Over the loss of the librarian, believe it or not:

Dix did a great job of making the transition to a full-fledged, modern library, choosing all that great furniture and even going so far as to adopt the extensive use of microfilm:

And they really did weep and wail over his departure. Here’s a protest poem written by library staff member Helen Chillman, placing blame for Dix’s departure squarely on the shoulders of the damn Yankees (always a good place to start):

I was puzzled by the white whale reference, then found this announcement from closer to the front end of his tenure. Dix was a Melville guy:

Bonus: Dix partying in the library staff lounge, February 1952.

Extra Bonus: A while back I discovered that back in the ’80s someone had the wit to microfilm the entire contents of the card catalogue.