There was more good news for the city and the North Shore this week in the announcement that Gov. Deval Patrick's five-year capital projects budget will include $69 million for the construction of a new library at Salem State College.
"You can't have a university without a library," Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry observed as he revealed the governor's intentions during the monthly meeting of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce yesterday morning.
The setting was appropriate, because a "Salem State University" — the creation of which is making steady progress on Beacon Hill — should be viewed not only as an affordable place where North Shore students can obtain a four-year degree, but also as a regional hub for research, economic development activities and advanced career training. Indeed, it's actually the "North Shore's university" Berry, SSC President Patricia Meservey and others seek to build in South Salem.
While the footprint and enrollment, already substantial, won't change, the school's ambitions continue to expand. And as Berry noted, a new library to replace the one deemed structurally unsound a few years ago, is essential to that mission.
Plans are to locate the new building on the school's North Campus where, Meservey points out, it will be a resource not only for students and faculty, but for the entire North Shore community.
Which is how the entire school ought to be perceived. Already, its Enterprise Center serves as an incubator for new businesses throughout the area and the North Shore Alliance for Economic Development has its offices on its Central Campus. Its theater department offers productions worthy of an audience much wider than just the student body; ditto for the home games of its athletic teams, which play a demanding Division 3 schedule.
The books and other materials contained in the new library will simply be another piece of what the former Salem Normal School and soon-to-be Salem State University offers the region.
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