The news in the fall of 2007 that the campus library, just 35 years old, was about to be condemned, came as a shock to everyone associated with Salem State College. But as more than one speaker pointed out Tuesday, that jolt to the school community made possible the construction of the new, state-of-the-art learning center that will soon rise in the middle of what is now Salem State University's North Campus.
Kudos to school and state officials for recognizing that even in this age of the iPad and other electronic reading devices, there is a need for the books, periodicals and other non-digital materials traditionally stored in a library. This project, for which the state allocated $73.5 million in its most recent Higher Education Bond Bill, will house a half-million books as well as 100 general-use computers. It will have places for both quiet study and group discussions, as well as academic offices.
In a press release, the university makes the point that with the construction of the new library and destruction of the old one, the number of buildings on its four sites within South Salem will remain at 42. But it's fair to say the school has seen a construction boom in recent years with the renovation of the former Sylvania plant on Loring Avenue to provide a home for the Bertolon School of Business (as well as temporary quarters for the school library), and the construction of two new dormitories on its Central Campus and now, a new library.
In fact, SSU President Patricia Maguire Meservey quipped that one of the lessons she learned from state Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland when both were at Northeastern University was that a good university president "should always have a hole in the ground."
There will be more buildings to come as SSU starts to develop the former Weir Valve property across the street from its Central Campus. But through the efforts of people like Meservey; former college president Nancy Harrington, a Salem native much respected in the community; Mayor Kim Driscoll, a 1989 Salem State graduate; and veteran Ward 7 Councilor Joe O'Keefe, town-gown conflicts have been kept to a minimum.
We couldn't see O'Keefe's face when Meservey made her comment about always having a hole in the ground, but she and her colleagues might want to take up the good councilor's suggestion that the next campus building be a parking garage.
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