Building the Future

A library is important on a college campus because it visibly and tangibly instantiates the mission and culture of an educational institution.  Libraries are buildings whose presence sends a message: “This is place of learning. The fruits of humanity’s study and labors to learn are made freely available to you as part of this community.”  Amidst the distractions and stresses that seek to dim that message, a library building is solidly present every day, showing the students that the institution has made a commitment:  “While you are here, the treasury of what mankind has discovered over the centuries is open to you.  We promise to make sure that it is always here for you.  Whenever you wish to make an effort to dip into it and become familiar with it, this place will be ready.” 

Several social commentators have noted that libraries are one of the only spaces left in society where no-one is trying to sell you something.  Entering a library reminds students that their existence is not that of mere consumers – there’s more to life than their shopping cart.  Similarly, libraries are spaces that are not dedicated to entertainment or distraction – entering such a space reminds students of their ability to exist in quiet, to focus, and to pursue truth.

The students are not the only ones who need these reminders and this experience of being lifted beyond daily stresses and dreary commercialism.  The presence of a library building on campus, and time spent in the library’s space, remind professors and staff that there is more to the vocation of an educator than a grading spreadsheet and the daily batch of e-mails.

All these benefits, and I haven’t even mentioned the books yet!  An empty library would be a lie: the presence of real shelves full of real books is the purpose of the building, and these shelves lift us and encourage us.  To walk between the shelves of sermons and scriptural commentaries of the Church Fathers in the theology section, to see the history of biology unfolding in the science section, or to read the titles in the section on social work and reflect on humanity’s centuries of effort to serve each other, reminds us that we are not alone, trying to complete some isolated and tedious task.  We are part of a greater whole, and there are great minds who have made vast progress; they are ready to help us and share with us. 

To be in a library is to realize that the work of cultural transformation has always been going on – that long before we were born many men and women, both great and ordinary, not only tried but succeeded.  Books are a record of the way that culture is created and renewed, century by century.

It’s very true that both students and faculty can perform digital searches through a wide variety of publications, and these digital searches are an extremely helpful tool in research – through the power of digital records, we can access a truly huge number of sources more swiftly and easily than has ever been possible, and search rapidly and effectively for the precise information we need.  But there are serious limitations to electronic research.

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By Jamie Spiering, Ph.D.

Professor of Philosophy at Benedictine College

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At the groundbreaking ceremony for the new library, Jeff Schremmer, Class of 2025 and President of the Student Body, gave an inspiring speech about the vital role this library will play, both in the community of students at Benedictine College and as a symbol for colleges and universities across the nation.

The Benedictine College student body has experienced a 20-year surge in both enrollment and academic achievement of incoming freshmen. The result is a record number of knowledge-hungry Ravens and an enormous challenge to meet the special demand for rigorous course offerings. The Benedictine College Library will provide an ideal setting for Raven students to experience a profound and integrated encounter with every aspect of the college mission. It will be a place where they can absorb the beauty around them and know that it was designed with them in mind.

Community

The library will be a place where students come to learn together. There will be places for silent individual study, but the library will not be a maze of isolated cubicles. The Reading Room provides rows of table seating for students to spread out in their personal space, but still have the option to meet in study groups to live out the Raven characteristic of collaboration in community.

When it’s time for a break from studies, students can grab their friends and head to the coffee shop without even leaving the building. And every day, long after every other building has shut down for the evening, the library will be abuzz with active minds of study groups developing new ideas and achieving complex project goals.

Faith

The library will be the closest academic building to the spiritual heart of the Benedictine College community on campus, St. Benedict’s Abbey. Students can step away from their studies to participate in the daily Mass, or spend an hour in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, or take in a quiet reflection at the Abbey’s Return to Nazareth Prayer Garden overlooking the beauty of the Missouri River.

They will also be studying just steps away from Mary’s Grotto, where there’s always the opportunity to take a break for a Rosary or Memorare. After recharging their spiritual batteries, the students’ work will be waiting for their return in the beautiful library setting.

Scholarship

The new library will feature two spacious, state-of-the-art classrooms capable of hosting as many as 80 students at a time, greatly boosting the college’s capacity for providing the quantity and quality of classes that Raven students deserve.

In addition, every student will have access to Benedictine College’s world-class collection of over 250,000 books, hundreds of periodicals, and 300,000 E-books beautifully displayed throughout the library halls in easily accessible stacks. Students can’t help but fall in love with learning in an aesthetically inviting environment that surrounds them in the 1,500-year Benedictine academic tradition.

Sister Kathleen Flanagan, OSB ’78, and Darla Meyer have been Co-Directors of the Benedictine College Library since 2022. Together they have nearly 45 years of combined library science experience in public and private schools. S. Kathleen joined the Benedictine College staff in 2014, and Darla in 2007. Both received their Master of Library Science degrees from Emporia State University.

Darla is primarily responsible for collections, as well as managing general operations and the professional and student library staff. Among the many things Darla most eagerly anticipates with the new library is the creation of a beautiful space to house and display the college’s collection of rare and valuable artifacts, including a 1487 printing of the Bible in German, a 1491 commentary on the Psalms, and a 1708 hand-written Benedictine choir book. She also finds it fitting that the Benedictine College Library, which also serves as a Federal Depository Library, should be housed in the same building as the replica of the Assembly Room, where the United States had its birth as a nation and solidified its government with the creation of the Constitution.

S. Kathleen is the college’s Outreach Librarian, and serves as a liaison with the students, faculty and athletic coaches. She is the chair of the Faculty Library Committee, serves on the Dean’s Council, and teaches Information Literacy using library resources. She also serves as an adjunct member of the English department, teaching Young Adult Literature. S. Kathleen is thrilled for the extended amount of student study space, which will help satisfy a desperate student need, as well as for the accessibility for students with special physical needs.

Both Darla and S. Kathleen helped shape the development of the library in many ways, but in particular with their insistence on increased student space for personal study and research. They see the library building as a balance between beauty and functionality—a museum-quality structure that both inspires with its aesthetics and yet provides the staff with a larger, functional library space to serve the diverse needs of a college community of over 2,500 individuals.