What are your favorite things about the Fayetteville Public Library?

It is an open, welcoming gathering place for the entire community and region. It has extraordinary programming including outstanding children’s programs. It provides traditional books, audio, video and internet resources in addition to interesting and stimulating speaker programs. It truly recognizes the variety of media that are needed to give a community access to knowledge, information, and pleasure.

Why do you support your local library?

Because it is a LOCAL library dedicated to the needs of my community. I have spent my life in and around university libraries and know their importance, but a local library serves a different but critically important function to the general public. All anyone has to do is walk in the library and see the number of children smiling to know why I support the library. It celebrates our past and supports our future.

If you were stranded on a desert island with only one book, what would it be?

While tempted to say that I would want a book entitled How to get Off a Desert Island, I will retreat to a more traditional answer and say, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare even though I haven’t read my own complete works since I was an undergraduate student majoring in English in 1958. But I still keep it and promise myself I will get back to it. Maybe on the island.

What was your favorite childhood book?

I hate to admit I can’t remember my favorite childhood book. I liked to read the Tom Swift series as a young boy, devoured all the Keystone Kids adventures and didn’t miss a single Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mystery. From adventure and mysteries I moved to my local library’s section on biographies of famous Americans. They became my new heroes. As a parent who read to children most evenings, I liked anything Dr. Seuss wrote but was particularly partial to Horton Hears a Who. I hate to leave off Miss Tessy Tate, who roller skated here she was 8, but have to in favor of the Good Doctor. I never eat breakfast out without checking the menu to see if they serve green eggs and ham.

What is your favorite memory or event attended at the Fayetteville Public Library?

Let me divide this into two parts. My favorite memory is the day I saw a fully completed Fayetteville Library. I stood on the corner and all I could say was, "Wow. Is this really ours?" My favorite event was really two events, in part because of the events and in part because of how different they were. The first was a talk by Dr. Randall Woods on his newly completed biography of Lyndon Johnson. It was an outstanding presentation with Q&A and would have been well received at any university in the country. The second was the Anthony Bourdain presentation, which was completely and totally different from the Johnson talk, but it was also thoroughly enjoyable. My point is that we have a facility in our community that can present these two very different types of programs but both are world class. Again, I wonder, "Is this really ours?"

For your fantasy dinner, which four fictional characters would you invite?

My first guest would be Horton, of course, so I would be absolutely sure that someone at the table had the guts to stand up to the rest of us and speak the truth no matter what the costs. My second guest would either be Holden Caulfield, who worried about a lot of the same things I worried about at his age, or Hamlet, who told Horatio something that has influenced my life. He said, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." I guess it would have to be Hamlet. My third guest would be Huck Finn who, like Horton, Holden and Hamlet, questioned the world-taken-for-granted around him, no matter what the costs. The fourth fictional character is the hardest partly because of my first three choices. I think I need someone to lighten up the evening so I would ask Bond, James Bond, and I would be sure that, at the very least, I had a good martini, shaken, of course, not stirred. Please note how I really chose five characters. I am so sorry, but I hate to have food uneaten or conversation unspoken.

What book are you recommending to friends right now?

I recommend Charlie Wilson’s War, not only to my friends but I think it should be required reading for every American. It could not have been written as a book of fiction because no one could accept the premise that it could happen. But it did happen! It not only is the best example of what we sociologists call latent or unintended consequences but helps answer the question so many people have asked recently, "Why doesn’t the rest of the world like America?"

What are your hobbies?

I really don’t have any hobbies. I guess for much of my life work was my hobby. In the past few years, I have been tutored by colleagues from the university to build furniture, notably lamps and a table, and to restore a classic car, a 1972 Volkswagen Baja Classic Super Beetle. Next time you see someone driving a gorgeous metallic blue VW Bug, wave at me.

What are some of your favorite things about Fayetteville?

This is the hardest question of all. There are so many things about Fayetteville that I like. Topping the list is Patsy Ferritor who has lived in Fayetteville since 1973. Fairness requires me to say that any town Patsy Ferritor lived in would be the best town in the world. After Patsy, I have to say the University of Arkansas is my second favorite. It has given me and my family so much, including six degrees, four for my three children, Kim, Kris and Sean, and one degree for my wife, Patsy. They earned their five degrees, but the sixth was a free one for me that I treasure. Next on my favorite things list about Fayetteville is the people. The first day we arrived in Fayetteville someone had a party for us and they have continued being nice to us every day since.

Favorite place in the library to meet friends?

I don’t really think about the Library as a place to meet friends. But there are three places where I do meet friends, the Ann Henry Room where book clubs, Library Board, and other groups meet; the Walker Room, where outstanding programs and community events take place; and Arsaga’s where I have met friends to drink coffee and tell each other lies.

Favorite place in the library to read?

Sorry to report I don’t read in the library, but if I did, I would probably choose a quiet spot where I could also look out on the beautiful Boston Mountains and think how lucky Patsy and I have been to live in Fayetteville. There are lots of spots like this in our library.