By Lydia Laythe |
Despite still working through some kinks, the new Clark Library is receiving unexpectedly high traffic.
According to Drew Harrington, dean of the library, before renovations an average of 1,200 students visited the library every day. This number has now climbed to 2,213.
“I’m so pleased to see students using (the library) like this,” Harrington said. “We made one of our goals with this project to add a lot more space and more seating. So we expected it and prepared for it.”
The changes created more space for seating and technology. While shelving accounted for about 70 percent of the floor space in the old library, the compact shelving has brought that percentage down to 30.
Junior James Oliver, a library staff member, worked at the library through the changes.
“Compared to the old library, as a worker, it’s a lot nicer and it’s got a lot more technology,” Oliver said. “As a student, it’s great because there’s a lot more study space.”
Crowded study rooms
The popularity of the new study rooms surprised Harrington.
“I’m a little surprised at how incredibly popular the study rooms are,” Harrington said.
Most study rooms are equipped with whiteboards, lighting, internet, artwork and interactive technology. Harrington is working on adding interactive technology to all the study rooms, but warns it will take years. She is hesitant to equip every study room because the equipment costs over $5000 per room, and she’s still gauging how much the technology is used. It’s obvious, however, that the study rooms are popular.
Senior Mary McIntosh said she reserved a study room two weeks ago for the week after fall break.
“You have to reserve them way in advance now that people know to reserve them,” McIntosh said. “I’ve had to kick a lot of people out of study rooms. They’re nice. It’s just kind of awkward.”
Oliver said the new library, especially the study rooms, is catered to group studying and group projects.
“It’s good for students because there’s a lot more tables for group projects,” Oliver said. “The (two upper) floors are dedicated to group study, so it’s not as big of a deal to stay super quiet.”
Harrington understands the need for quiet space as well, and said the library staff is working to insure that every student has a space conducive to their study habits. This is why the basement is the “quiet floor.” But sometimes students work in the basement on their group projects, and for students who require absolute silence to study, this can be a problem.
“We really do mean that it’s the quiet floor, but somebody has to let us know if there’s a problem,” Harrington said.
Oliver said the only problem he’s seen so far is the students’ ability to adapt to the new setup in general.
“Downstairs has all the books, so the only inconvenience is if you have multiple people trying to go down different aisles,” Oliver said. “That’s just something that needs to be coordinated. For the most part, it seems that people have been quick to adapt to the new library.”
Technology complaints
Students also criticize the slow log on speed of the library computers. Michelle Sunderland, director of Technical Services, is dealing with issues as a result of the new computer setup.
The new computers are setup in VDI, or virtual desktop infrastructure, work stations. This means that instead of a physical PC with a monitor and tower that houses resources for processing and memory, the VDI setup is simply a display and a keyboard with the memory processing resources housed in a different location. At UP, the data center in Donald P. Shiley Hall houses the resources for the VDI stations in the library.
The VDI lab in the library is the first and only lab on campus, so technical services is working to adapt to new issues as they arise.
“When you log on in the library it’s kind of building up your profile and your environment in the data center,” Sunderland said. “So that process takes computing resource and memory resource. And right now we don’t have that really optimized, so that’s something we’re working on improving.”
Students ask for longer library hours
In addition to noise complaints and technological difficulties, students want longer hours at the library. Students were originally promised a 24-hour study space in the library, but Fr. Beauchamp revised the plan out of concern for students’ health. Library hours are currently 7:30 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Thursday; 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday; and 10 a.m. to midnight on Sunday. ASUP President Quin Chadwick said ASUP is working to assess student use of the library so that a resolution can be made to extend library hours.
ASUP released a survey last week to see what times and resources students were using most often in the library. Chadwick said the survey will further substantiate the students’ request for longer library hours.
“We are adults here,” Chadwick said. “And we should be able to dictate when we study and what we do.”
Between 800 and 900 students have already answered the survey. Survey results so far show that students want the group study rooms and open study floors open from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.
And whether the situations are expected, like the increase in library attendance, or unexpected, like a two-hour power outage, the library staff said they’re ready for whatever comes their way.
“We just have to roll with it,” Oliver said.
