From the Dayton Daily News, by longtime WYSO staffer Vick Mickunas.
July 1, 2007
Joe Cali was a legend among librarians. He died this past winter. The day before he died he had kept the Antioch College Library open during a blizzard. It was more than dedication that impelled him. The man loved his work.
Cali was notorious for many things. I remember him for this: scholarly journals publish “errata,” corrections for mistakes that were published in previous editions. Cali was painstaking in his work. When he got errata he would look up the offending publications and attach the corrections therein. Find me another librarian who cared so much about his work. You won’t.
It was tragic to hear that Antioch College is closing. You can be sure that Joe Cali would have had something to say about it! There is a moral here: NEVER mess with a librarian. They guard their books with the maternal fury of a mother bear protecting her cub.
The Chicago Tribune had a piece today about the Antioch Library.
When Joe Cali died he was the longest serving Antioch staff member. They had tried to get rid of him in the past. During the administration of Antioch Chancellor Alan Guskin he was the target of removal efforts. It never came to pass. Why? Antioch faculty stood up for Cali. He kept his job. When he died he was still doing the job that he loved.
Today Antioch College faculty are fighting for more than that one librarian, they are fighting for an institution and their own survival as teachers and keepers of the flame, the Antioch Flame. It is still flickering ever so faintly. Long may it burn.
Vick Mickunas