Pennsylvania State University Libraries

Transcription

We're an academic institution that has an obligation to leave this a better world than it was, or at least give our kids who come through here a chance to understand where we've been, where we are, and where we can go. A library is the heart of any great university. Students couldn't do what they have to do without it, and faculty they couldn't do what they have to do without it. Every time we drive in to State College, you get excited. I mean it's just a neat place. And the library is about the neatest place on campus. It's incumbent upon all of us to make sure that we continue to move up the ladder, and make Penn State a great university. And that all begins with a great library. I think it symbolizes where knowledge has been, and where it's headed to, in the future. You can go and look at the rare collections, where you have to turn the pages of the books really gently. And then you can go and watch a DVD or something, so it bridges the old way of learning and the new way, in a sense. The library is really useful, I know that some of the students work on special projects that are housed in the library. Depending on what fields they're in, certain scholars have utilized special collections because it had a lot of primary materials that have helped advance the research. We had an art student who came in, who wanted to make drawings of the sculptures that we have here, so there's all kinds of ways in which students utilize these resources. As a business major, particularly a finance major, I do a lot of researching companies, and the databases that the library subscribes to are things that I would have to pay to get a research report for, so it's certainly something that you can get nowhere else on campus. This room in particular has added to my research and my teaching, because it gives my access to materials beyond the specifics of my dissertation. We have a set of slave shackles that are part of this room, and any student in African American lit has read about slavery, but to see the slave shackles is just a really moving experience. The Penn State library has been a great resource for me over the past three years, and I feel like every year that I'm here I found out something new that the library has to offer that I didn't know was here before, and I'm just looking forward to using it as I enter my senior year. The library is at the center of the student academic experience, and the library is tied to everything that students need to succeed academically here at Penn State. From the liberal arts, to the sciences, to the humanities, to technology, the library benefits everyone on campus. I have never seen a library that was as concerned with students as this one is. What makes this library different is that it connects very closely with the faculty, and indeed the students. You walk in the library during finals week, and you cannot find a spare seat. So even as things move online, students need more and more spaces to connect with each other, to have places where they can find great information, and that's what the library is all about. It's kind of the jewel in the rown of Penn State. You absolutely cannot get a competitive degree out of a school that doesn't have the resources we now have. That's the difference the library makes. You either can do this, or you're not in the major leagues. We are in the major leagues. There are 94,000 students who use it. There are 38 Penn State libraries on 24 campuses throughout the commonwealth, to me that is an extraordinary service. We have two kinds of libraries, we have a physical library that houses collections, and people and services, but we also have a virtual library. We offer tens of thousands of things online. I have many fond memories of getting lost in the stacks, and those "Aha!" moments when you've found the exact reference in the exact book that you needed to make the point that you needed to make, and that was a great feeling. In my field of English, the library is essential. It's a huge draw for a potential undergradauate or graduate student, to know that they will have access to just about any material they could possibly imagine needing. There's a lot of intellectual energy in this building. Penn State's library is really distinguished by a forward vision. We're really looking toward the future here, how knowledge is being packaged differently, how students need to access resources differently, and I think that we're really on the cutting edge. The knowledge commons is a suite of services that involves media, technology, library resources, and appropriate physical spaces. This was an effort to begin to redefine some of the library's public spaces to better meet the needs of today's students. We're also looking at our commonwealth campus libraries to see what kinds of commons environments we can establish there. I love the idea of this knowledge commons, and I'm thrilled to be able to be a part of making that work for future students, I think it's gonna be a very important part of this university. We're moving forward, we're moving forward in very exciting ways, and we can't stop now. The heart and soul of the university is a library. Absolutely. And we have a great library right now, but we have got to continue to make it better and better, so that we have the greatest library. There's an opportunity for Penn State to grow even greater, but clearly that's going to require a major commitment, from the Penn State community. Everyone may have a different idea of what makes you feel good about a gift, but for me, it's being able to see and experience something that I've contributed to, and know that it's really helping students of the future. We need to be keepers of history to understand the future, and how to deal with it. That takes money. It takes lots of money. We are well in the top ten libraries of the country in terms of what we're spending on our resources. We're competing in very elite company. And the money has to come from somewhere. Philanthropy can make all of the difference between a good library and a great library. We're one of the great universities in the country, and in the world, and if we're gonna continue you'd better, we need some of you folks out there who's got a couple extra bucks in your pocket. Come on, give it to the library.