Library named after IU legend Herman B Wells

Before Herman B Wells, IU had a different face. \nMany officials at the official naming ceremony of the Herman B Wells Library Friday voiced the many ways which the past IU president and chancellor shaped the University. They said Wells would have been too modest to name a building after himself, though he was primarily responsible for the building of the present library, having made it one of his pet projects during his 24-year tenure as IU president and 38-year tenure as IU-Bloomington chancellor.\n"Everything he did, everything he had was suffused with caring for others," said IU President Adam Herbert.\nIU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said the Wells Library was a jewel, and cited how different the University landscape looked when the library was built in 1969. He said the Arboretum did not exist yet, the trees were smaller and the telecommunications building faced south instead of its present north.\n"But one things was not different," Gros Louis said. "One of the speakers (at the 1969 dedication ceremony) was Herman Wells."\nMany friends and acquaintances of Wells attended the ceremony and said he touched their lives with the sharpness of his memory, modesty and thoughtfulness.\nIU alumnus Ron Vallenger, who is a member of a group of Wells' friends and coworkers named "Hermie's Army," served as one of Wells' many houseboys and lived with him and his mother across from the library in the '60s. He said he watched the library being built from the windows of that house.\n"It's hard to describe, because you learn so much from just listening to him over dinner," he said. "...I think outside of his mother, he loved the University more than anything."\nDean of University Libraries Suzanne Thorin said in her speech that when she came to IU, Wells sent her his book "Being Lucky" with a note signed by "an ancient alumnus."\nAlumnus Doug McKinney said he was surprised how moving the ceremony was.\n"I certainly remember Herman Wells," he said. "Since it's been five years since his death, I really wasn't expecting an emotional reaction."\nAssistant Dean of Students Suzanne Phillips knew Wells from 1972 until his death. She said Wells would be happy with the library facility today.\n"I walked through the Information Commons and I saw the computer instruction labs," she said. "I think Herman would be amazed by that. I mean, I'm amazed by it."\nJunior and Wells scholar Khalil N. AbuGharbieh said naming the library after Wells' memory would ensure that future students and faculty remember him.\n"One has to wonder if anything would exist as we know it if not for Herman Wells," he said.\nIU officials had decided to name the building after Wells following his death March 18, 2000, but waited until this year to name the building posthumously because of an IU policy that states building can't be named after people until five years after their deaths. Wells began the policy, Herbert said, and he doubted the man would have wanted to make himself an exception to his own rule.\nSome alternatives discussed just after his death included naming E. Seventh Street or the Auditorium after Wells, Phillips said.\nToday the Wells Library has about five million books, Herbert said, and is still considered one of the top university libraries in the country.