Development of the reference library, said Pan African Studies Department chair Tom Spencer-Walters, was his "two-year labor of love, and time well spent."

Spencer-Walters, who works closely with the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), had seen the need for ways to augment the instruction of developmental students who require more intensive help with writing and research techniques. He and his staff realized that this "visual generation" of students was arriving at the university without one of life's few good habits: the need to read deeply, "to delve, to absorb."

A reference library where the students would have access to reading materials that would "help them build self-esteem, learn more about their cultures and at the same time begin to prepare for the kinds of courses we offer in our department" seemed to Spencer-Walters an idea whose time had come.

The PAS chair received support for his idea from EOP director José Luis Vargas and from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, under Dean Stella Theodoulou. The two entities funded the $15,000 required to build out the space and acquire multi-media materials including books, DVDs, CDs, LPs and audiotapes.

Theodoulou led the effort to turn the space into a "smart" library, said Spencer-Walters. In June, installation will begin on a drop-down screen and projector, and a computer to generate images for collective viewing. Faculty will be encouraged to conduct classes in the "smart" library, which also will be used for meetings or research sessions.

"Every CSUN student will have access to this library," said Spencer-Walters, "including those who are not majoring in Pan African Studies. Knowledge is not something you can mortgage."

It is important, he said, for students from all disciplines, cultures and ethnicities to visit the reference library "because this is an American experience. They can come in and learn about a component of American culture, which will help them become better Americans. We want this to be open to the whole university."

Acquisitions are still ongoing, said Spencer-Walters. "I look for those things that will enhance learning in our field, that would fill in the gaps and expand the knowledge base of the work produced within the classrooms."

Donations have come from PAS faculty as well as from private donors. Many of the library's books and manuals-covering a range of subjects from African American literature to black business and economics-are focused on writing and research, in keeping with one of its primary goals: to enhance the learning of those critical skills.

Students and faculty also will find works there from independent presses, materials going back to the activist movements of the 1960s, out-of-print books, and videos or DVDs purchased at conferences. Their subjects, said Spencer-Walters, cover the realm of issues in the black diaspora, including the Americas, the Caribbean and the African continent.