It is not a mistake, nor is it a coincidence that Pete Cookingham is the curator of one of the world's foremost collections of literature dedicated to turf.
Long before Cookingham became project director of the Michigan State University Turfgrass Information Center and the corresponding digital presence known as Turfgrass Information File, he had a career as a grounds manager. Specifically, Cookingham, who first graduated from the University of Wyoming with a degree in recreation and park administration, was the general manager of an 1,800-acre property owners association in rural central Illinois and later was a park administrator in Africa for the Peace Corps.
“My real first world is outside in the dirt," said Cookingham. “It's not in fine turf, but in rough turf, parks and recreation facilities."
An information junkie, the 66-year-old Cookingham has headed up the MSU turf library since 1985, when he graduated from the University of Illinois with a master's in library science.
Today, he oversees what is probably the world's foremost collection of works on turfgrass and turfgrass research.
“I would have thought the likelihood of me connecting libraries with information services was pretty low. Turns out, that would have been a bad assumption," Cookingham said.
“I was always interested in information resources and the transition of connecting research to management, the whole science-into-practice and how to apply what goes on in the lab and what goes on in the field. Then I realized if you are going to do this, you have to have people who understand it and do it theoretically."
The Turfgrass Information Center was started by former MSU and Texas A&M professor James Beard, Ph.D. Part of that early collection includes some of the private collection of O.J. Noer, who died in 1966. Beard, who died last year, also gave the center volumes of works from his private collection in 2003. Part II of the Beard collection is due in East Lansing soon, and will include some very unique publications, Cookingham said.
If you're not looking 20 years ahead, you're in trouble, because you are turning an aircraft carrier. There is too much stuff and the scale is too massive, so you must have a system for swapping out information and refreshing it.
“He collected a lot of obscure stuff," Cookingham said. “He had some things that no one else had."
Part II of the Beard collection, Cookingham said, is a whopping 8 tons of material. Although Cookingham is unsure of the number of publications on hand in the Turfgrass Information Center, he said in all it tips the scales at about 40 tons.
“It's amazing the amount of information they have amassed and is right there as a student when you need it," said MSU alum Sean Reehoorn, superintendent at Aldarra Golf Club in Sammamish, Washington. “You don't full appreciate it until you've left school and need to find something later in your career. It's a legacy Pete Cookingham can leave behind and know he helped everyone in our industry."
Some of the works from the Beard collection are located in other libraries around campus and efforts to digitize some works has made counting them a nearly impossible task.
“The number of volumes? I don't actually know the answer to that. I know tons is not a good way to measure," he said.
“We try to acquire everything in the world published in turf. That's easier said than done, but that is our goal."
Whether it is browsing the shelves of the Center in East Lansing, or browsing the File online from a remote location, the MSU turf library has been a valuable resource for academicians, researchers and turfgrass managers for nearly 60 years.
"I became familiar with the Turfgrass Information File at MSU Libraries when I was in grad school at MSU," said Brandon Horvath, Ph.D., turfgrass pathologist at the University of Tennessee. “I met Pete during my first few years there, and I was happy that I did meet Pete. He greatly increased my efficiency and effectiveness for searching what research had been done on turfgrass. Pete has continued to be one of my biggest cheerleaders, and has always supported me however he could. Now, as a professor, I ask Pete to help me expose what he does, and what the TGIF can provide to our students, and he consistently has gone above and beyond what I've envisioned for any activity I've done with our students. I'd just say that I truly appreciate what Pete has done for our industry, and his efforts have gone largely unsung. I hope as we move forward, many others come to appreciate how important it has been to have someone tirelessly cataloging literally everything that gets published in this industry."
For those who think the TGIF eventually will become a virtual mirror image of the brick-and-mortar library, think again.
Cookingham's efforts to digitize library works recently surpassed 300,000 publications and journal articles, but copyright issues prevent him from making everything on the shelves available online. For some works, interested readers are going to have to make the trip to East Lansing. Even for the works that are digitized, hard copies are retained because eventually even digital works will deteriorate, he said.
Staying on top of technology and new ways to store information are important when working with something so vast.
“Right now, PDF is the comfortable and safe display standard. What happens when that is not the case. Everything falls apart whether it is physical or digital," Cookingham said. “Our digital archives are in TIFF formation. How long will that be viable?
“If you're not looking 20 years ahead, you're in trouble, because you are turning an aircraft carrier. There is too much stuff and the scale is too massive, so you must have a system for swapping out information and refreshing it."
