Matt Weir / The Collegian

The Fresno State library staff will host an event next week celebrating the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Henry Madden Library.

Associate dean of library services David Tyckoson said everyone in the community is invited to join the rest of the library staff on Wednesday, Feb. 24 for the first birthday celebration of the library.

“We want people to come to our birthday party,” Tyckoson said. “Students, faculty, or even people just visiting.””¨

The staff will provide cupcakes and refreshments for those in attendance, and will give out drawing tickets at the door for a chance to win gift baskets. Also, Fresno State’s food science and nutrition students created a cake in the shape of the library, which will be on display.

“I’m really anxious to see this,” Tyckoson said. “[Food science and nutrition] professor Klaus Tenbergen and his students have been working very hard [on the cake].””¨

The event comes exactly one week after the library celebrated another milestone.

Amanda Tang, a junior nursing major, was the one-millionth person to walk through the doors of the library since it’s opening in February 2009. She was greeted with applause by Tyckoson and the rest of the library staff and honored with a gift basket.

“Being a nursing student, I pretty much live at the library,” Tang said. “It’s a great place to study without any distractions.””¨

Tang would spend more time in the library if possible.

“It would be helpful, for me at least, if [the library] could be open on Saturdays too,” Tang said.

Tyckoson said the 1 million mark came much sooner than expected. ӬӬ

“Previously, our highest total in one year had been about 800,000 and that was about 10 years ago,” Tyckoson said. “So, we’re very happy to reach that mark so quickly.””¨

The $105 million facility has been a reliable source for students looking for a place to study, which Tyckoson said the campus desperately needed.

Tyckoson said the library has proven to be popular.

“This says two things,” Tyckoson said. “We’ve built a facility where students and teachers want to be. And it also says the campus was lacking such a facility in previous years.””¨

Tyckoson said the biggest complaint among students is that the library is not available to them enough.

“We’re not open as much as we want to be,” Tyckoson said. “Hopefully, our budget will allow for us to extend the hours in the near future.””¨

Tyckoson said the money used to pay for the one-year celebration came from private donors, and not from any of the library service funds.

Susan Christensen, executive assistant to the dean of the library, said the dedication of the staff and improved services deserve credit for the increase in popularity. She said there are three times as many study stations in the new library than there were in the old facility, and the addition of Starbucks has attracted many more students and faculty. She also mentioned that the option for students to rent laptops has been extremely helpful.

“All of these factors just make the library more exciting and the destination of choice on campus,” Christensen said.

The one-year anniversary celebration will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24 on the second floor of the library. Ӭ