1969 Penn State Murder: Mystery in the Library Stacks

Pattee Library
Penn State University

Link to October 24 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, "Mystery of the girl in the stacks continues to intrigue public".

Excerpt: Over four decades, the unsolved killing of a young graduate student in Penn State's vast Pattee Library has taken on a ghost-story mystique.

"It sounds like an urban legend," said Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira. "Except it's real."

Amateur sleuths obsess over the "murder in the stacks." Newspapers revisit it on anniversaries and a subculture of poltergeist hunters regularly stokes the mythology online.

Even today, many Penn State students have heard about Betsy Aardsma, 22, of Michigan, who on the day after Thanksgiving 1969 was found among the musty library stacks, stabbed once through the heart.

Police interviewed 5,000 people but never made an arrest or named a suspect. Then as now, speculation filled the vacuum.

Libraries Respond to the Needs of their Communities

[Graphic from Colorado State Library website.]

Link to October 24 AP article at Seattle PI website, "In diverse times, libraries seek to broaden appeal".

Excerpt: Sheryl Toque settled into her seat in the East Elmhurst branch of the Queens Library, her children playing nearby.

She wasn't there to borrow a book. But she did want information - the 33-year-old Philippines native wants to become an American citizen. So she went to the library for a seminar with a civics teacher and a lawyer to go through the immigration process. It wasn't the first time she's used the Queens Library for help; she has also taken English classes at another branch.

"It's usually free so you don't have to spend anything extra," she said. "I like it because I could also bring my kids with me."

Libraries have always been in the business of providing information. But as diversity continues to grow in the United States, libraries like the system in Queens are trying to remain vital and relevant to their communities by offering information in a range of new ways.

They're doing that not only by adding material in multiple languages to their collections, but also through programming that includes citizenship courses, tax help and cancer screenings.

Dwight Foster Public Library: Micro-Donations Amount to Large Gift

Link to October 23 Daily Union online article, "Abendroth boosts library campaign".

Excerpt: In a down economy, it can be difficult for any business, no matter how charitable it is, to find the extra money for a substantial donation to a worthy cause.

The owners of Abendroth Water Conditioning, however, are piloting a plan that will provide more than $24,000 to the Dwight Foster Public Library expansion project through 25-cent micro-donations by Abendroth with the sale of bags of water softener salt.

Vince Kent, president of the Fort Atkinson water conditioning company, presented the library's "Foster Growth Capital Campaign" with a check for $2,081.25 on Wednesday, the first of 12 quarterly payments over a three-year period.