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Every month, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the CALS Roberts Library collect and report statistics for a variety of reasons, primarily for the Arkansas State Library’s requirements, but also so that we can evaluate the impact our activities have on our community. Here are some of the things we were up to last month.

As a heritage studies PhD student at Arkansas State University, I spend a lot of my free and scheduled time with my head buried in books and peer-reviewed articles that reveal intimate details about the lives of individuals and communities that have impacted the social sphere. This summer, I got the opportunity to occupy my time with an internship at the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas,

Sean Clancy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently published a profile of Little Rock romance novelist Margaret Etheridge (who writes under the name Maggie Wells), author of the Arkansas Special Agents series, and one particular quotation from her really hit home. When Clancy asked her if she had received any resistance from her editors at Harlequin to setting her latest stories in Arkansas,

The official title I wear is “Genealogy and Local History Specialist.” When people ask me what I do at work, I generally tell them my job is to answer questions.

Some people who call us at the CALS Roberts Library or visit the Research Room have an exact question they want answers to,

The heat of August seems a good time to feature something cool and refreshing—and what is more refreshing than a swimming pool?

The Leroy Scott Collection, donated to the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in 2010 and open to researchers since 2013, is named for Leroy Scott, the man who directed Little Rock’s public swimming pool programs for more than twenty years.

Seemingly small decisions can have momentous consequences. The recent publication of an entry on Parker Westbrook on the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, coupled with the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies’ Lucille and Parker Westbrook Collection, illuminates this principle.

Arkansas native Parker Lucas Westbrook was born in Nashville (Howard County) on January 4,

Little Rock businessman and former Razorback football player Muskie Harris has donated a collection of original drawings by cartoonists George Fisher and Vic Harville to the permanent art collection of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS).

CALS Art Administrator Colin Thompson recounted, “I was approached by Muskie Harris at an event honoring George Fisher.

Help us improve your library experience! We’re working on the 2025-2028 Strategic Plan and we need your input.

The Central Arkansas Library System is seeking input from the public via an online survey. The survey (available in both English and Spanish) is accessible via Survey Monkey and will be open through August 5.

The other day, I was in my backyard, where I’m carving out a new garden plot, digging some trenches for the metal edging I was laying down. I started at 8:00 in the morning, but by only an hour in, I had already soaked through my shirt. The temperature had not yet reached 90 degrees,

I was flipping through some old Butler Center paperwork when the top line of one message caught my eye. It said, “I appreciate you forwarding the pages about Taylor Swift’s return from Liberia…” My first thought was that I had never heard that world-renowned musician Taylor Swift had ever been in Liberia, or in any part of Africa.