The Lavender Library, a free and inclusive library for UCA students, reopened on March 13, showcasing its new location in Old Main Room 203.
Established in 2021, the library began as a collaborative project between UCA’s gender studies program, housing and residence life, living-learning communities and more.
Taine Duncan, director of the gender studies program, said the Lavender Library “exists through a variety of partnerships, but Living and Learning Communities actually maintains this space and helps to get all of the things.”
Offering free books, clothing lockers, computer access and an open conference space, the library is stocked with resources for all students.
Graduate student Lilly Moritz said, “We have a rare book collection we’re working on…And then we also have a space where students can practice presentations if they’re wanting to go to conferences or…to practice or feature some of their stuff. We’re looking to do some student spotlights and give them opportunities to present their research.”
Moritz helps maintain the space as a graduate assistant under the gender studies program.
“One thing that we’re working on is just really promoting inclusivity and diversity on campus,” Moritz said. “So we’ve been working on programming, we’ve been working on outreach and things like this, and this is just absolutely part of our initiative of creating places where students can come be themselves, do whatever they need to do in regard to academics or friends or anything.”
The library was previously located in Arkansas Hall but has since been relocated to help solve accessibility issues.
“The previous space was inaccessible in two different ways,” Duncan said. The first issue was due to the library being located in a dorm. Without keycard access, “it [the Lavender Library] was inaccessible for most students unless a faculty member was there to let people in,” Duncan said. “That really limited the open opportunities for people to just drop by to make use of the resources.”
The second issue had to do with the library being on the second floor, which was only accessible by stairs. “We really believe strongly that a space like this that is supposed to be inclusive and is supposed to be helping a wide variety of students is a serious issue,” Duncan said.
Now in Old Main, the library no longer requires keycard access and can be reached by stairs or elevator. It is also next to the Minton Commuter College lounge, a space designed to support commuter students, also overseen by UCA’s Living Learning Communities.
“The Lavender Library, in part, is really an academic resource center so that we can acknowledge the importance of gender studies…and in addition, because of the partnership with the commuter college, we also are able to have partnership for other spaces and other purposes,” Duncan said. “If a student organization wants to have a meeting, they can reserve some space. And it’s much easier for us to do that because we kind of share resources and share a space.”
According to theLavender Library website, the space “supports the general and popular interests of students and members of the campus community.” Through the website, students can make book requests and reserve the conference space for meetings or presentations.
Students in attendance at the reopening expressed admiration for the new space.
Freshman film and theatre major Ashleigh Mathews said, “It’s nonjudgmental and there’s no pressure to check out books or read books; it’s just like you can do whatever you want and nobody’s going to judge you.”
Senior theatre and philosophy major Delaney Brown said, “It’s nice that it’s here, that if I ever do need it in my time here that I can come here, chill, sleep, whatever I need.”
Brown said knowing about the library sooner would have helped them while they worked on a capstone project.
“I think it [the Lavender Library] would have given me a nice quiet space while I was doing my research,” Brown said. “My research is based on feminism and queer bodies. When you have all these books, it makes it a lot easier. And then the people that come to the Lavender Library [I could have] also talked to them about the stuff I’m doing research on and got a broader perspective.”
Senior theatre major Aston Fritzges said, “It gives me hope of a more progressive community around Conway and around Arkansas, and I think it’s done in a really good way that it’s not being forced upon anyone. It’s being put out there so that maybe people that aren’t as educated in this matter can be open to it.”
To request books or reserve the Lavender Library, students can go to uca.edu/llc/lavender-library/.
Updates on upcoming events in the library can also be found on Instagram @ucagenderstudies.