The Doris and Harry Vise Library
Faculty and Staff
Joshua S. Baxter, B.A.
Lauren Gallina, B.A., M.L.I.S.
Emily Lewis, B.A.
Stephen Spann, B.S., J.D., M.S.I.S
Bettina Warkentin, B.S., M.S.I.S.
Vise Library, established in 1989, is open five days each week. Although only currently enrolled Cumberland University students and Cumberland University faculty and staff may check material out of the library, community visitors are welcome to use most of the library's resources in-house.
The Vise Library plays a central role in the life of Cumberland University, its students, faculty, and staff. It is the repository for a wide variety of information resources that supports the curriculum of the Schools at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The staff provides a high level of service to the University's learning community through access to and training in the use of its electronic and print resources.
The Doris and Harry Vise Library Mission Statement
The mission of the Vise Library is to provide a welcoming environment in which Cumberland University students, faculty, and staff are assured they can obtain the information resources and services they need for education, career, and personal growth.
By cultivating a diverse collection of print and electronic resources that are credible, scholarly, fundamental, and current, and utilizing partnership with other libraries to obtain materials not in our collection, we will facilitate research at all levels. By providing an inviting space with attributes conducive to individual and collaborative study, as well as to hosting visitors from communities beyond the University, the library will serve a unique and essential role in Cumberland Univerity's overall mission.
Books
Over 40,000 print books are housed within the library building. Access to a collection of over 265,000 e-books is available to students, faculty, and staff 24 hours a day from any Internet location. An online catalog provides assistance in locating materials.
Periodicals
Vise Library subscribes to over 50 print periodicals. Additionally, students may access full-text articles from thousands of professional and popular publications through the Library’s over 100 electronic database subscriptions. Like the e-book collection, students may use these databases 24 hours per day from any Internet location.
Audio-Visual Room
Vise Library houses a growing collection of over 1,800 DVDs on a wide range of topics related to the university curriculum, as well as over 300 sound recordings on compact discs. The Audio-Visual Room provides individual listening and viewing stations.
Testing Center
The Vise Library has a dedicated area for exams that require the Proctor-Free service through CANVAS. Students are required to contact the library (via email library@cumberland.edu or phone 615-547-1299) in order to reserve the Testing Center.
Computing Resources
The Library provides computer workstations for accessing its electronic databases, e-mail, searching for physical items, working on assignments, Microsoft Office products, and the Internet. Cumberland's entire campus provides wireless computing to students with wireless-enabled computers. Campus computing resources are open only to employees and currently enrolled students.
Special Collections
The Stockton Archives holds many of the papers and other memorabilia of Cumberland University’s long history, as well as a collection of old and rare books including an original edition of the War of the Rebellion series. The Library’s Tennessee Collection focuses on state and regional materials with an emphasis on Wilson County. The Military History Collection contains materials on military history around the globe. The Library also has a collection of over 3,000 juvenile and young adult books. The juvenile and young adult book collections contain Caldecott and Newbery winners and other award-winning titles in the area of children's and young adult literature.
George W. Franz Historical Research Collection
The George W. Franz Historical Research Collection of 1,836 volumes represents a great depth and breadth of resources in early American history. Biographies and personal papers of prominent individuals, examinations of colonial life in urban and agricultural settings, and in-depth exploration of the birth of American political parties, including especially the impact of Martin Van Buren, eighth President of the United States, together offer students a wealth of research materials on this foundational period.
Dr. George W. Franz served Pennsylvania State University for three decades. In addition to his role as a faculty member, Franz acted as a PSU administrator in various capacities. He was Director of Academic Affairs at the Brandywine campus for ten years and served as Interim Chancellor for the Brandywine campus in 2013-2014. Dr. Franz was instrumental in directing the Papers of Martin Van Buren project at Penn State Brandywine. He began on the project as Associate Editor (1975-1976), then oversaw completion of the project as Editor (1976-1986) and Project Director (1976-1988). Under his leadership, the project produced 55 microfilm reels containing approximately 13,000 documents from over 260 different repositories. Since 2015, Franz has served on the advisory board of the Papers of Martin Van Buren at Cumberland University, which is producing print and digital editions of the eighth president's papers. His donation of books to Cumberland University is intended to assist this project, as well as to provide the University's students with more resources for historical research.
James V. Miller Native American Collection
The James V. Miller Native American Collection consists of 168 books collected by Lebanon native James Victor Miller (1939-2008). Mr. Miller co-authored with Dr. Kevin E. Smith of Middle Tennessee State University one of the books in the collection: Speaking with the Ancestors: Mississippi Stone Statues of the Tennessee Cumberland Region (2009). Mr. Miller's obituary succinctly traced his deep and long=standing historical interests: "His early interest in the Civil War, by the time of the first grade, and his curiosity about the first residents of the area, American Indians, matured quickly into scholastic endeavors and led to his history teaching career [30 years at Lebanon High School] and later contributions as a noted lecturer and writer. He was an authority on local history, Middle Tennessee Indian cultures and the battles of the Civil War." In addition to working alongside Lebanon resident Jack Cato and Sue Siens to establish the City of Lebanon Museum and History Center in 1997, Mr. Miller hoped to see a Visitors Center established at the Sellars Farm State Archeological Site, maintained by the Friends of Sellers Mounds, and where sketches Miller made of many of the Native Americans who inhabited the area are displayed. Jack Cato, the friend to whom Miller entrusted his Native American book collection for safe-keeping until a Sellars Mound Visitor's Center is in place, has in turn entrusted the collection to Vise Library, via long-term loan, to care for and make available for research by Cumberland students and other scholars.
Interlibrary Loan
The Library’s holdings are augmented through its participation in the TennShare Statewide Library Consortium and the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). These interlibrary loan programs allow borrowing material from local, regional, national, and international libraries.
Delivery of Material by Mail
Students enrolled in distance education and online courses that live outside of Wilson and surrounding counties (Davidson, Rutherford, Cannon, DeKalb, Smith, Trousdale, and Sumner) may request library books, journal articles, and other materials be mailed to them for use.
Online Reference
Cumberland University students, faculty, and staff may request help using the Library’s online reference service, Ask-a-Librarian. Online tutorials and guides are also available on the Library’s web page at
www.cumberland.edu/library. All patrons are encouraged to contact the library reference desk by phone or email with any questions regarding library resources.
Use of Library Material
Only currently enrolled students and Cumberland University employees may check material out of the library. Students, faculty, and staff may borrow books for three weeks and audio-visual materials for one week. Reserve materials are for in-library use only. Anyone wanting to check out material must present a Cumberland University ID at the front desk.