News Archive

The fame of the new Science Library spread well before its official opening last month.

Two Science students were so enamoured of the state-of-the-art library that they wrote and recorded a song and video clip about it, which was put on YouTube.

Sarah Whyte (who is now studying Medicine) and Madeleine Markham’s song in praise of the library has had about 5,000 hits.

The students told the guests gathered for the opening that they had been approached by a student from Curtin University of Technology and asked if she could have her photo taken with them!

Sarah and Madeleine told the gathering why they loved the library. “This place just made me want to study,” said Madeleine. “On behalf of all the students, thank you,” said Sarah.

The Governor, Dr Ken Michael, said that libraries were a hallmark of civilised society. “Libraries provide a connection to the past from which we can learn and build,” he said. As Dr Michael drew the curtain to reveal a plaque he said: “May it bring great joy in learning to everyone.”

Guest speaker Professor Barry Marshall said there was great value in “pulling out books because there’s stuff in them that’s not indexed digitally.”

He said that when he was researching Helicobacter pylori, he was told not to follow one of his hunches. “But I went back to one of the oldest chemistry books in the library and found what I wanted and so continued my line of research.

“Librarians are your partners in research. Libraries will never be replaced by on-line documents.”

He concluded: “To win a Nobel Prize, you have to be first and you have to do research in a library.”

The Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Robson congratulated architect Gus Ferguson on the design of the new $30 million library. Dean of the Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences, Professor George Stewart, congratulated the newly-retired University Librarian, John Arfield, on the enormous amount of planning that went into making the new library another step towards UWA becoming one of the top 50 universities in the world.