Starting to work in the three-story building of METU on the Milli Müdafaa Street in 1957 in a 6 square meter room and with 50 books, and working with a great devotion to all stages of the development of METU Library until her retirement in 1981 and granted an outstanding service award by METU, Furuzan Olşen, who lost her life in 2010, tells us the establishment story of METU Library in the following interview:

F.G.: How did you start working at METU and can you briefly tell us about your background?

F.O.: After I graduated from the Department of English Language and Literature at Ankara University in 1946, I worked as a teacher and an administrator at Ankara Girls’ High School for 8 years. In 1949, I stayed in the UK with a one-year scholarship given by the Ministry of National Education to study the British education system. I started to work as a research assistant at the Faculty of Languages, History and Geography at Ankara University in 1955 and earned my Master’s degree in librarianship from the University of Illinois, USA and worked at the library of University of Illinois for a year and a half.

In June 1957 I participated in a conference jointly organized by the American Library Association and the Canadian Librarians Association in Montreal. I found out during the conversations here that a university was being established in Turkey with the help of UNESCO. I was planning to return to Turkey at that time and I found METU in a three-storey building on Milli Müdafaa Street. I introduced myself to Mr. Thomas Godfrey, and he jumped out of his place  with great enthusiasm and hugged me saying, “Perfect timing!" and added “I have been looking for a librarian for a year in Turkey, I am glad you came, you can start working immediately.” and added He said he wanted to clarify something. He requested a librarian from UNESCO when he could not find anyone in Turkey and the position was allocated for five years, and asked me if I wanted to work with an international specialist. I said there is a lot to do and that everyone’s contribution would be beneficial. So, I took office right after this conversation.

F.G.: You are the first person to start working in this area, who else was assigned after you? How was your working environment and possibilities? Can you tell us about those days?

F.O.:After taking office on October 15, 1957, the deceased Solmaz İzdemir received his Master’s degree from the US and returned to Turkey. He also applied to this position and appointed to the library. We had a 60 square-meter room and 50-60 books donated by UNESCO in there. We did not have even a typewriter. We were working in a warm and friendly environment. I spent my childhood in the garden of this house on Milli Müdafaa Street. This building was the home of the National Defense Minister Zekai Apaydın and his deceased daughter, Turkan Apaydın, was a close friend of mine from the primary school. I have beautiful memories in the garden of that house. Our janitor Mr. Veli and his family were living on the 3rd floor of the building. Mr. Veli was undertaking many tasks. In the first month of 1958, we moved to the barracks behind the Turkish Grand National Assembly. During these days, Ms. Natelle Isley, a librarian sent by UNESCO, joined us. Gülsevin Arun, one of the first graduates of the Department of Librarianship at the Faculty of Languages, History and Geography of Ankara University, was also appointed to the library. So, she became the first core staff of the library.

Ms. Natalle Isley was organizing tasks and orders related to UNESCO’s financial assistance. We were organizing all technical work and we were working with enthusiasm in every respect. We were constantly working on the purchase of the books and the subscription procedures of the journals required for the Faculty of Engineering, Construction, Electrical and Chemical Engineering and the Faculty of Administrative Sciences established in addition to the existing Department of Architecture. In this new place behind the Assembly, a lounge and an office were allocated to us. As the collection of the library increased, we kept the library open until 22:00 in order for our students to benefit from the library, and our students started to work on a part-time basis. This was a very new practice and the number of students working in the library was more than 50 as the library became more developed.

M.G.: What steps were taken to bring the library to its current state?

F.O.: When setting up the library, three important decisions had to be taken:

- a central library and establishment of a library in the faculty;

- application of the Open or Closed shelf system;

- selection of the classification system of books.

Most of the faculty members wanted faculty libraries to be established. It was extremely costly at that time in Turkey. This means both the duplication of the collection and higher building and personnel costs. After Mr. Kemal Kurdaş took office as the President of the University, these discussions were concluded with the decision of establishing a Central Library. The open shelf system widely applied in the USA was deemed appropriate. This decision was a great novelty at that time in the libraries in Turkey. For the classification system, “Library of Congress” system, the most advanced and open for improvement, was accepted.

M.G.: Were there any foreign staff working in the library besides Ms. Natalle Isley?

F.O.: Ms. Natelle Isley left Turkey in June 1959. Mr. Donald Redmond, D. R. Kalia and W. W. Bennett from UNESCO took her place and this program ended in 1965.

In September 1959, I went back to the library at the University of Illinois where I had worked before. I gained experience in the needs of a newly established library and I got prepared in this regard. I returned to Turkey in September 1961.

F.G.: Was there any other financial assistance other than UNESCO assistance in the METU Library? How did the University administration contribute to your work?

