Piper Catalog Established

Sometimes two people can touch lives of people they never knew. Ethel Smith and Burgess "Tom" Piper are two donors who have touched the academic libraries in a unique way. When Mrs. Ethel Smith Piper passed away in 2000, her estate planning included a donation to the Carnegie Vincent Library at the Harold M. Finley Learning Resources Center. The gift was intended to improve the services of the library to the entire university community. At the time, the library was struggling with an antiquated electronic library system which did not support many crucial needs.

Utilizing the Piper gift, the Carnegie Vincent Library and Lincoln Library purchased a new system from Endeavor Information Systems, one of the largest system designers in the library world. Customers of Endeavor include Harvard University, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine and many others. Features of the new library system include better searching capabilities, easier to understand availability and location displays, more download options and linking between records for electronic browsing by subject or call number; online patron account access so patrons can make requests and view their own account information to help them make informed choices about how to handle their research in the library; hypertext links to web resources beyond the catalog, such as netLibrary electronic books and web sites; and integrated serials control and acquisitions to view what issues are expected when and if a book or video has been ordered for the library.

We were fortunate to be able to purchase this library system because of the generosity of the Pipers. Their gift has touched so many lives, so Lincoln Memorial University decided to permanently honor them. By naming the catalog "The Piper," that name will be spoken and remembered at LMU daily. This is way of saying "thank you" to two people who have improved research opportunities at LMU with a gift from their hearts.

You also may want to make it easy and convenient to have a bequest included in your will. The language below shows how a bequest can very easily be included in your will.

You might find it helpful to select the "print" button on the top of your screen and print this page. Please feel free to give this information to your attorney. If he or she has any questions, please have him or her contact Cynthia L. Whitt at phone number 423-869-6394 or email us at [email protected].