Today if you were to count up the volumes inside the libraries at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville,
you better leave yourself plenty of time because there are now
three million volumes on the shelves. The book to mark the 3 millionth milestone is no ordinary book.
In fact it took UT Knoxville 25 years to obtain it.
A Cherokee Spelling Book from 1819, there are only three known in existence.
It is the first book published in the Cherokee and Roman alphabet
and it was developed by a missionary and one of his students
so he could teach the Cherokee people about Christianity.
It is important because it predates the Cherokee spelling system that was developed in the 1820s.
It is important to us because it was published in Knoxville.
Even though the Cherokee Spelling Book has its roots in East Tennessee, it was wanted all over the country, being purchased by a book dealer in Boston,
then in Sotheby's in New York, then by another dealer in Boston. Finally in 2008,
UT officials were notified the book would be for sale again, and UT bought it.
I feel we are the perfect home for this book. This is where it should be.
It was published in Knoxville for a mission in Tennessee.
It is part of our heritage and this is where it should be.
After being kept under lock and key for decades, the book can now be viewed by the public inside John C. Hodges Library Special Collections.
The three millionth volume represents just a part of the libraries' larger goal
to increase access for those in the UT community and around the world.
We are delighted to reach this milestone.
We are excited on a daily basis to make these materials
accessible to our students and faculty and the people of Tennessee.
Every year the library buys 35,000 printed books,
But everyday inside this tiny room in Hodges library you will find students and staff scanning publications,
particularly related to the Civil War and east Tennessee history
to add to the university's virtual library. That means anyone; anywhere can access the information.
We feel very strongly that just having a collection,
cataloging and having it on a shelf is not enough.
If it is not used that does not fulfill our goal.
And we fit very well with university's mission to educate people
for their lifetime as well as to create new knowledge.
Those at the library are dedicated to preserving and sharing
east Tennessee history, so that the people of Tennessee know where they came from
and perhaps where they are going.
Without our collections, knowledge is based on what has happened in the past,
so we have to have that historical record in order to create new knowledge
to solve some of the major problems that exist in the world today.