As a West Michigan resident and library professional in the area, Kristin Meyer has long appreciated not only the Van Wylen Library’s striking exterior, but the vision and excellence that shaped and have continued to guide the work inside. It’s why she didn’t hesitate to become part of the 20-member Van Wylen Library team — and just the third director in the building’s 37 years — this past July 1. With April 6–12 being National Library Week and April 21 the date that the library was dedicated in 1988, it seemed the perfect time to share some reflections as the conclusion nears of her first academic year at the college, and to highlight the past, present and future of Hope’s library along the way.
The Van Wylen Library was designed to be a landmark, distinctive on its own while also a link between the historic college buildings populating the east side of College Avenue and their more modern counterparts to the west. It was an ambition achieved, with the library described as Hope’s “stately mansion of learning” by keynote speaker Dr. John Hope Franklin, a professor emeritus of history at Duke University, during the dedication events on April 21, 1988.
No less attention was paid to the inside, with an eye especially toward making the most of new technologies and creating a place that could meet the needs of the future, whatever they might become. The approach made it “one of the first of a bold new generation of libraries,” said architect Geoffrey Freeman of Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott in Boston, Massachusetts. (Just one early change: Goodbye, multi-drawer cabinets on the main floor containing tens of thousands of hand-typed three-by-five cards; hello, searchable electronic database.)
As a West Michigan resident and library professional in the area, Kristin Meyer has long appreciated not only the building’s striking exterior, but the vision and excellence that shaped and have continued to guide the work inside. It’s why she didn’t hesitate to become part of the 20-member Van Wylen Library team — and just the third director in the building’s 37 years — this past July 1.
“This building is beautiful — I love walking across campus and seeing the dormer windows — and it has a history as a really innovative, tech-forward space,” said Meyer, who is the Genevra Thome Begg Dean of Libraries. “But I especially love the people. The Van Wylen Library Team is creative, dedicated and doing such great work.”
The very-direct professional considerations run in tandem with her perceptions of Hope as a whole.
“Growing up in West Michigan [in Coopersville], I’ve had a lot of family and friends go to Hope,” she said. “So, I’ve always known that Hope delivers a world-class education, and Hope’s Christian mission is especially important to me.”
Meyer knows from personal experience the impact that an outstanding librarian can have. It was a library instruction session during her undergraduate days at Grand Valley State University taught by one of the university’s librarians that inspired her to pursue her career.
“Librarianship is an interesting combination of information discovery, education and service,” she said. “I love to learn a little bit about everything, and I love being part of the educational experience for students,” Meyer said.
“I care deeply about how we can continue to build on our strengths and build on what libraries have historically done well while also looking for new ways to serve the college and the needs of our students, faculty and staff.”
—Kristin Meyer, the Genevra Thome Begg Dean of Libraries
After graduating from Grand Valley in 2001, she pursued her Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree at Wayne State University, graduating in 2004. She initially worked in the Kent District Library system, first as a children’s librarian and for three years as a branch manager, and then returned to Grand Valley, as the university’s first user experience librarian and public services manager in the brand-new Mary Idema Pew Library. She was at Grand Valley for 11 years, serving since 2022 as associate dean of collections, digital strategy and strategic organizational development, with responsibilities including four libraries across three campuses with a staff of 70.
Meyer has succeeded Kelly Jacobsma, who retired in 2023 after 35 years at Van Wylen, the last 15 as director. Jacobsma was preceded by David Jensen, who had come to Hope as director of libraries in 1984 and whose leadership had included guiding development of Van Wylen and shepherding the transfer of the collection and operations from Van Zoeren Library.
Meyer hopes first of all for the library to be a place that everyone feels welcome. Van Wylen Library was built with that in mind, with space for approximately 625 students to study in a variety of spaces ranging from individual study carrels, to group studies, to padded chairs to four-person tables. In more recent years, the Cup & Chaucer café in the entry lobby has provided a space for a snack break. And then there are events like “Escape the Library” developed by the staff and facilitated for the third time this past fall.
“We had over 300 students come on a Friday night, and there was a line out the door,” Meyer said. “The whole library was turned into an escape room, and students would navigate in groups to solve the puzzle clues. The experience integrated information about the history of Hope College and some archival materials, so there was a bit of learning along with a lot of fun.”
While fostering a welcoming environment is a priority for the staff, it’s in service of a larger goal: enhancing the library’s use and usefulness — by students especially, but by others as well — as a resource that enhances their lives not only while they’re at Hope, but beyond.
“I care deeply about how we can continue to build on our strengths and build on what libraries have historically done well while also looking for new ways to serve the college and the needs of our students, faculty and staff,” Meyer said.
“I see the library as the academic, intellectual heart of campus, and the library serves that role in several ways,” she said. “Equipping students with resources and information skills to support their learning, supporting faculty teaching and research, and encouraging lifelong learning for everyone — and there are many things that are happening in our society that continue to make the library’s role so important.
“We have so much information available in our society — more than in any other time in history. But that doesn’t make it any easier to be good information stewards,” she said. “There’s a prevalence of misinformation and disinformation out there, and that can impact our democracy.
“And so, I see the library having an important role in not only providing access to information but also equipping students with information-literacy skills,” Meyer said. “We want our students to be ethical stewards of information and to be able to use information to make good decisions in their careers and throughout their lives.”
“I see the library as the academic, intellectual heart of campus, and the library serves that role in several ways… equipping students with resources and information skills to support their learning, supporting faculty teaching and research, and encouraging lifelong learning for everyone — and there are many things happening in our society that continue to make the library’s role so important.”
—Kristin Meyer, the Genevra Thome Begg Dean of Libraries
“Digital literacy is also an important area, and technology continues to evolve so quickly,” she said. “We know that artificial intelligence will revolutionize how people discover and interact with information sources. How do we help our students understand not only the kinds of tools that are available and how they work, but also the ethical implications? This is important because when they get into their careers, AI will be there.”
“I also think about how AI may impact deep-reading skills,” Meyer said. “Although we’re already seeing some AI tools that are quite effective at summarizing key points, there’s value in reading a whole work from front to back cover, so I think it will be important for the library to continue to enable and encourage deep reading.”
Can’t imagine Van Vleck Hall as a library? Always wanted to know the story behind the words “Graves Library” and “Winants Chapel” adorning Hope’s third-oldest building, which seems to be neither? Never thought of a stairwell as a time capsule? For all that and more, please follow the link below for a relatively-bite-sized journey through Hope’s history as shown through its four library buildings, all of which still exist(!), from the first modest space carved (not literally) out of Van Vleck in the mid-19 th century to the luminous modern era.