Gift recognizes Marion Alden’s contributions

Vernon and Marion Alden

Ohio University President Emeritus Vernon Alden remembers with fondness the seven years he and his wife, Marion Parson Alden, spent at Ohio University. His desire to honor her contributions — and to see that the library bearing his name retains its role as an educational and technological leader — prompted a $5 million gift commitment in October.

“The years that my wife, Marion, and I spent at Ohio University were the most satisfying years of our lives, primarily because we were working together to enhance the quality and reputation of an already fine university,” says Alden, who served from 1962 to 1969 as the University’s 15th president. Marion Alden died in 1999.

Alden Library opened in February 1969 with some 500,000 volumes; today it boasts more than 2 million. The facility had 1.1 million visitors last year. And for every 100 visitors who walk in the door, another 60 visit the library via the Web.

The library staff would like to make more resources available electronically, including government documents and materials from the Southeast Asia Collection, and create a digital music library, a multimedia/audiovisual lab for faculty and an information delivery center. Alden’s gift will help make these and other projects a reality.