the collections were moved.  Dan retired at that
> time and I transitioned into his job as map cataloger. Dan’s advice was to
> start by reading and working through Paige Andrew’s “How to Catalog Sheet
> Maps: The Basics.” And that was sound advice.
>
> Dan would still stop by occasionally. When he decided to stop driving we
> bought Frida, his green 1994 Honda, named after Frida Kahlo, which served
> us well. Dan loved railroads and always related stories about his most
> recent railroad trips. He had an interest in transportation geography and
> was a railroad history buff.  I remember a trip to Monticello, Indiana
> where the Monon Railroad Historical‐Technical Society had its annual
> meeting. I walked his baggage into the hotel and there was a crowd of
> people there who were glad to see him. Dan was a walking encyclopedia of
> Indiana railroad history. We drove up to Chicago for the weekend and picked
> him up on our way back. Dan grew up in Shaker Heights, one of Cleveland’s
> streetcar suburbs. Chrystyna, my spouse, grew up in Cleveland, so the two
> of them chatted non-stop about Cleveland landmarks and Cleveland history.
>
> --Heiko
>
> Heiko Mühr
>
> Map Metadata and Curatorial Specialist
>
> Earth Sciences & Map Library
> 50 McCone Hall
> University of California
> Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> he/his/him
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 1:33 PM Andrew, Paige G. <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I have already shared the sad news with MAGIRT members but wanted those
>> of you who knew Dan Seldin, long time map librarian and map cataloger at
>> Indiana University, to also learn of Dan's passing recently. I received
>> this information from the current (and new) maps cataloger at Indiana,
>> Ronda Sewald initially and waited to find out if a biography written about
>> Dan at the time of his retirement could be shared publicly. You will see by
>> Ronda's note below that it is and so I am sharing it with anyone
>> interested. Also, an obituary notice is in the local Bloomington newspaper
>> but everything but a brief summary is behind a paywall. The notice reads:
>>
>> Newspaper June 23, 2020 | Herald-Times (Bloomington, IN)
>> Author: Staff Writer | Section: Obituaries
>> 23 Words
>>
>> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapp-eu-readspeaker-com.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Frsent%3Fcustomerid%3D10859%26voice%3DJames%26lang%3Den_us%26readclass%3Dread&data=02%7C01%7Cpga2%40psu.edu%7Cd186fab76ffa40f5a12e08d81d00e84c%7C7cf48d453ddb4389a9c1c115526eb52e%7C0%7C0%7C637291237015515722&sdata=V8mvgjFOxQ8MSTjUE2eEcqhhU7yRPN71ImiGM6aXkPo%3D&reserved=0>
>>
>>
>> Daniel Thomas Seldin, 75
>>
>> BLOOMINGTON — Daniel Thomas Seldin, 75, of Bloomington, died Saturday.
>> Arrangements are pending at Allen Funeral Home.
>>
>> Apparently a full obituary will be forthcoming.
>>
>> I hope I do not have to share news such as this about colleagues for a
>> long time to come, but it makes me realize just how long I have been in the
>> map librarianship field. Just like a family, you welcome new members into
>> the fold, you watch your colleagues grow and change, and then sadly we see
>> them leave us too. Here is Dan's biography (written in 2009):
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>>
>> I just wanted to follow up that Dan's biography is openly available
>> online through IU's Emeriti House as part of its 2009 Retired Faculty
>> Biographies:
>>
>> https://institutionalmemory.iu.edu/aim/handle/10333/6339
>> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Finstitutionalmemory.iu.edu%2Faim%2Fhandle%2F10333%2F6339&data=02%7C01%7Cpga2%40psu.edu%7C9da2f40771054f82282b08d81d0cac7e%7C7cf48d453ddb4389a9c1c115526eb52e%7C0%7C0%7C637291287553353675&sdata=PQydjiVAwiPGhsZ3GgBoFxnw6yhTtNDd9DGaV70NNnA%3D&reserved=0>
>> .
>>
>>
>> I've also realized my mental calendar was off and that the date of Dan's
>> passing would have been Saturday, June 20th.
>>
>>
>> My thanks to you all for your warm welcome to MAGIRT. I look forward to
>> participating in the future and am sorry to start things off on such a sad
>> note. My deepest condolences to those of you who knew Dan.
>>
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Ronda
>>
>>