Dean Dana Rooks assisting students at the M.D. Anderson Library

Each day 13,000 people visit the M.D. Anderson Library at the University of Houston's central campus. However, there are only 800 places to sit. According to Dana Rooks, Dean of Libraries, "We have achieved what libraries strive to be. We are the heart of the campus. Ironically, some people think you don't have to go to a library anymore, but enhanced access to information has dramatically increased the need for service and information education."

Dean Rooks admits that the M.D. Anderson Library, built in 1950 and expanded 25 years ago, is now "bursting at the seams," and that the new five-floor addition will provide great benefits to the campus and community. "We don't limit access to the library," explains Dean Rooks. "We're very heavily used by the business community and the citizens of Houston. We are a very important component of the community." But students still are the most frequent visitors to the library. After one of the architects of the new building visited the library, he reported, "Everywhere I looked, there were students. I went up and down the whole building and if there was a square foot of floor and a wall behind it, there was a student sitting on it, leaning against a wall."

Dean Rooks agrees. "Students are using libraries more because the need for information is greater. Information has become so vital that information literacy now is a critical part of a college education. Whatever students choose to do in the future, the key to their success will rest on how well they can access information to make decisions. Right now, we have 160 computer workstations. In the new building, we'll have 560."

The building also will accommodate new educational models. Dean Rooks explains, "Education has changed from an individual, competitive model to a collaborative, team model. Instead of carrels for one person, we're designing spaces for the collaborative teamwork that now is being used in courses. That is what the business community wants, people who come out of school with skills that let them work together."

The new building, which also will house the Honors College for the university's most academically gifted students, will open in Spring 2004. With an eye toward the future, Dean Rooks predicts, "We must merge the old traditional roles of libraries – the preservation and access of print materials – with the digital world and with the need of people to pull together information from a variety of sources. We need the space and the technology to access whatever information people need."

Back to index