The Rowan University community gathered this morning to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Keith & Shirley Campbell Library, which opened its doors February 1995.

Among the attendees was university President Ali Houshmand who spoke about the opening of the library and how it has become more digitized.

According to Rowan Today, “The library was named after Keith and Shirley Campbell who donated $1.5 million in November 2000, so the Board of Trustees renamed the facility in their honor.”

The library currently serves as a resource for many students and faculty. Students use the space not only for research but also to socialize and work on group projects. 

Meredith Baubles, sophomore mechanical engineering major, said, “I’m part of the Cambell student advisory group. I just came here the first day and explored it and it just seemed like a really great place to meet up and do work. It’s a great spot for all of us to meet up.”

Dr. Deborah Gaspar, the director of user services and collections at the library said that the university has evolved over time. 

“It has been such a transition, when this library was built everything was in print. You had print journals, print books, print indexes. Now you go into a database type in your keywords and you get a host of books, articles and you can read them wherever you are,” said Gaspar.

Doing research in the library has become a lot easier today with new technology.

Arielle Gideon, SGA president and junior RTF major, said, “I remember my freshman year my laptop broke. I didn’t know what to do. I remember freaking out.” 

Gideon then asked a librarian if there are any computers with editing software she needed for her class, and that’s when she learned about the digital scholarship center. Now whenever Gideon has a problem with her computer, she can rely on the library’s resources.

During the celebration, there was button making, a selfie station and food. Attendees could also get a free Friends themed shirt with a canned good donation to The SHOP.

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