When Santa Fe Community College completes its 21st century library late next year, students will have access to the newest innovation in library technology. A porch with rocking chairs. A lot of students think of the library as a solemn place where you have to be quiet, and we want them to feel more comfortable. Scheduled to be completed in late 2001, the library should be open for the spring semester of 2002. SFCC officials say they hope to attract students to the library by giving it the comfortable feel of a coffeehouse or bookstore.
Students seem to prefer the bookstores to libraries.
SFCC leaders and lobbyists have been campaigning for a new library since 1990, when an accreditation team from the Southeastern Association of Colleges and Schools completed its last inspection of the school. SFCC has about 12,000 students this year, compared with 6,000 in 1978. We've learned patience in this process. Space wasn't the only problem. But the Legislature didn't approve funding for the new library until this year.