The doors that lead from the new King Library to San Jose State University's commons, with its signature Tower Hall and fountain, represent the dream of transforming the school into a metropolitan university.

But it's a dream that needs nurturing. Specific programs will have to draw non-students into the campus -- and students and faculty into the community. Otherwise, the portal to the commons will become just the back door to the library, as far as folks coming in from the city side of the lobby are concerned.

How it will be used

The early signs are encouraging:

• There are plans to create internships for students from the university's early childhood development programs to have them work in the children's section of the library.

• Notices about lectures or performances on campus will be posted in the library, making them available to people not on current mailing lists.

• The library will become a meeting place for Commonwealth Club events and other civic groups.

• Major exhibitions will strengthen ties to different cultural groups in the community. There's already one in the works for January on Chinese culture.

Telling story

Patricia Breivik, the dean of the university library, relates a story about a man with two very young grandsons visiting the eighth floor, which houses part of the university's collection. He was heard telling the boys, ``When you get older, you can take one of these books and sit here at a table and read it.''

Fact is, they can sit there today and read Dr. Seuss. But if they learn that those lobby doors to the University's common are a portal to higher learning -- and that they're as welcome in SJSU's classrooms as on the eighth floor of its library -- this unique public experiment will be a jewel San Jose can point to with pride.