As ASU West's Fletcher Library prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary on March 31, Fletcher Library Director Marilyn Myers said she has reflected on the past and future of what students simply refer to as "Fletcher."
The library was the first named building to be completed on the West campus, given its title in honor of the Robert L. Fletcher family of Peoria in recognition of a gift of land to the ASU Foundation in 1988, according to the Library's Web site. The proceeds from the sale of the land established an endowment, which provided the funding for the perpetuity of the library.
From the outset, the library boasted a modest collection of 39,000 volumes, which has now grown to 350,000 volumes, plus videos, CDs, DVDs, microfilm and a plethora of electronic resources.
The Fletcher Library was also the winner of a prestigious Honor Award, the top recognition of design excellence from the southern Arizona chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
The library's anniversary will consist of a formal program followed by a reception for both the campus and community at 4 p.m. Monday outside the building. Guest speakers for the event are the campus vice president and University Librarian Sherrie Schmidt.
Myers said displays of memorabilia, posters and videos of the library will be shown after the remarks and that the event is open to the entire campus.
Fletcher has become a center for the campus and surrounding community. Myers said she would like students to walk away from the event with a sense of what the campus looked like and felt like in the very beginning.
"It was the first building at the campus, and Fletcher Library was the welcome party," Myers said. "The library represents the access point in information and a gathering place on campus where you can relax and study. I would like to students to see how the library and the campus as a whole has developed."
Myers said the library she envisioned when she joined the Fletcher Library staff in 1987 isn't far from what she expected.
"We envisioned an environment that would be changing and that would continue to grow," Myers said. "It was about making the library as efficient and cost effective as possible — not to mention that good customer service was always apart of the initial strategy; it is what we wanted to be known for in the beginning and what we want to be known as 20 years from now."
Alan Awdisho, a life science senior, said it is not unusual for him to spend an entire day at Fletcher Library.
"The only time I leave the library is to grab a bite to eat," Awdisho said.
Fletcher is currently undergoing small phases of improvement to better serve the campus community. Among other things, the new furnishings are more user-friendly for students with laptops. And for the students who will be spending a lot of time in the library, they can expect to feel more comfortable. Some furnishing will also be wheel-based to grant students easier use around the library.
Reata Daniel, an English junior, said she finds the library useful because it contains all the things college students need on a daily basis.
"I think of our library as a student's refuge," Daniel said. "I'm glad were honoring it."
Reach the reporter at: joseph.hermiz@asu.edu.
