Libraries are in my blood. My mother is a retired school librarian; my dad retired after 30 years on the Fresno State faculty. I grew up in a relentlessly literate household. (That's not a complaint.)
So it is kind of an odd feeling to look at the pictures of the Madden Library at Fresno State being demolished (here's The Bee's story today) and feel excited. Pleased. Delighted, even.
That's because what's coming in place of the old library will be so much better: Vastly more space, 3,500 study stations for students, wireless Internet access, ethernet connections at most of the workstations and room for up to 2 million books.
The new library is expected to be finished in the fall of 2008, at a cost of $95 million. That's almost as much as the $103 million it cost to build the Save Mart Center. It puts me in mind of an old poster from the '60s. To paraphrase: Wouldn't it be nice if the library had all the money it needed, and the Athletic Department had to have a bake sale?
Nicely put. Finally some money going towards books and learning.
This kind of reminds me of the cartoon of the NBA player watching a teacher drive by in a limo, saying "There goes another one of those million-dollar teachers in their fancy cars..."