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7.     LIBRARy SCIENCE STUDENTS VISIT POVERTY-AREA HOMES

        A course for librarians underwritten by an East Kentucky coal
company at the University has taken the students into the homes of the
people in poverty-labeled areas to enable the students to better
understand the people's way of life. "Often, librarians in poverty
areas cannot communicate with the people and they clash head on," says
Mrs. Virginia Kerr, who conducts the seminar in the School of Library
Science. The course was funded during the past semester by the Ken-
tucky River Coal Company, making it possible for the graduate-level
students to make three weekend field trips to different areas to view
various types of poverty.

        The first trip was to Clinton, Ky., where they were to become
acquainted with rural poverty. The second trip was to Cincinnati, to
learn about urban poverty, and the third to Blackey, in Letcher county,
where they experienced life in Appalachia. The grant from the coal
company also provided funds to pay the host families for the over-
night accommodations and for the breakfasts they served the students.
The Kentucky Institute for Community Development, a non-profit train-
ing agency in Lexington, helped with the details, Mrs. Kerr said.
Agency trainers held several sessions with the students, so they would
better understand people in poverty, and what can be done to alleviate
such situations. Upon their return to the campus, the students
prepared reports concerning the overall-needs for libraries in the
community or area surveyed, possible sources of funding, financing and
physical facilities, and the type of books needed by the people
living in the areas.



8.     MINE RESCUE VEHICLE BEING DEVELOPED HERE

        The Department of Electrical Engineering has received a
grant of $49,440 from the Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the
Interior, to develop a mine-rescue vehicle. Dr. Robert L. Cosgriff,
chairman of the electrical engineering department and principal investi-
gator on the prototype mine vehicle, says demonstrations of the vehicle
will be held about a year from now. "We have already ordered a Jeeps-
ter. We will have to modify it in numerous ways," he said. "First,
we'll have to lower the chassis and remove much of the cowl since the
machine must be able to go into mines with very low ceilinas. And since
gas and dust always produces an explosive atmosphere following a mine
blast, we'll develop an engine free of any kind of spark and carrying
not only fuel but its own supply of oxygen. We'll fit it with a diesel
engine. There won't be any spark plugs since a diesel cylinder is
fired by high compression ane,of course, we'll develop a special car-
buretor and exhaust. Actually, the vehicle will be able to operate in
an atmosphere devoid of oxygen." One of the major uses of the vehicle
would be in decontamination of mines. Other uses, with adaptions, would
be almost any kind of environment hostile to man. For example, it could
combat forest fires, enter burning buildings, survey areas containing
poisonous gases from train wrecks, and work in extremely dusty areas
such as confined drilling in rock. It possibly could be adapted to
perform tasks underwater. Dr. Cosgriff will supervise the vehicle's
development. Much of the modification work will be done by students
working on advanced degrees in engineering.