The library stayed still: SMU Libraries and the undergraduate experience
There’s something timeless about a library. In a world where nearly everything has moved online, it’s easy to forget that knowledge still lives on shelves as bound paper books, tucked into the quiet corners of campus. I learned that lesson one evening in the old Science Information Center at Fondren (fondly remembered as the “blue side”) in a way that still gives me chills.
I was working on a brutal multivariable calculus assignment, and I’d exhausted every online resource I could find – nothing had what I was looking for. Frustrated and tired, I decided to take a break to wander the math aisles, more to clear my head than anything. I had already been clicking through every online forum I could think of, so why not see if maybe a book has my answer.
Upon turning down a random aisle, there it was: a book ever so slightly jutting out, almost as if it was waiting for me. To my surprise, it was an old multivariable calculus textbook. I pulled it off the shelf and started flipping through the pages, not expecting much. But to my complete shock, one of the pages had been earmarked – and it just so happened to have the exact equation I needed. Not just close. Exact. Detailed explanation and all.
I stood there in stunned silence, alone in the quiet wing of the library, wondering how on earth it was even possible. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe it was another student who beat me to the idea. Or maybe, just maybe, one of Fondren’s rumored ghosts decided to lend me a hand.
I still smile when thinking about that moment. There was something fitting about finding the answer in an old textbook when all the high-tech tools of today had failed me. It reminded me of why I love SMU’s libraries in the first place.
To me, they have always been more than study spaces. While they certainly offer relief from distraction when concentration is necessary, they are also places of warmth and joy. I’ve laughed with friends over coffee, pulled late-night marathons of studying before exams, and sometimes retreated to a quiet corner to relax and get a change of scenery. Whether I was cramming for a test or just looking for a place to feel grounded, the library has always been there.
Even as everything else in college seemed to move fast, the library stayed still for me – and in that stillness, I found what I needed time and time again. On the days where focus and determination weren’t quite enough … well, a little supernatural intervention never hurt.
Jack Meehan ’25 is from New Braunfels, Texas, and served as a member of the SMU Libraries Student Advisory Board. Jack earned a degree in mechanical engineering (with a premedical biomedical specialization) and a minor in mathematics. Along with the Student Advisory Board, Jack also served as the Morrison-McGinnis Commons Council president (2022–23), participated in SMU-in-Oxford and the University Honors Program, achieved a position on honor roll with distinction, and served as a grader in the Mechanical Engineering Department.
This article appears in the Spring 2025 issue of the SMU Libraries Newsletter. Support student spaces at SMU Libraries here.