Charles V. Park Library celebrates 10 year anniversary of $50 million renovation

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Charles V. Park Library was the scene of cake and birthday wishes Monday as students and faculty celebrated the library’s 10 year anniversary.

“While we don’t consider the library a human, lots of humans come through us everyday,” said Associate Dean of Libraries Richard Cochran. “This is an occasion to celebrate and it’s the beginning of a number of things we’re going to be doing this year.”

Named after its former librarian, the library was reopened exactly 10 years to the date — on Jan. 9, 2002 — after undergoing a $50 million renovation.

Since its construction in 2002, the library has grown in popularity.

“Even if you don’t use the books on the shelves, you use the electronic resources and all of our services,” Cochran said. “The writing center, math assistance center, disability services, help desk and media services are all part of this building.”

Okemos senior Dan Weaver said he has come to rely on the library more and more since coming to Central Michigan University.

“The library is a valuable resource for me and presents a quiet atmosphere to study,” he said. “I’m in my final year here at CMU, so I’ve written a lot of research papers, which I frequently consulted resources here (for).”

Northville senior Gracie Booth transferred to CMU after attending Eastern Michigan University and Schoolcraft College, and said she considers the CMU library the best of the three.

“I’m in the library every day, sometimes multiples times a day,” she said. “It’s just a huge place to study and I see more people at this library than the other ones I’ve attended, though I wish it was open later.”

The original CMU library was located in “Old Main,” which burned down in 1925, and was replaced by present day Warriner Hall.

As the collection of books increased above capacity, the library was relocated to Ronan Hall in 1956, where it stayed for 13 years before moving to its current location on campus in 1969.

Today, the library holds 33 miles of shelving and more than 1.3 million volumes, spread out over four floors.

Cochran said its continued popularity strings from its services, which separate CMU from other university libraries.

“We like to say that we have the best services and that’s an important aspect,” he said. “We have resources that are certainly competitive in any way, shape or form among the state universities.”