San Diego State’s newly appointed Dean of Library and Information Access Gale Etschmaier has a vision for the Love Library she hopes will create an improved home of academia for students.
“It’s important not just to look at the library, but at its changing role in its relation and ability to help the entire university,” Gale Etschmaier said.
Since arriving from George Washington University where she served as associate university librarian, Etschmaier has met with all but two SDSU deans, and she’s not finished yet.
“I’m trying to find out more about the teaching needs of each college, and what the library can do to support those needs,” Etschmaier said. This includes allotting library space for events, but beyond that it involves continued innovation to accommodate the changing needs of the students.
“One of the things we know about student learning is how important student learning is, about how important collaborative learning is in this environment, and how much we need to incorporate technology into that environment so that students can collaborate on multimedia projects to create different kinds of scholarship than was created 20 years ago,” she said.
One goal Etschmaier hopes to accomplish as the new Dean is creating a state-of-the-art multimedia production studio where students can create media productions and have access to high-quality sound equipment. She also hopes to open private presentation rooms where students could practice, record and perfect in-class presentations.
Her short-term goals at SDSU involve improving the Love Library’s exterior and its alignment to SDSU. This would involve repainting some of the library’s inner walls to Aztec colors. She would also like to add additional outdoor seating to accommodate the crowds that gather around the area surrounding the library. She hopes smaller expenses such as these could potentially be paid for by donors.
“I think the library is the most important learning environment outside of the classroom. We want students to feel like this is their academic home at San Diego State,” Etschmaier said.
