The Sun
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Photograph by Robert Scheer

De Anza's expanded learning center includes Internet access, new furniture and lots more room.

De Anza opens expanded library

By Danthanh Huynh

Students at De Anza Community College received an early Christmas gift--a remodeled library complete with Internet access, new paint, carpets and furnishings. The fresh look is spacious, bright and high-tech.

The doors are now open to an abundance of services and improvements.

"About the only thing it's lacking is a bench for stretching," Sean Brennan, a technical publishing student, joked.

It took 25 months to complete the library complex. The remodeled and expanded Learning Center doubles the seating and material capacity, resolves noise and lighting problems and allows the college to incorporate the latest computer technology. All the computers within the library are linked to the Internet.

Ralph Steinke, dean of learning resources, spearheaded the renovations in the early 1990s.

"The idea we put forth to the staff was to meet students' needs," Steinke said. "We were limited by the old facility. It was too crowded. The networking was old and the equipment was out-of-date."

With the new look also come new campus jobs for the students. Steinke said about eight positions were added at the Open Media Lab. The lab includes 45 Macintosh workstations, 45 PC workstations and videotape and audiotape workstations. Here, students can do research via the Internet, prepare their presentations using Powerpoint and Excel, type term papers using Microsoft Word or check their email.

Hieu Nguyen, an English student, said he comes to the Open Media Lab at least three times a week to use the Internet to check the status of the stock market.

"I also take classes part time at Mission College," Nguyen said. "This lab is more advanced and impressive. Mission's is too small."

Behind the high-tech glamour of the remodeled library lie some values rooted in humanity.

The DeCillis Vietnam Conflict Collection is a reminder of patience and kindness. Paul DeCillis, a Cupertino resident and Vietnam veteran, donated hundreds of books and other memorabilia about the Vietnam War. Photographs, poems and paintings honor the memories of the lives that survived and perished during the war.

DeCillis began his collection in the mid-1970s. For him, the collection is a learning experience and not a political statement about the war.

"I kept looking at the collection every day as it grew, and I thought it had to go beyond me," DeCillis said. "I wanted to get it to the new generation, and hope that they would learn that they can solve problems with diplomacy and words, and not bullets and bombs."

Steinke said more collections will be exhibited in the future.

"We'll put on new displays and artwork as they come in," Steinke said. "What we want to do is show the multicultures and different perspectives at De Anza."

Steinke has not received any negative feedback about the DeCillis Vietnam Conflict Collection or the library's new look.

Of course, with a gift as grand as this, Steinke said there is still one more thing that the students want--longer library hours.

Residents may apply for a community borrower's card at the circulation desk of De Anza's library. Library and Open Media Lab hours are Mon.-Thu., 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri., 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Sat. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Both are closed Sundays, holidays and all days classes are not in session.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 3, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.