Friends;Ave Maria University is going to be quite lovely when completed. Last year there were approx 450 students and next fall they expect maybe 650. They offer a doctorate in theology now and will add more as they go along. The chapel is in the middle of the "town" which are some stores in lovely buildings around the square with apts or condos upstairs.
The library is currently 2 stories, L shaped - when it is time to expand they will add another "L" and designed for that option. The library is a quiet place! Yea, an old fashioned approach to a library.
The land was donated by the Collier family - old tomato fields way out in the middle of nowhere with 10 miles of a 2 lane road to get there and lots of bugs (no see'ums) in the afternoon, I didn't ask about alligators - after all , this is FL - of course there are alligators!
The library group I was with got a tour of the library and when we came to the cataloging room - WOW! Boxes and boxes and hundreds more boxes of books! It was hard to leave without a sample!
The most valuable item they say they have at this time is a "hand written" Torah - $65,000. It was donated by someone who had no ties with the University and isn't Catholic - he just wanted a tax write-off and hoped the University would do some business with him. I didn't see any other rare books but I saw the rare book acquisition office so I assume they will have some in the future. I didn't get a hand out so can't tell you how many books the library currently owns but many are still in storage. The librarian is a delightful man who had retired 5 years before this opportunity was offered to him. That is all. Madlyn
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