WSU Retention List Stories

One hundred years ago next month, Werner Heisenberg published the seminal article that kicked off the era of Quantum Mechanics (Zeitschrift fur Physik, v. 33: pp 879-898). Einstein, Planck, and others had—a generation earlier—begun dealing with physical entities using quanta instead of continuous values, but Heisenberg and Schrodinger truly revolutionized our understanding of the physical world with a fully fledged quantum mechanics. One of the weirdest aspects of quantum mechanics (which has been experimentally confirmed) is the concept of non-local interactions such as entanglement, which Einstein derisively called “spukhafte Fernwirkung” or “Spooky distant-action.” Below is a book on the Krueger Library retention list that discusses non-local behavior at the quantum scale.

Quantum chance and non-locality: probability and non-locality in the interpretations of quantum mechanics / W. Michael Dickson. Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Nils Minné was the President of Winona State from 1944 to 1967, spanning the entirety of the Baby Boom generation. One of the books on our retention list was a gift to Dr. Minné from its author (who, by the way, did earn a Ph.D. in 1938) soon after Minné began his tenure as president of Winona State. As the title suggests, it presents some of the advantages and disadvantages of the Ph. D.

Dr. Minné retired just about the time that the Beatles released the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. No word yet on whether Dr. Minné was the Eggman or the Walrus.

Atkinson, Carroll. Pro and Con of the Ph. D. Meador Publishing Company, 1945.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

In the last seventeen months, we have found a book on the retention list for every single academic department at Winona State except for 1) Marketing and 2) Physical Education and Sports Science. Here is one book for both of those departments.

Davis, John A, and Jessica Zutz Hilbert. Sports Marketing: Creating Long Term Value. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2013.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. Here is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Some educators advocate for year-round K-12 schooling. Our books on that subject circulate more than many other education books. This volume on the Krueger Library retention list refers to year-round schooling as a dream, but what would the schoolchildren call it? To quote Ben Stein, “Bueller? … Bueller? … Bueller?” Still, this book might be something to read over the summer.

National Council on Year-round Education. Colorado State Board of Education. Year-Round Education, Dream and Reality: A Report of the 7th National Seminar on Year-Round Education, May 11-14, 1975, Denver. 1975.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Move over Margaret Mead! Ethnographers are now exploring electronic media, as in this book on the Krueger Library’s retention list.

Machin, David. Ethnographic Research for Media Studies. London: Arnold, 2002.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Although Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is popular among educators, some psychologists argue that it is not scientifically valid. This book from the Krueger Library retention list follows the debate.

Gardner, Howard. Howard Gardner under Fire: The Rebel Psychologist Faces His Critics. Ed. by Jeffrey A. Schaler. Chicago: Open Court, 2006.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Some of the books on the Krueger Library’s retention list have titles that some readers might consider cringe-worthy. Here is our first candidate.

White, William L. Incest in the Organizational Family: The Ecology of Burnout in Closed Systems. Bloomington, Ill: Lighthouse Training Institute, 1986.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

In retention story #5 from last February, I mentioned that most of the books on our retention list are not considered especially notable by scholars. In that retention story, I highlighted two books that were both notable and on our retention list. They were from the humanities and social sciences. Here are two more examples—one from chemistry and one from physics—that are both notable and on the retention list.

Goldwhite, Harold. Introduction to Phosphorus Chemistry. Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Wasserman, Robert. Tensors and Manifolds: With Applications to Mechanics and Relativity. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. 

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Books on both extremes of the spectrum of economic theory are represented on the Krueger Library’s retention list, from advocates of unregulated free markets to the founders of Communism.

West, E. G. Adam Smith: The Man and His Works. Liberty Press, 1976.

Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Revolution of 1848-49; Articles from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. International Publishers, 1972.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

In the early 1960s, psychedelic drugs were used to treat patients. In the later 1960s, activists promoted their wide-spread use without medical supervision; they were made illegal; and they were placed on the same drug schedule as heroin. Now, there is a renewed interest in exploring their therapeutic qualities. This early text, featuring Timothy Leary no less, is on the Krueger Library retention list, … and you can read it without your insurance insisting on a co-pay.

Leary, Timothy Francis, Ralph Metzner, and Gunther M Weil. The Psychedelic Reader; Selected from the Psychedelic Review. New York: Citadel Press, 1965.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.