Libraries are a sum of knowledge, a bank vault of ideas. A university's library is even more so, specific and concise in order to cater to the various needs of faculty and undergraduates. On the fifth floor of the Ashland University library is a space that meets these requirements but is set apart. From its olive-colored walls and inviting rug to the wooden bookshelf housing the Snyder Poetry Collection, it feels less like a library and more like a slice of home. For the English Department, of course, it kind of is. Dedicated to the memory of long-serving English professor Richard Snyder, the walls contain no less than six pictures of the man at various points throughout his tenure. Appropriately enough for the co-founder of both Ashland University's Creative Writing major and the Ashland Poetry Press, his wit and warmth are preserved in multiple forms within this nook. A case that sits in the left hand corner displays Snyder's own words, both in the form of poetry and correspondence chronicling the start of his employment at Ashland.
The shelves meanwhile are armed with a startling variety. Poems by Lisa Mueller and Grace Paley sit across from those by William Carlos Williams and Joseph Brodsky. Embossed with its identification as a Snyder poetry collection piece are Jay Wright's Transfigurations collected poems. In its 1981 binding, the complete poems of Anne Sexton has also earned its spot. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about this seemingly timeless corner is the knowledge that Snyder's legacy continues and endures. The historical brilliance of this corner flows through into the current English department. The Snyder Poetry Prize has been active since 1997 and recently awarded to poet and professor at Goucher College Elizabeth Spires. The Ashland Poetry Press continues to operate out of the English Department with a full editorial board. The Creative Writing Major thrives as its students involve themselves with all things literature. The Snyder Poetry Collection is not simply a piece of history, it is very much a piece of the present: a place where the past and future - founder and legatee - become one.
