{"641652":{"#nid":"641652","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Boosting Georgia Tech\u0027s Stellar Science Fiction Collection","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBy Michael Pearson\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESince 1998, Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s collection of science fiction books has been one of the largest and most important such compilations in the United States. Now, thanks to longtime Georgia Tech supporter Kathy Betty, that already renowned collection is even better.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBetty, a member of the Georgia Tech Athletics Association Board of Trustees, has donated 2,724 of her late husband Garry Betty\u0026rsquo;s science fiction novels to Georgia Tech. Many of the books are first editions, including J.R.R. Tolkien\u0026rsquo;s \u003Cem\u003EThe Hobbit \u003C\/em\u003Eand Isaac Asimov\u0026rsquo;s \u003Cem\u003EI, Robot.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Garry always wanted the books to end up at Georgia Tech,\u0026rdquo; said Betty of her late husband, the former CEO of Earthlink, who graduated from the Institute in 1979 with a bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree in chemical engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m so excited these books will be shared with science fiction enthusiasts at Georgia Tech,\u0026rdquo; Betty said. \u0026ldquo;Garry used to refer to characters in these books as his friends, and I know that he would be so happy to see them at a place that meant so much to him.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s science fiction collection is a unique resource frequently used by faculty and students in the\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lmc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;School of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/a\u003E (LMC). Many of the books were donated in 1998 by Irving \u0026ldquo;Bud\u0026rdquo; Foote, who founded Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s science fiction studies program in 1971. The collection ranks as the third-largest in the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERegents Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/yaszek\u0022\u003ELisa Yaszek\u003C\/a\u003E, a science fiction scholar in LMC, said the donation is an important addition.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I often tell our engineering students that reading science fiction is an ideal way to learn what people living in specific historical moments think about the sciences and technologies of their times,\u0026rdquo; Yaszek said. \u0026ldquo;Getting a science fiction collection like this, owned by a Georgia Tech alumnus who helped shape the Internet as we know it, provides us with a unique opportunity to understand what science fiction can tell us about the dreams of engineers themselves.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJody Thompson, head of the Library\u0026rsquo;s archives and special collections department, said the donation fills some gaps in the existing collection and increases the number of award-winning titles.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Garry Betty\u0026rsquo;s collection was almost exclusively first editions, which may not mean a lot to the average reader but is really something for those of us in library and science fiction worlds,\u0026quot; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/library.gatech.edu\/jody-thompson\u0022\u003EThompson \u003C\/a\u003Esaid.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELMC Associate Professor Karen Head, who knows Betty through Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s athletics program, helped facilitate the donation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;One night, we went to dinner, and I started telling her about the books,\u0026rdquo; Betty said. \u0026ldquo;She said, \u0026lsquo;You do understand what we have at Georgia Tech, don\u0026rsquo;t you?\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; said Betty, who until then was unaware of the existing collection here.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/head\u0022\u003EHead \u003C\/a\u003Esaid the two \u0026ldquo;became giddy and aminated about the possibilities.\u0026rdquo; She soon arranged a visit for Betty with LMC\u0026rsquo;s science fiction faculty. Soon after, Betty and her nephews Cameron Lane (BSBA, 2005) and Wesley Morris began organizing and archiving the collection and obtained an appraisal fixing the works\u0026rsquo; value at $168,000.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe extensive work done by Betty, Morris, and Lane \u0026mdash; who is a current student in the Online Master\u0026nbsp;of Science in\u0026nbsp;Computer Science program \u0026mdash; to prepare for the donation will speed integration of the donation into the Library\u0026rsquo;s holdings, Thompson said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHead, a poet, associate professor, associate chair in LMC, and director of the Naugle Communication Center, said she was happy to participate in such a meaningful donation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;There are few gifts to a university that come with so much love,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;I am so delighted that we were able to make Kathy\u0026rsquo;s dream of having Garry\u0026rsquo;s books at Georgia Tech come true.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKathy Betty, a member of the Georgia Tech Athletics Association Board of Trustees, has donated 2,724 of her late husband Garry Betty\u0026rsquo;s science fiction novels to Georgia Tech. Many of the books are first editions, including\u0026nbsp;J.R.R. Tolkien\u0026rsquo;s \u003Cem\u003EThe Hobbit \u003C\/em\u003Eand\u0026nbsp;Isaac Asimov\u0026rsquo;s \u003Cem\u003EI, Robot.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Kathy Betty, a member of the Georgia Tech Athletics Association Board of Trustees, has donated 2,724 of her late husband Garry Betty\u2019s science fiction novels to Georgia Tech. "}],"uid":"28817","created_gmt":"2020-11-25 16:30:42","changed_gmt":"2022-05-26 17:09:36","author":"Jason Wright","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-11-24T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2020-11-24T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"641583":{"id":"641583","type":"image","title":"Kathy Betty book donation","body":null,"created":"1606158504","gmt_created":"2020-11-23 19:08:24","changed":"1606158504","gmt_changed":"2020-11-23 19:08:24","alt":"Kathy Betty with science fiction books she donated to the Georgia Tech Library","file":{"fid":"243788","name":"kathy betty 1rs.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/kathy%20betty%201rs.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/kathy%20betty%201rs.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":456124,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/kathy%20betty%201rs.jpg?itok=uJa0NcLj"}},"641586":{"id":"641586","type":"image","title":"Kathy Betty book donation","body":null,"created":"1606158614","gmt_created":"2020-11-23 19:10:14","changed":"1606158637","gmt_changed":"2020-11-23 19:10:37","alt":"Kathy Betty with her late husband\u0027s science fiction collection","file":{"fid":"243790","name":"kathy betty 2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/kathy%20betty%202.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/kathy%20betty%202.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":510459,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/kathy%20betty%202.jpg?itok=YiZMIv_3"}},"641587":{"id":"641587","type":"image","title":"Kathy Betty Book Collection","body":null,"created":"1606158762","gmt_created":"2020-11-23 19:12:42","changed":"1606158762","gmt_changed":"2020-11-23 19:12:42","alt":"","file":{"fid":"243791","name":"kathy betty cameron lane.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/kathy%20betty%20cameron%20lane.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/kathy%20betty%20cameron%20lane.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":533715,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/kathy%20betty%20cameron%20lane.jpg?itok=ErHN4KJg"}},"641590":{"id":"641590","type":"image","title":"Kathy Betty book donation","body":null,"created":"1606158916","gmt_created":"2020-11-23 19:15:16","changed":"1606158916","gmt_changed":"2020-11-23 19:15:16","alt":"","file":{"fid":"243792","name":"leslie sharp kathy betty.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/leslie%20sharp%20kathy%20betty.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/leslie%20sharp%20kathy%20betty.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":495070,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/leslie%20sharp%20kathy%20betty.jpg?itok=lW-Ygq80"}}},"media_ids":["641583","641586","641587","641590"],"groups":[{"id":"47240","name":"Georgia Tech Library"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"151","name":"Policy, Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichael Pearson\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}