‘Lost in the Stacks’ Helps Students Find Their Way

The phrase “lost in the stacks” might bring to mind an unnerving undergraduate experience, a good thriller mystery, or perhaps a Vegas weekend with a pile of poker chips.

These days, however, it also refers to a Library gift that helps students in need.

Alan ’77 LAS and Connie Liddy Mitchell ’82 LAS created the Connie and Alan Mitchell “Lost in the Stacks” Library Endowment as a way to keep student library workers in school. The endowment, which will go into effect this fall, provides financial assistance to help retain student enrollment at the University of Illinois.

“Our kids knew a number of kids when they were going to school who had to drop out because they didn’t have the finances; their families weren’t able to go and support them that much,” Alan recalled. “And we thought that that was a shame.”

Education—and the Library—have been important factors in the Mitchells’ family history. Alan’s mother went to school at faraway Iowa State University because her own home state of Florida at the time did not offer higher education to women. The Mitchells’ three children earned higher education degrees (two from Illinois—Alice, MS 2015 LIS, and Clark 2020 ENG—while George went to Iowa State). Alan’s three sisters—Kay Ann Mitchell ’73 LAS, Sue Jeanette Mitchell ’75 ENG, and Amy Lea Mitchell ’86 ENG—graduated Bronze Tablet from Illinois. Connie’s sister, Betsy Liddy Nassos, is a 1977 graduate of the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

And the connection to the Library and what it has to offer remains strong. As an undergraduate, Connie followed in her sister’s footsteps and worked at the Ricker Library of Architecture and Art. Over three years, Connie helped to process acquisitions and assisted the head librarian in creating a bibliography. Connie also recalled a small residence-hall library near the laundry room. “It was a convenient place to study or grab a book off the shelf,” she said, “easier than running up and down the stairs to check if your laundry was done.”

In addition, while earning her graduate degree at Illinois in library and information science, the Mitchells’ daughter, Alice, worked at the Center for Children’s Books.

“We just have a real fondness for the Library,” Connie said. The library system in Illinois—ranked among the top in the nation—”is really an unsung hero,” she said. “I just think it’s one of those assets that’s just phenomenal.”

Although they did not attend campus at the same time, as undergraduates Alan and Connie enjoyed typical student experiences. Alan studied chemical engineering, loved professor Richard Scanlan’s classical civilization course, and was fond of frequenting dollar movies. Upon graduation, he worked for the U.S. Department of Energy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; later, with an MBA from the University of Chicago, he switched to the food manufacturing industry. He met Connie at Quaker Oats while they both were working in marketing research; he retired after 22 years with Kraft Foods.

Connie earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Illinois, participated in Block I, joined a German choir, and attended football and basketball games. After working at Quaker Oats, she eventually pivoted to staying home to raise children and volunteer in the community.

Javonda Pelman ’07 LAS, the Library’s director of advancement, worked with the Mitchells to find the right channel for their donation. “As a library, one of our initiatives is student success,” Pelman said. “And so this kind of fits within that realm of how Connie and Alan have described why it was important to them. It’s really keeping students in school without that barrier of how am I going to make this tuition payment or I can’t pay rent or I can’t afford food while I’m at school.”

Connie described the endowment as targeted toward a student “who is on the cusp of maybe needing to drop out for financial reasons.”

“Helping out with student funding, you know, hit a good note with us,” she said, “with something that was passionate to us.”

And with the security of a job, a library student worker may find those barriers lowering.

The endowment’s title—”Lost in the Stacks”— reflects the Mitchells’ puckish sense of humor. It also indicates the importance of the Library, where, Alan points out, one can get dreamily “lost” while immersing oneself in one’s studies.

“I told my kids that I don’t care which school you go to, when you go there, it’ll feel like home,” Alan said. With the Mitchells’ “Lost in the Stacks” legacy, it looks as if more and more students may find that home at Illinois.