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Library Research Room Dedication
In Memory of Adrian N. Perreault
21 July 2007
Cannavino Library at Marist College
Remarks by J. Richard LaPietra
Adrian Perreault came to Poughkeepsie in the summer of
1958 to undertake the head librarianship at Marist College, a
responsibility that would last for 26 years, and which followed upon
a not inconsiderable stint as teacher and librarian at the grammar
and high school level at various schools conducted by the Marist
Brothers. I have personal knowledge of one of those appointments
because my younger brother, Frank, was the designated runner to
bring the library’s copy of the Times from the 241
st
White Plains
Road station to the then Bro. Adrian Norbert at Mount Saint
Michael Academy.
Adrian was preceded at Marian College by Brothers Arthur
Xavier, Paul Philibert and Cyril Robert, and inherited the college’s
first library, the Greystone Building. It was one of the most
impressive buildings on the campus at the time, with circulation
desk and reading room on the main floor, stacks upstairs, and a
small classroom and reference section down below. He also
inherited a library possessed of some quaint practices. The devil’s
corner, a collection of books sequestered from general circulation
and locked in the tower for their potential of giving scandal, could
be accessed only with special permission. The collection would be
considered tame nowadays. To give but one other instance: when
Andrew Molloy’s class, majoring in chemistry in the late forties,
was poised to take a required course in physical chemistry, a
branch of chemistry which endeavors to explain chemical reactions
in the light of the electrical and magnetic properties of atoms and
molecules, no Brother could be found with the requisite expertise
to teach the course. Unbowed by such a trivial problem Bro Paul
Ambrose engaged the services of Dr. Raymond McFarland, a
physician to and friend of the Brothers, to teach the course.
Between them they decided that a course in physiology would do
the trick. Each week the students would consult texts in the library
on the assigned system, circulatory, skeletal, etc., and the
subsequent class would consist of reporting and discussing what
they had learned. One week the student Brothers came to class
completely unprepared. Apparently the relevant chapter on the
reproductive system had been razor-bladed from every one of the
available library books.
In retrospect it is easy to see that Adrian was faced with an
enormous challenge when he arrived in 1958. Clearly practices
perhaps suitable to a monastic culture had to give way to the
requirements of academe with its demands for full academic
6/29/2021
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freedom for research. Moreover the collection was in great need of
strengthening. Beyond this bare minimum it was necessary to grow
a collection to keep pace with a rapidly expanding student body
and a bewildering array of major specialties as the college opened
to the public. During his 26 years the library expanded to meet a
fifteen-fold explosion in the size of the student body, and grew to
accommodate the addition of new majors in management studies,
psychology, political science, computer science, fashion,
environmental science, communications, and graduate programs.
It was necessary to recruit a professional and support staff to
serve this growing population of users. It was immediately obvious
that Greystone could not accommodate a growing library, and this
necessitated the removal of the entire library collection in 1961 to
new quarters in Donnelly Hall where computer operations are now
located. He also had to guide the library through its first
accreditation. Further down the road the library outgrew its home
necessitating a second move, this time to the former quarters of
the student brothers which stood just west of the chapel, all this
with minimal interruption of library services.
Today the library has found its permanent home in this
magnificent structure. I think that it is fitting that this place lies
but a few yards from the birth place of the Marist College library.
As we dedicate this reference room, which in many respects is the
heart of any library, to the memory and accomplishments of Adrian
Perreault I ask you to wander in your mind’s eye to the plaza
outside. See Adrian as the younger man he was in 1958, in the
background Greystone to his right, the Cannavino Library to his
left. Remember if you can the beautiful Fisher-McCarthy windows
of the Donnelly Library and let them symbolize the key transitional
role played by this man who once stood between Greystone and
what it would become. In 1958 his feet were firmly planted in the
culture represented by the Greystone Library. Imagine, if you can
the enormous expansion of outlook demanded of Adrian to
shepherd the library through its transition to this. In 1958 he
could scarcely have imagined what the future held for him.
