Dear Stacy—There are NO PLANS WHATEVER to reduce the hours of the
Penn State Harrisburg Library, contrary to the suggestion in a Letter to the
Editor appearing in the November 18 issue. At present, the Library is open 94-
3/4 hours per week. The operating schedule is by far the longest at any
Campus College Library; as an SGA study confirmed two years ago. We are
again extending our pre-final exam hours starting December 1, a week before
other Penn State Libraries, including those at University Park, typically do so
Friday and Saturday evening hours were not offered before the new library
opened in January 2000, but the Library expanded its operating schedule in
response to a suggestion from SGA, with financial support from the College
Administration. In order to anticipate additional student needs, the Library also
began opening earlier on Sundays (12:00 rather than 1:00) and weekday morn
ings (7:45 rather than 8:00).
In a serious financial exigency, the Library might consider an earlier closing on
Saturday evenings as one of several cost-reduction options. Other units would
face similar needs to economize. Should that ever occur, we would implement
cutbacks carefully, in order to do the least possible harm to our students.
However, no exigency of that magnitude appears imminent. I could not, even
in my worst fiscal nightmares, imagine a situation in which the Library would
eliminate weekend or evening hours. Those hours are essential for any aca-
demic institution, but they are crucial for a College with a large non-traditional
population
I hope this response will quell an unfortunate rumor. The Penn State
Harrisburg Library is widely respected in American higher education, even
being hailed as one of nine “champion libraries” in the United States last year
by a South African planning team. We are deeply committed to delivering the
“excellence in education” mentioned in the letter through our services, facili
ties, collections, technology and people. Access to the environment of the
physical library, as well as its print and electronic resources, is vital to our stu
dents’ academic success. We are dedicated to maintaining and expanding that
access, not to restricting it
Thank you for printing my response
Sincerely yours,
Harold B. Shill, Ph.D
Director
Men’s and Women’s £Nexxus
Hair Cuts Products
Olmsted Plaza Barber Shop
Jamesway Plaza No. 10
944-9364
Shop Hours
Monday-Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m. * 6:00 p.m.
Saturday 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Front Cover:
The Nittany Lion helps dig the hole for the Meade
Heights Time Capsule in The Village. Looking on Is
Provost and Dean Madlyn Hanes (center) and Joann
Coleman (far left) amongst others.
Cover photo and design by Stacy De Angelo
Psychiana Dreaming
By Cathie McCormick for The Capital Times
I found salvation in a lecture over pizza and Pepsi. My
savior gives much and demands little. He offers training in
speaking directly to the almighty. He seeks no gratitude or adora
tion and does not recruit evangelists or
sign me up for fundraising committees.
I’ve already ordered a bracelet embla
zoned with, “WWFBRD?” to remind
me of his quiet life of support and serv
ice. I only wonder why it took me so long to find him.
I guess the adage, “When the student is ready,
the teacher appears,” is true. I’m ready for Frank B.
Robinson. Until Nov. 7, he did not exist—at least not Founder Frank B. Robinson
for me and the other pizza eaters in the Oliver LaGrone
Cultural Arts Center. In the name of research, Dr. Jessica Dorman, PSH assistant
professor of American studies and literature visited Warsaw, Idaho last summer
on a quest. She sought to discover the secrets of Psychiana, a mid-twentieth
century cult advertised in pulp magazines of the period. In keeping with the
genre, the ads promised answers to health problems and debt. For a few dollars,
Psychiana members would receive life-altering lessons and a direct connection
to God. Dorman assumed Warsaw housed a delusional zealot or greedy scam
artist—maybe both. She found a man. She uncovered an enigma. She came
away changed—as I did from hearing her story.
Psychiana’s creator, Frank B. Robinson, orchestrated the religion while
maintaining the lifestyle of a quiet, successful businessman in the small Idaho
town from 1929 until his death in 1948. He was a master of print advertising
and his ads recruited thousands of followers. He did not promote his organiza
tion in Warsaw, but he did employ many of its residents. Robinson’s wife and
children retained their
membership in a local
“She found a man. She uncovered Protestant church. He
an enigma. She came away infrequently visited Seattle
changed-as I did from hearing her
story” encourage visits from
Psychiana followers—or
try to organize them into a community. Robinson spent most of his workdays
personally responding to letters from potential or current members. These letters
were warm and heartfelt, Dorman said. For a fee of a few dollars, members
received instructions that amounted to what we now call positive affirmations
and daily meditation. Robinson suggested that Psychiana initiates meditate at a
certain time each day—knowing that he, and other followers, did the same. He
told them the shared energy would make a difference. At the height of its suc
cess Psychiana earned a comfortable, but not extravagant living for Robinson
and his family, Dorman said. According to letters Robinson received, peoples’
lives were changed.
This doesn’t surprise me. Unlike the religion of my youth, Robinson
did not dole out commandments, guilty expectations or punishment for sins. He
did not expect blind acceptance of hard to understand concepts like, “three per
sons in one God.” He did not place himself as the intermediary between the
people and the almighty. He did not ask for a tithing of people’s annual salaries.
His followers did not feel the anxiety of holier-than-thou competition with fel
low church members. Robinson simply shared his enlightenment methods —for
a modest (we’d call it a shipping and handling) fee. He did not ask the followers
to believe something they didn’t experi
ence directly. Psychiana members
relaxed, took a deep breath and stayed
home. No showy sign of faith or mem
bership.
Here is a man who shunned
fame and settled for modest financial
success. He provided jobs. His business
sold hope and empowerment. He minis
tered one-on-one to correspondents. He
lived a quiet, uncomplicated life. It did
n’t have to be that way. Thousands
signed on for his by-mail training. It’s a
short trip from there to a conference and
retreat center/ashram, speaking engage
ments, radio shows or tent-revival evan
gelism. Robinson chose differently.
My frantic, complicated life
needed the example. Robinson is a
prophet who can truly say, “do what I
do.”
One of Psychiana’s posters