From the Tampa Bay Times.
A Luddite laments a bookless library for Florida Poly
f you have ever spent time at the library, in the cool quiet with the dusty-clean smell of books all around you, these may be bleak words:
Our state's newest public university, the just-opened Florida Polytechnic in Lakeland, features an 11,000-square-foot library.
Without books.
A bookless library.
And is that the ghost of John D. MacDonald off in the stacks, quietly weeping? Oh, wait, there are no stacks.
The new U's inaugural class of 550 students does have access, however, to some 135,000 e-books, with computers, laptops, monitors and tablets. And given the school's mission to teach science, technology, engineering and math, higher-tech makes sense.
....So why does it still sound so sad?
I have a Kindle. They are handy when going out, and easier than carrying a book. But they are not a book. I still order my books in hardback. I love the smell of the city library. Luddite, dinosaur..whatever. A book is a book.
The university above is the brainchild of former Florida state senator J. D. Alexander. He steamrolled it through despite all opposition. More in the article below.
Florida Polytechnic’s plan
The foundation also will develop a more comprehensive, multiyear fundraising plan to assist the university in the future. Raising the $8 million to $9 million for the kickoff scholarships in such a short time may seem daunting, but it likely will help that the Poly foundation features some of the biggest names of the social and financial circles of central Florida.
The foundation’s chairwoman, Cindy Alexander, is the wife of JD Alexander of Lake Wales, a former state Senate appropriations chairman and chief executive of agribusiness giant Alico Inc. Also on the board is Vic Story of the Story Cos. citrus operation; R. Mark Bostick, head of Comcar Industries and part of the original ownership group of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, serves on the board of trustees.
“Funding student scholarships and university advancement is a priority for the foundation board,” Cindy Alexander said in a statement. “Though the goal for the comprehensive campaign has not yet been determined, the foundation leadership is committed to its success.”
Florida Polytechnic became the state’s 12th public university in 2012, when JD Alexander muscled a bill through the Florida Legislature without a single committee hearing. Poly had been on a gradual path to split off from the University of South Florida, but Alexander’s bill made the move immediate.
