THE UNIVERSITY of Mindanao unveiled its state-of-the-art learning and information center at its Matina campus on Friday, Dec. 15.
Along with the inauguration was the unveiling of the statue dedicated to the late president, Dr. Dolores P. Torres, in front of the library.
The three-story library is touted to be the biggest in Mindanao with a total floor area of 1.2 hectares. It is designed to accommodate up to 2,000 seats at a time, including discussion rooms that can be booked and utilized for group sessions.
The first and second floors are packed with shelves of books, along with chairs and sofas for the students, teachers, and researchers to use. Meanwhile, the third floor will hold a convention center for meetings and conferences.
Edgardo Castillo, UM senior vice president, said all the rooms are now operational but will be opened for the students and instructors by the first quarter of 2024 since they need to prepare the interior, including transferring books from the former library and setting up online books and references.
“We look forward to the students who will be using it will be more comfortable for them to study better, what we offer now is more resource material, more space to learn and of course that it is inside the campus, that is very ideal for learning,” he said.
“The building is 100% complete and was already turned over to the university,” Castillo added.
He said the library would initially be exclusive to UM students but would eventually be open to the public.
“Knowledge has to be shared, so after the initial welcoming of the students will be opening it to people who would like to seek knowledge that is not available to them in their places, we will welcome them,” he added.
The first columns of the building were erected months after the groundbreaking in 2018. Castillo said they had to stop the construction for two years during the pandemic but was resumed in late 2021.
UM president and CEO Dr. Guillermo Torres Jr. said the inauguration is a historic event for UM. “We have the biggest and most beautiful library here in Davao.”
” All great universities have great libraries because a library is a repository of knowledge, so I recommended it to the board and they approved it to build this massive project, and here it is now,” he said.
Torres revealed they have earmarked a total of P400 million for the project. 
The library was blessed by Fr. Russell Bantiles and was graced by the first vice chairman Edward Go, senior executive vice president Gloria Detoya, SVP finance officer Sandra Angeles, QMC deans from different colleges, head LIC Brigida Bacani, architect Iluminado Quinto, Arch. Ruben Erickson and team, RGY Construction, librarians, and UM staff.
