A Malcolm X painting hangs on the wall. Old books line the shelves. VCR tapes are stockpiled in cabinet drawers. Magazines dating back to the early 2000s are found in the cabinets and on a magazine rack. All of them share the same theme: diversity.
The Malcolm X Library in the Multicultural Center has hundreds of books that can be used for research or read during free time, however, because the library is not operated like a full-service library, there is no inventory of the materials or resources kept.
“I imagine at some point it was used as an actual full-service library. Today it’s not used like that,” said Bobby Steele, director of the Multicultural Center. “Students and faculty are able to check items out through a process that we have. We have an administrative coordinator work with a student if they have a specific interest.”
A scan of the shelves doesn’t give away that there aren’t a lot of new resources. Besides a few new magazines that the center is subscribed to, very few new materials are added to the library. Besides magazines, Steele said the only new materials the library gets are donations from other people.
Additionally, few students take advantage of the resources that the library has to offer, he said.
“We don’t really get a lot of requests for information. It’s very rare,” Steele said.
Topics covered in the literature range from issues in the LGBTQ community to race and cultural issues.
“There are a lot of different books here. There are some things that obviously surround race, identity, sexuality, history and civil rights. Those are the topics that I am aware of, but there is a lot of information in here that I have not had the opportunity to fully explore,” Steele said.
Because few requests are made to check out books and materials, the library is mainly used as a quiet room to hold meetings as well as to study. The space can also be used as a classroom.
“Today, the space is mostly used to reserve for study or to have group meetings, exec board meetings and all those types of things,” Steele said. “We get reservations weekly. Gamma Rho Lambda, Chi Alpha, NAACP and a number of other organizations have used the space to hold meetings.”
Contact Evan Weaver with comments at erweaver@bsu.edu.
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