There was a soft buzz of chatter as students browsed bookshelves in a sun-lit room. But this was not Brookline Booksmith or the Boston Public Library — it was the grand opening of the Howard Thurman Center’s very own lending library.
Opened and celebrated on Oct. 2, the new library in the HTC allows Boston University students a space to connect with one another and check out books.
“A library doesn’t exist without a community,” said Michelle Niebur, head of access services and library experience at BU Libraries.
Niebur referred to libraries as “third places,” somewhere that is not work or home. She said libraries are more than spaces to check out books — they are community centers.
Since she joined BU Libraries in 2017, Niebur said many students have asked her where to find books to read for leisure.
“Of course, our library collections include lots of things you could check out to read for pleasure, but it’s not a space that’s designed for browsing and borrowing in that way,” she said.
Though BU has multiple libraries on campus, students have said they’re hardly the most comforting environments.
Paige Connolly, a junior, said Mugar Memorial Library is a particularly “intense” and “depressing” environment.
“I don’t know what it is about Mugar. I think maybe it is so big, and it’s also one of the places that’s open the latest,” Connolly said. “Everyone’s memories there are cramming for 12 hours.”
Because libraries are used primarily as studying spaces, they are more like a second workspace for students rather than an environment for socializing or relaxing.
“It’s nice that we’re getting a space that’s just a little bit more closed off,” Connolly said of the new library. “It’s more comforting. It’s more homey.”
Due to the city-centric nature of BU’s campus, areas for students to lounge are fairly limited. Having a space like the HTC’s new library offers students a less turbulent environment to connect with both others and themselves, said Kristina Bush, experience manager at BU Libraries.
Aside from being a space for people to congregate, the library also provides a book selection curated by BU librarians.
Bush said the center’s namesake, Howard Thurman, was a source of inspiration for the books the library offers.
“When we wrote our collection development policy for this particular collection, we really wanted it to be reflective of the mission of the Howard Thurman Center,” Bush said.
She said she wants this collection to be “living and growing,” and the library will respond to students’ interests.
Through the intentional inclusion of more contemporary books that focus on introspection, the new library section attempts to embody Howard Thurman’s beliefs and hone in on what exactly excites BU students about reading.
“The books that we’ve selected are intentionally selected to feel a lot like an independent bookstore, the same thing that you would find if you went into Trident [Booksellers & Cafe] or if you went into Brookline Booksmith,” Niebur said.
As the library continues to integrate itself into the campus ecosystem, student clubs have also joined in helping support a similar mission.
BU Book & Ink, Howard Thurman Center Book Club, Off The Hook and SARP Ambassadors Reading Group all hosted stations at the opening event on Oct. 2 with different arts and crafts activities for those in attendance.
This focus and commitment to centering students in both the experience and the creation of this space is what makes it stand out as a library space.
“Libraries have so much potential to be this third space … to connect with identity, to connect with others, to connect with community,” Bush said. “I feel like this collection is doing that work, and the space of the HTC just lends itself to that.”
