Getting to know...Oakley CoburnOakley Coburn, Dean of the Library, humbly refers to himself as a “Wofford retread.” After all, he did return to campus after a brief stint away from Spartanburg.
Coburn attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., where he originally intended to be a math major. Almost immediately, he switched to being a studio art major. Eventually he graduated as an English major with a French minor, with “lots of courses in art history” (more on that to come). He then went across town to the University of Kentucky, where he obtained a graduate library degree.
His first job out of graduate school was here at Wofford, where he served as an assistant librarian for four years. He then moved away to further his studies at Emory University and then to teach Quaker prep school in Philadelphia, Pa. But magnetic forces brought him back to Spartanburg to stay.
“When Frank Anderson retired (as dean of the library), Lewis Jones said, in his wonderful thick Southern accent, ‘Wonder whatever happened to Mr. Coburn?’” laughs Coburn. “I really hadn’t thought about coming back to Wofford. I enjoyed what I was doing up there. But Wofford was an interesting place and I always liked it, so when they offered me the job I came back in 1984.”
How long ago was that? David Pearson was still racing in NASCAR. “Ghostbusters” was one of the top movies. And “Happy Days” aired its last original TV episode.
“Everything in libraries has changed drastically since that time,” says Coburn. “Everything was completely manual then -- card catalog, books only. Now in this field, technology has taken the reins in great part. Obviously there are some really wonderful things about that, but something is lost at the same time. I still prefer reading from a book I can hold in my hands.”
Coburn says his job not only involves budgeting, planning and forecasting the fiscal future of the library, but networking with other library heads in the state.
“Library directors are somewhat isolated,” he says. “Everyone is either a client or you work for them. There are no colleagues, essentially. It can be dauntingly isolated, especially in that first year, because no one tells you how to do your job. So I’ve been working (through the Association of College and Research Libraries) as a mentor to newly appointed library directors at various colleges in Georgia, North Carolina and here in South Carolina.”
It’s a rewarding exercise for Coburn, who knows better than anyone what other library heads must deal with on a daily basis.
“It’s a way for them to have someone safe to talk to, someone on their side,” he says. “I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve had extraordinarily good relations with the administration here. It’s not always easy for people at other colleges. On top of that I have a tremendous staff here.”
But it’s not all about the library with Coburn. Far from it. He’s an active member in the Spartanburg arts community. He’s become director of cultural events at Wofford, something that has allowed him to pick up some of his long held passions.
“In trying to promote fine arts now, it feeds back to some of my personal interests, such as painting and photography,” he says. “That’s been really enjoyable.”
Coburn has also tackled the task of restoring much of the artwork on campus, something he says was long overdue when he came aboard.
“It’s been a natural progression,” he says of the long, laborious process. “President (Benjamin B.) Dunlap, with his great interest in the fine arts, has tried to put that process on a faster track.”
At home, Coburn says his wife, who is also artistically inclined (she’s a potter and paints in water colors) shares his interests and is also very tolerant of his more eccentric additions to their home. He laughingly tells the story of the unique six-foot-long fish trap he found at a road side antique store for $35. It now sits on a dining room pedestal. Just like the library he oversees, his home has stories everywhere you turn.
“Our house is quite peculiar,” he laughs. “It has a lot of art collections in it, some good, some just peculiar.”