Students, faculty, staff, community members and donors attended a grand re-opening ceremony to honor the newly remodeled J. Burton Vasché Library at Stanislaus State on April 4. The project was the culmination of two years of remodeling by the university. The 1960s era building, which is one of the oldest buildings on campus, second only to Bizzini Hall, had last been updated in the late 1980s.
The celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony took place during National Library Week, a fact not lost on Stan State President Ellen Junn, who spoke during the event.
Noting the library’s usage as a public space under non-COVID restrictions, which currently prohibit non-student, faculty and staff use, Junn said it’s important to consider just how many people will be served by the library in addition to Stan State students, from community college students who might transfer, to high school, middle school and even elementary school students.
“We want them to feel our warrior spirit and feel inspired as they study near emerging scholars who are on the pathway to obtaining a college education,” she said.
Junn also noted the significance of a two-story mural that flanks the main staircase in the library’s east facing entrance, as reflecting the diversity and the important agricultural roots of Stan State and the Central Valley.
The mural is just one of many features of note in the library.
The remodel brought the capacity up from 600 people to about 1,000. Among the building’s newest and arguably most remarkable features is a state-of-the-art electronic compact book storage system, which can house the library’s collection of more than 675,000 items, and freed up about 13,000-square-feet of extra space. Students can also take advantage of a self-serve café adjacent to food-friendly study spaces, and multiple groups study rooms available by reservation.
Mark Vasche, the youngest son of library namesake J. Burton Vasche, the university’s founding president from 1960 until his death in 1962, said the library would be his dad’s dream come true, even though he didn’t live long enough to see it to fruition.
“He would be so amazed and so full of joy to see that all the people who came after him, including many of you, have taken that dream and turned it into, arguably, one of the most beautiful campuses in the state university system today,” he said.
Dr. Richard Wallace, faculty advisor on the library renovation project, said that while the library houses multiple groups, the faculty committee had the students in mind first and foremost throughout the entire process.
“Students were the ones we were always looking out for,” he said. “The student voice was a very strong voice and a very important voice, and I really valued that.”
Laysha Pagan (junior, Business Administration), was leaving the library with friends as the event wrapped up.
“I think it’s a beautiful renovation that they did,” she said. “I like how they kept the stairs from the original library and just renovated around it. It’s very innovative as well.”
As a student who used the library prior to its renovation, Pagan said she is really impressed by the added study rooms.
“They’re new, easy to access, and very clean,” she said.
To read more about the library’s renovation timeline, click here.