April 24, 1997

New checkout system makes library easier
Jeff Simms
Reporter

For any students who have ever left the library frustrated after a long wait in line, their voices have been heard. The Belk Library staff introduced its new self-checkout system for students last week.

The "system" is actually a small machine just inside the library lobby. After reading a student ID card, the machine "checks out" books placed under its scanner and leaves the student with a receipt for the book’s due date. Ideally, this all happens at the student’s convenience, and doesn’t ever have to involve the help of any library staff.

Currently, ASU boasts the lowest library staff to students ratio in the North Carolina University system. This advancement is an attempt at alternatives to extra staff, since the ASU staff budget has not increased this year.

The new system is the result of a one-time allocation made to ASU from the University system budget to be used for technological advances. It makes Appalachian one of only three schools in the state system with such a checkout system.

According to Catherine Wilkinson, Coordinator of Access and Information Organization in Belk Library, the self-checkout system will not be introduced at the expense of student employees. She says that, "Though our budget for student employment has not gone up," the checkout machine was purchased with other funds and will not draw from the money available for student help.

Some students currently working at the main circulation desk will be shifted from that area to stacks maintenance. "We will reallocate our (student) resources more to areas of need," Wilkinson said of the rearrangement of student employees.

Wilkinson also does not expect the self-checkout system to ever completely replace the main circulation desk. Videos and audio tapes, as well as computer disks, must all still be checked out at the main desk. Any problems with checkouts will be dealt with at the main desk, while all quick checkouts can utilize the new machine.

Belk Library has also instituted a self-renewal system for students’ convenience. As of this week, library materials can be renewed either by telephone or on-line on the ASU Internet web page.

The self-checkout machine, which is equipped with easy directions for hesitant first-timers, is on from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for now, and should be available later into the night shortly.

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Secret Naval facility in Varsity Gym
Jeff Sprouse
Reporter

Imagine you are a student attending Appalachian in 1969. Chaos is all around. Hawks yell at doves. Nixon is president. And while playing a pick-up game at the new Varsity Gym, underneath you is a classified Naval Emergency Communications Command Post operating 24 hours a day.

"How can that be?" you ask. A secret naval facility underneath one of the most used spaces on campus? Well up until 1982, the Navy paid rent on the space.

The evidence is still there. Just go down to the Health, Leisure and Exercise Science Department. While the space has been converted to classrooms, the three inch metal doors, disconnected security systems, fire proof vaults and ventilation system still remain.

The facility, which operated for 20 years, was an emergency command post. In the event of a domestic war, military personnel would have been operating from the facility. It was stocked with a large supply of emergency food and water.

The post was manned by a full-time "Civilian" employee of the Navy who was the only local resident with access to the facility.

The Navy originally contacted then president, Dr. Plemmons about utilizing some campus space in 1962. Arrangements were made for the Navy to utilize space in Broom-Kirk Gym until better facilities became available.

This occurred in 1968 with the construction of the Varsity Gym. The Navy worked with the gym’s architect on how their facility would be constructed. They had special needs, such as a ventilation system that could filter radioactive particles as well as special lighting and wiring.

One wonders if Naval involvement greased the wheels of government in order to obtain the over two million dollars needed for construction. When the gym was completed, it was hailed as a state of the art sports facility, including a never before seen roof system.

The facility’s existence was hidden from the general public. In an interview with the Appalachian conducted in 1988, then Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs, Ned Trivette stated, "Those of us who worked with it had a security clearance, and we could not talk about it then."

Details of the daily goings on are sketchy. In the attic of the gym was a vast array of antenna. The Navy held yearly drills. Curious faculty and students were turned away from its doors.

At press time of the 1988 Appalachian, the Navy had not commented on the facility. In the same interview, Ned Trivette said, "It was a communications facility with radio equipment, lots of files and that was basically it. There’s no secret underworld down there."

Whatever its purpose, it was once a closely guarded mystery on campus. Rumors of its existence sparked fear that ASU was a designated target for a Soviet missile strike or a manufacturer of nuclear bombs.

If it was just a communications facility, why was its existence such a closely guarded secret? We may never know. Most participants have moved on. There is no reference to it in the University archives. The Navy has no comment and the files are classified.

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Student to spin Wheel of Fourtune soon
John Starling
Features Editor

Many of us have spent those slow hours of the evening flipping through the channels on the tube. Sometimes, between 7 and 8 pm, we’ll land on one of those cool game shows.

Some of us watch, yelling at the idiots who keep getting the simple questions or selections wrong. Sometimes, we’ll say, "I could do better than that!"

One Appalachian student is getting his chance to do just this.

Mason L. Reuter, a senior from Charlotte, won a chance to be on Wheel of Fortune through an audition in his hometown about a month ago.

Reuter took tests with sample puzzles and got to spin a mock-up of the famous wheel during the audition. On his turn, he yelled the oft heard phrase, "Big Money!", which may have scored big with those running the audition.

He was notified a couple of weeks later of his chance to be on the show.

"The initial excitement was good," says Reuter. "I’m still very excited about it. I’m kind of nervous to tell you the truth."

He was also informed that he could receive as little as one week’s notice before he’s scheduled to appear and that his appearance could be as far off as a year and a half.

There’s also one other catch.

"I’ve got to pay my own way out to Los Angeles and my own travel expenses," says Reuter. "But just the opportunity to appear on Wheel of Fortune is worth it."

Reuter admits that he’s "more excited about going out to L.A. right now" than being on the show.

"I don’t know how I’m going to react," he says. "It’s going to be fun though. I’m going with the expectation of winning"

Reuter also admits that he hasn’t watched the show in more than six months, saying, "I’m more of a Jeopardy fan."

As with any person about to appear on national television, Reuter has the jitters and wonders what differences he’ll encounter when he plays Wheel of Fortune live.

"I’m kind of nervous that it won’t be as easy as it seems at home once I get there.

"When I’d watch it at home," he continues, "(my mother and I) were the first ones to get the puzzle and I’d always yell at the people (on the show). Now I’ll be the one people yell at!"

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