Beats and Bongos: Making the Library the Cultural Center of AcademeTransforming the academic library into a cultural space is a feat that goes beyond simply making capital outlay changes. It involves creating an environment that offers faculty, students, staff and community member’s exposure to literature, art, music, and intellectual pursuits. Because they enable exchanges of knowledge available nowhere else, academic libraries should be at the heart, not the periphery, of university culture. This presentation focuses on diverse activities and events hosted and housed at Ellender Library on the Nicholls campus, such as The Beat Poetry and Performance Happenings, the Tiki Party (to increase awareness of collection development among university faculty and staff), the Cajun/Zydeco Festival, presentations on research, book talks, a student engagement colloquium, and other phenomena, including the formation of our Publicity and Public Relations Committee.