F.O.: In 1963 we moved to the current campus. Some parts of the Faculty of Architecture were allocated to the library. The interest of Mr. Kemal Kurdaş, the President at that time, in libraries and books was very useful for the development of the book collection. The library collection started to develop rapidly with monetary aid provided domestically and especially from international organizations.

While UNESCO assistance was about to end, the library received financial asistance from CENTO, OECD and later from AID. The most important of these is AID assistance. Mr. Kurdaş allocated 1,5 million out of 4.5 million US dollars granted to the University to the library. Considering that the average price of a book was around 8-10 US dollars at that time, this was a huge amount of money. AID sent an expert to Turkey from US to determine the money would be used by the library. Robert Downs, the Dean of Department of Library Services and Director of the Library, University of Illinois,  came and wrote a quite positive report. In his report, he assured that our library had no drawbacks compared to the western libraries and that there would be no disadvantages in executing this project. During the project period, this money was used until the last penny. Books were also donated to the library other than money. A collection of German books by the German Government, a collection called ‘JFKennedy Memorial Library’ by American publishing houses, and the donation of the British Government in memory of Winston Churchill were worth mentioning due to their numbers and importance at that time.

F.G.: How was the library building constructed? What contributions did you make in this regard?

F.O.: The library’s collection started to increase so rapidly that Mr. Kurdaş envisaged the construction of a library building immediately. They paid attention to the construction of the building in western standards. We were very fortunate, an architect like Behruz Çinici drew the layouts. Mr. Behruz went to the US to review the library buildings. Within the same program, Dr. A. F. Kohlman was invited to METU to help with the library building and worked on this issue for a month. He made a report about the building. For one year, they discussed with Mr. Behruz about the plans. Finally, a superior building came out thanks to the vast creative abilities of Mr. Behruz. It was in the cover of the 10th issue of “Bauen+Wohnen”, a German journal, in 1973 and the building was entirely introduced in the issue. We mutually told our ideas in the design of the building and reached a conclusion. The library would be built in two stages. 1. part started in 1966 and was completed in 1967. We moved to the new building from the Faculty of Architecture. The moving of a library is not as easy as you might think. Boxes in the size of shelves were made to  keep the order of the books and students were lined side by side between the two buildings and books were passed from hand to hand and placed in their new places. So, we had a five-storey building with a usage area of ​​12,000 square meters, which provides service in accordance with western standards.

M.G.: Are there any other libraries that were set up besides the central library and that you helped with their establishment?

F.O.: Yes. All the operations of the books of the campus library established in Gaziantep under METU and the Institute of Marine Sciences Library established in Mersin and the training of the officers working in the library were carried out by our library.

M.G.: Can you tell us about your library staffing policy, relationships with students and some of your memories?

F.O.: Two types of staff were employed in the library. Those who had a specialization in librarianship and auxiliary staff. METU students also undertook some tasks by working on an hourly basis. As the collection began to expand, the library started to provide services throughout Turkey. The M.S and Ph.D. students of other universities also used our library. The library staff and the students had such a good relationship that there was a family atmosphere. The deceased Solmaz İzdemir took care of MS and Ph.D. students individually and worked to provide the journals, articles and books they wanted from all over the world. She was a sister to all of them. Mr. Kemal Kurdaş visited the library at least three times every week and showed his guests around proudly. On a rainy day in autumn, the foundation of the library was laid. Who was addressing the guests was generally Mr. Kurdaş. However, he turned to me when the mortar was being poured to the foundation and said “Ms. Füruzan, please address the guests.” I was very touched and my speech made them cry. Mr. Kurdaş said “I asked you to make a speech not to make us cry.” . That day, a bottle that included the names of me and Solmaz was placed at the foundation of the library. And they made me feel honored by letting me do the opening speech at the groundbreaking ceremony.

F.G.: How was the library collection in 1981, when you got retired, was there anything that you thought it would have been better to complete before your retirement?

F.O.: By the end of 1982, when I was retired, the library collection reached about 250,000 volumes. The number of periodical subscribers was around 2300, and there were a total of 85 staff members, 40 of whom were professional, and the rest were part-time employees. One of the tasks that I wish I could have succeeded while I was working is “Personnel Affairs”. I could not convince the university administration that librarianship is a specialty. Librarians were considered in the same category as the other administrative staff of the university. Therefore, none of the seven students we sent to the US to get MS in librarianship stayed in the METU library after they returned. Other institutions offered more money and got them. The second issue is the failure to ensure automation. The conditions that Turkey and the university had at that time and the fact that computer experts in the university did not show the required interest in this issue caused it to fall through.

A library is the heart of a university. This is the first thing taught in librarianship schools. Sadly, I see that the adverse conditions in 1980s damaged this heart. I believe young people will protect METU and its values.

*Published in the third issue of ODTÜLÜ Magazine.