Enriching the Academic Community

Enriching the academic community has always been an integral part to the Saint Louis University Libraries outreach efforts.  This takes many forms such as through public programming and by serving the broader community through volunteerism.  The Saint Louis University Library Associates (SLULA) have been a keystone to engaging the community-at-large.  SLULA began in 1964 by then SLU President Father Paul C. Reinert, S.J. with the assistance of Henry J. Scherck and J. Barry McGannon, S.J.  The goal then, as it is today, is to develop closer relationships and partnerships between the University Libraries and the St. Louis and surrounding community.

SLULA works on several levels to achieve the mission of promoting the development of the University Libraries’ collections and services.  Each year, SLULA awards the prestigious Saint Louis Literary Award. On the complete list of awardees you will find such notable names as Joan Didion, Joyce Carol Oates, Edward Albee, and Michael Frayn. The SLULA-sponsored “Evenings at Home” series offers members an opportunity to discuss well-known works with authors and scholars. SLULA membership is very accessible with a number of levels to participate.

As an institution of higher-learning, Saint Louis University relies on its’ libraries to offer collections deep in various subject areas as well as provide current information services. The Saint Louis University Library Associates, Inc. organization is one way in which those who have a passion for sharing and supporting cultural activities and resources can work together for a common purpose. It is also a way for the University Libraries to continue to offer information resources and services needed to engage individuals in discussion.

The University Libraries will continue to partner with affinity groups and cultural institutions. It is our way of engaging the larger community in discourse on a variety of topics. Our partnerships will also raise the awareness of information resources, library services, and the rich and unique materials that are housed in our special collections.

Library as Place is Key to Student Success

One of the primary goals of the University Libraries Strategic Plan is to create and maintain user-centered research, teaching, and learning environments. To achieve this goal we will re-invent library spaces to include information hubs and gathering places by modernizing the Pius XII Memorial Library to meet student and faculty needs. The purpose is to create destinations where research and study can flourish.

Frequently the question is asked, “In the age of the Internet, why do we need to have physical libraries at all?” We know that the Internet does not provide us access to all the information that we need. Most information of any quality and substance is accessible only through the library with which you are affiliated. For example, students and faculty of SLU have 24/7 access to hundreds of databses, e-journals, and e-books through http://slulink.slu.edu  SLULink is your “virtual library” — an important component of the information searching that you do and complimentary to the physical library building itself.

The library as place is also an important piece of academic success. Through his research, Yale University Librarian Emeritus Scott Bennett has discovered that successful learning occurs when you spend time outside of the classroom working on course-related activities (e.g., projects, papers, labs., etc.) and discussing course-related subjects. Today’s physical library must be designed to encourage and support this learning which, in turn, frequently leads to improved academic achievement. 

What should a university library include within its walls? Many academic libraries have created library learning spaces based on the model of an “information commons” or “learning commons.” As Bennett states, the purpose of reinventing library space needs to rise from analyzing student learning behaviors. Although such spaces can take a variety of forms, some similarities of successful contemporary university libraries are: natural lighting, uncluttered views of nature, clean, comfortable, and safe spaces, easy access to technologies to locate information and create new knowledge, close location to faculty librarians for research consultations, near other academic support services, such as writing centers, a cafe to replenish and re-fuel for long hours of study, and flexible spaces for quiet/solo study and group study rooms. When you walk into a library that fully captures these elements, services that are available to you are transparent — meaning that they are easily accessible — and you have different types of research and study spaces to select from to do your work.

Both the Medical Center Library and the Pius XII Memorial Library are in the process of developing plans to re-invent our learning spaces. We encourage your feedback as we work to create the best of all learning environments for academic success.

Strategic Plan Born Out of a Record of Achievement

Good strategic plans are not created out of thin air.  Grounded in an organization’s rich history,  effective plans take past successes and use them to reach future accomplishments. This holds true for the Saint Louis University Libraries Strategic Plan.

The University Libraries have always been an integral part of Saint Louis University since its founding in 1818. As with other great colleges and universities, some say that the libraries are the heart of the institution. From its humble beginnings housed in a room 40 feet by 20 feet, the University Libraries have expanded and morphed many times over in response to meeting student and faculty needs.  From the hand-written ledger of book titles in 1836, to the microfilming of Vatican Film manuscripts in the 1950’s, to Pius XII Memorial Library opening on May 18, 1959, automating the card catalog in the 1980’s-1990’s, to today’s development of a new digital production center that will provide access to rare and unique materials, the Libraries are rapidly moving through the early part of this century directly on the path to meeting the information needs of students, faculty, and researchers.

The development of the Pius XII Memorial Library, Vatican Film Library, Medical Center Library, and the Omer Poos Law Library have been in-step with the University’s growth and development ovcr time.  For example, when SLU was established in 1818, the Library was known as the “rarest in the West” because of its significant collection of scholarly and research materials including 1 of only 500 sets of a 1662 Geography of the Earth published in Amsterdam and a 1490 theological dictionary. During the turn of the century through the 1950’s the University experienced a “second founding.” University President Paul C. Reinert introduced lay people to the Board of Trustees and James V. Jones was appointed the first lay University Librarian. The Vatican Film Library undertook the largest microfilming project in the humanities up until this time. President Eisenhower cited this record of achievement by saying that, “The establishment of the Pius XII Library will interest millions of Americans…..” (letter from Eisenhower to Reinert, 2 Dec. 1954).  From 1960 through the 1980’s, as the University focused on community expanding the Frost campus by 22 acres which served as a catalyst for urban renewal, the Medical Center Library moved into its current location in the Margaret Doisy Learning Resource Center, the Omer Poos Law Library moved into it’s present location within the Law School, and a new atrium addition and reading area was built onto the front of Pius Library.

As Saint Louis University moves towards becoming the finest Catholic Jesuit University in America, the physical renovation to the campus is striking. SLU has expanded by 40 acres and more than 30 buildings.  All 4 libraries have reached capacity in terms of collections.  Grounded in our rich history, our Strategic Plan centers energies on re-inventing library spaces as destinations for discovery and study, on establishing ideal conditions for preservation and access to our rare and unique research collections, and on enriching the academic community by partnering with affinity groups.