Crowds packed into the corridor some there to hear author Ray Bradbury speak.

EC President Dr. Thomas Fallo began to speak and the crowd hushed, as the blue ribbon swayed in the wind students and faculty watched as EC held the grand opening of the new Learning Resources Center on Monday Oct. 20.

“It is my pleasure to celebrate this library, our library the very essence of EC,” Pete Marcoux, English professor, said.

Equipped with a used book room, a spacious second story filled with new computers and new desks complete with circular writing boards, the $13 million project was unveiled with special guest speakers Ray Bradbury, author of the classic Fahrenheit 451, and Eva Brown, author and Holocaust survivor.

“I like to believe the people who built the EC put the library at the heart of the campus,” Marcoux said.

Bradbury, 93, considers himself a longtime lover of the library wanted students and faculty to love the LRC.

“Now I am here with you, my lovers, I am now a commander of arts and letters, so now I command you to love my books and love me,” Bradbury said. “The library is a place to grow up, I still have my library card from when I was 14 years old, the library is the place I grew up and lived,”

Bradbury made sure that everyone remembered that people must appreciate what they want to do and just do it.

“You must do what you love and love what you do, no one told me what to do; you listen to a dream and be a lover of life,” Bradbury said.

Eva Brown, who was there to promote her new exhibit in the LRC, the Eva Brown and Peace and Tolerance Education Center that has books educating people about the holocaust, spoke positively on the building as well.

“It is a great honor and privilege you are all here because you love libraries,” Brown said.

The ribbon was cut to initiate the opening of the LRC, students and faculty were then allowed to take a tour.

Bradbury and Brown both stayed to sign book autographs for their novels.

“I think it is neat to have someone like Bradbury come to a smaller school. It is really nice,” Josephine Allard, French major, said.