This Saturday, the Mustangs will take on the Stanford University Cardinals football team at Stanford in Palo Alto, CA. I like to think that our SMU family will feel at home on the Stanford campus. While SMU enters a new era as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), we are not new to rigorous academic standards such as those at Stanford and the other ACC schools. After all, Peruna spends time roaming the stacks and studying in Fondren Library when not learning new mascot moves – sometimes with the Stanford and Cal mascots, as shown below.
Being part of the ACC is exciting news for all things athletics; not only will SMU Football play against gifted rivals on the gridiron, but all our student athletes will find their academic and athletic fit among some of the best and storied teams, such as the likes of Michael Jordan’s alma mater, the University of North Carolina. There is, of course, much to look forward to as a fan of Mustang sports. But what does this transition mean for the rest of campus, and especially for SMU Libraries?
Indeed, athletics and academics are crowning achievements of the schools that compose the ACC. For instance, Cal, Duke, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Stanford and Virginia are ACC schools that are especially known for the education they provide, as well as their strong tradition of faculty and student research. All are members of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU). As SMU looks ahead to becoming an R1 institution – a university characterized by its meaningful and substantial research contributions, it is worthwhile to recognize our progress in standing alongside some of the best in the business.
SMU’s entrance into the ACC also signals a transition for SMU Libraries. But what does it mean to be an “ACC library”? For UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, it means being one of the largest and most used libraries in the United States, known for its vast collection of manuscripts, rare books and more. To Burns Library at Boston College, it means boasting an impressive collection of original materials from saints and Nobel laureates, and at Duke University Libraries, it means holding more than 350,000 rare books in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Stanford University Libraries distinguishes itself by housing fifteen million items in total, thousands of rare books, and the David Rumsey Map Center, which holds one of the world’s foremost collections for research and digital access. At the University of Virginia Library, it means having sixteen full-time experts collaborating and serving the university community in the newly-established Digital Humanities Center. And for SMU? Our transition to the ACC coincides with the announcement of a new library on the Hilltop – the Rees-Jones Library of the American West – thanks to the incredible support from Jan and Trevor D. Rees-Jones ‘78, in a move that will uplift SMU and SMU Libraries in the decade to come. It means hosting one of the most valuable books in the world as Bridwell Library welcomed the Codex Sassoon, and with it, thousands of visitors to an SMU library. And undoubtedly, it means continuing to support the endeavors of the students, faculty and other community members who make what we do so worthwhile.
But perhaps most exciting, it means whatever we make it in the years to come. I am eager to see how SMU Libraries forges a league of our own, even as we join an incredible conference in the ACC this year.
-Holly Jeffcoat, Dean of SMU Libraries