Former first lady Bush applauds U. library

The library is the place to find answers to the world's questions.

Former first lady Laura Bush, who spoke at Monday's rededication of the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library, also said there is someone at every library "who will be there to help you."

With its lustrous and brilliant new exterior and wide-open, high-tech interior, Bush said she wondered where all those "gizmos" were when she was a librarian years ago. "But even with all its gadgets and gizmos, the staff and librarians at the Marriott Library are still its greatest resource," she said, staying true to her trade.

"For students and book lovers, the renovated Marriott library feels like a piece of heaven on earth," Bush said. "Whether in the Grand Reading Room or in the Garden Terrace, the library offers great places for the members of the university community to seek the comfort of reading and study."

It all began with a $1 million donation from the Marriott family, following the success of a root-beer-stand-turned-hospitality-business in New York City, and it was given in hopes that the school would build on it, making the library that bears the Marriott name a central part of the campus and surrounding community.

Now, with more than 1.5 million visitors annually, the J.W. Marriott Library is the most heavily trafficked building on campus.

"As I think about this library, I think in a very profound way this is the North Star of the guidance and the education we provide here at the university," said U. President Michael K. Young, adding that "even in these Web and wireless days," it remains a strong and central part of the university.

"Brilliant faculty, remarkable students, extraordinary facilities really light up the intellectual sky," he said. The U.'s library is the largest state-funded library in the five-state Intermountain region.

"The library is the place where the real world connects with knowledge, meaningful interaction and collaboration. This is where the books are, but more importantly, this day and age, this is where the people are," Young said. The renovated Marriott library, he said, "was deliberately constructed to foster lively conversations."