Gov. Brad Henry will assist in cutting the ceremonial opening ribbon at a dedication ceremony for the Stratton Taylor Library on Friday, April 16, at Rogers State University.
The dedication ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. at the east entrance of the library. The public is invited to attend.
Speaking at the ceremony will be Gov. Henry, RSU President Dr. Joe Wiley and Sen. Stratton Taylor, for whom the library is named. Also speaking will be Stephen F. Bentley, chairman of the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents, Alan Lawless, library director, and Jessica Clark, president of the RSU Student Government Association. Oklahoma First Lady Kim Henry will be attending the ceremony.
The public will be able to tour the new library immediately following the dedication ceremony. Refreshments will be served.
The $4.4 million library opened its doors to RSU students and the public on March 22. The three-story building contains 45,000 square feet, with the library occupying the building’s second and third floors. The first floor contains classrooms and faculty offices. The second and third floors feature reading rooms, expanded student seating and study areas, classrooms, meeting rooms, and consolidated offices for library staff. The library also contains a coffee bar adjacent to the reading room on the second floor. The public may tour the library after the dedication ceremony.
Since RSU became a four-year institution in 2000, the library has expanded its collection by about 5,200 titles annually. The library contains more than 61,000 books, 534 current periodical subscriptions, 4,500 videos, 29,130 electronic books, and 1,200 CDs. The library also offers full access to the Internet and a wide variety of databases offering access to research and mass media texts.
The library was designed by Graber & Imel Architects of Tulsa, with construction provided by Loerke Construction Group of Tulsa.
Gov. Henry is Oklahoma’s 26th governor. Before his election as governor, he served 10 years in the Oklahoma Senate, chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee and serving as vice-chair of the Senate Economic Development Committee. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1985 and a law degree in 1988, both from the University of Oklahoma. At OU, he was a President’s Leadership Scholar and managing editor of the Law Review.
Stratton Taylor is President Pro Tempore Emeritus of the Oklahoma Senate. He currently serves as chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. He has served the Claremore area in the Oklahoma Legislature since 1978. As a political science and pre-law major in 1975-76, Taylor served as president of the Student Senate at Claremore Junior College (the predecessor institution of RSU). He graduated from RSU with an associate’s degree in political science in 1976 and transferred to the University of Tulsa where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education and a law degree.
As a Legislator, Taylor was the author of more than a dozen bills enacted into law providing for the advancement of RSU, including a measure that led to the transformation of RSU into a four-year regional university. Through the years, Taylor has been instrumental in assisting RSU to receive important grant funding and legislative appropriations allowing the university to pursue major expansion projects.
For more information about the dedication ceremony, call (918) 343-7773.