Source and references: notes from J. Richard Lapietra
most recent revision : 16 August 2007
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https://academic2.marist.edu/foy/maristsall/essays/adrian perreault.htm
1/2
Library Research Room Dedication
In Memory of Adrian N. Perreault
21 July 2007
Cannavino Library at Marist College
Remarks by J. Richard LaPietra
Adrian Perreault came to Poughkeepsie in the summer of
1958 to undertake the head librarianship at Marist College, a
responsibility that would last for 26 years, and which followed upon
a not inconsiderable stint as teacher and librarian at the grammar
and high school level at various schools conducted by the Marist
Brothers. I have personal knowledge of one of those appointments
because my younger brother, Frank, was the designated runner to
bring the library’s copy of the Times from the 241
st
White Plains
Road station to the then Bro. Adrian Norbert at Mount Saint
Michael Academy.
Adrian was preceded at Marian College by Brothers Arthur
Xavier, Paul Philibert and Cyril Robert, and inherited the college’s
first library, the Greystone Building. It was one of the most
impressive buildings on the campus at the time, with circulation
desk and reading room on the main floor, stacks upstairs, and a
small classroom and reference section down below. He also
inherited a library possessed of some quaint practices. The devil’s
corner, a collection of books sequestered from general circulation
and locked in the tower for their potential of giving scandal, could
be accessed only with special permission. The collection would be
considered tame nowadays. To give but one other instance: when
Andrew Molloy’s class, majoring in chemistry in the late forties,
was poised to take a required course in physical chemistry, a
branch of chemistry which endeavors to explain chemical reactions
in the light of the electrical and magnetic properties of atoms and
molecules, no Brother could be found with the requisite expertise
to teach the course. Unbowed by such a trivial problem Bro Paul
Ambrose engaged the services of Dr. Raymond McFarland, a
physician to and friend of the Brothers, to teach the course.
Between them they decided that a course in physiology would do
the trick. Each week the students would consult texts in the library
on the assigned system, circulatory, skeletal, etc., and the
subsequent class would consist of reporting and discussing what
they had learned. One week the student Brothers came to class
completely unprepared. Apparently the relevant chapter on the
reproductive system had been razor-bladed from every one of the
available library books.
In retrospect it is easy to see that Adrian was faced with an
enormous challenge when he arrived in 1958. Clearly practices
perhaps suitable to a monastic culture had to give way to the
requirements of academe with its demands for full academic
6/29/2021
album_template
https://academic2.marist.edu/foy/maristsall/essays/adrian perreault.htm
2/2
freedom for research. Moreover the collection was in great need of
strengthening. Beyond this bare minimum it was necessary to grow
a collection to keep pace with a rapidly expanding student body
and a bewildering array of major specialties as the college opened
to the public. During his 26 years the library expanded to meet a
fifteen-fold explosion in the size of the student body, and grew to
accommodate the addition of new majors in management studies,
psychology, political science, computer science, fashion,
environmental science, communications, and graduate programs.
It was necessary to recruit a professional and support staff to
serve this growing population of users. It was immediately obvious
that Greystone could not accommodate a growing library, and this
necessitated the removal of the entire library collection in 1961 to
new quarters in Donnelly Hall where computer operations are now
located. He also had to guide the library through its first
accreditation. Further down the road the library outgrew its home
necessitating a second move, this time to the former quarters of
the student brothers which stood just west of the chapel, all this
with minimal interruption of library services.
Today the library has found its permanent home in this
magnificent structure. I think that it is fitting that this place lies
but a few yards from the birth place of the Marist College library.
As we dedicate this reference room, which in many respects is the
heart of any library, to the memory and accomplishments of Adrian
Perreault I ask you to wander in your mind’s eye to the plaza
outside. See Adrian as the younger man he was in 1958, in the
background Greystone to his right, the Cannavino Library to his
left. Remember if you can the beautiful Fisher-McCarthy windows
of the Donnelly Library and let them symbolize the key transitional
role played by this man who once stood between Greystone and
what it would become. In 1958 his feet were firmly planted in the
culture represented by the Greystone Library. Imagine, if you can
the enormous expansion of outlook demanded of Adrian to
shepherd the library through its transition to this. In 1958 he
could scarcely have imagined what the future held for him.
Source and references: notes from J. Richard Lapietra
most recent revision : 16 August 2007
