I don't think anyone was kidding themselves in their hopes for the new library space. Put simply, it's completely inadequate. 75% of the collection is off-site which is, for someone like myself who laments the disappearance of monographs from our shelves, very inconvenient and discouraging for browsers and those who like to jump from bibliographies to look up citations, etc. The bulk of the collection is located down a winding hallway in a closet-like space of seven bays of compact shelving. The rest of the collection is scattered across different floors, with the P's--for example--finding their home on the walls of a computer lab, which has an ocean of computers where people convene to avidly update their facebook pages. There is no inside or outside to the library. The building is used heavily for classroom space by one of the music schools in the university. The building also has a large space that is often used for conferences and events open to the public. This makes it difficult for users to know where they can use library materials, e.g. periodicals or reference books. It also seems like it would be difficult for the library staff to account for the different materials. The circulation desk is on the first floor of the building, near the entrance/exit. If one were to ask 'Where is the library?' upon entering, she would be directed to the circulation desk.Again, I'd love to hear reactions from the denizens of Fogelman Library. Does the above description jive with your experience?
The reading space is the main problem. The new 'quiet' reading room is about the size of a classroom. It has four tables: two small tables that fit 1 (comfortably) and two large tables that fit 2 (comfortably). I've only ever seen 4 people in that room at a time, but I think there are 16 chairs. There is simply no way that 16 people could study in there without bumping elbows every second. It is a very nice room with a nice window and nice wood floors, the problem is that there is only one of them. And the heat hasn't been working in that part of the building, so there is a space heater that makes the air stuffy while the room stays cold. The other reading room serves the reference room, where people go if they have a reference question. It is located on the first floor. This is where the reference collection lives, on stylized geometric (space-wasting) shelving with a decor that looks like an Ikea sushi-bar that doesn't seem to make use of the space as best it could. Again, the room itself is OK, it's just that it can be noisy, it’s small, and sits only about 25-30 (absolute maximum). So there are roughly about 25 bays of books and about 45 seats (in quiet areas) in the library; this might be suitable if it just served one of the smaller departments in one of the 8 divisions/colleges of the university. There are more tables and chairs in public spaces, but one has to listen to crowds walking by as well as the goings-on of the security guards at the front desk. That’s fine when eating a sandwich or having coffee, but it's just not conducive to studying. There are, however, many, many computers and computing classrooms. There is also, what looks like, new cafe space with numerous seats. So if you want to get a scone and check your email, then the new library is a good spot.
It is very possible that I have not yet discovered more of library space in this building. Though, I have tried to seek out all that is available. If there is more, please let me know because I would very much like to use the resources and study there. I know many other students who would love to as well. As it is, I have already clocked many hours there. Since not many people know where the new spaces are there haven't been big crowds, which I have to admit is kind of nice temporarily. The librarians and the library staff have all greeted me with a smile and have been very helpful during this confusing transition, making sure that students know where the resources are located and answering any questions. I would very much like to thank the librarians for their help while working under adverse conditions. But the library itself, both the collection and the space, is just amazingly inadequate for the larger university and for the many dedicated, hardworking students that I know.
04 February 2009
New School Library's Best Laid Plans?
On January 20th, the New School reopened its Fogelman Library in a new space in Arnhold Hall. I asked readers for their impressions, but received nary a one. The New School Free Press is likewise silent. The following commentary is from a New School graduate student who makes heavy use of the library. (Yes, I know the writer; this kind of substantive feedback doesn't fall unbidden from the heavens. Anyone who has undertaken an assessment project knows it's all pleading and teeth-pulling.)
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I used to work at the Library and I also attended the New School, I left before the transition, but I was there when the planning was being done and the above description sounds exactly like the planning would indicate. It is very sad that a university that has such diverse areas of study and such committed students would subject the student body and the staff of the library to these conditions. I know from experience that many students, including myself, browsed the library in order to find all the materials they needed and also used it as a study space (although it was never what it should have been for this use) and to get rid of so much of the on site collection and the little quiet that the last space offered is extremely disappointing. The library should be growing and offering more, instead it is forcing students to use other facilities - for the cost of the University and the academic mission that it claims to have (and used to have) there should be a REAL library.
From the New School in Exile blog: "Our library resources, if one can even speak of them, are an academic disgrace and virtually useless for serious research. ... Our study space is essentially non- existent. Campus buildings are run in such a way that students often go elsewhere to actually study, yet our Graduate Faculty building--the building we fought for and occupied to keep as a student space, the building that was supposed to be closed and torn down--now sits open and off limits. Floor after floor of quiet study space where students could be working, meeting and studying is denied to us for no reason other than the administrative whims of Kerrey and Murtha."
I wonder if library staff were able to do and user assessment and incorporate that information into the planning of the new space? Often, architects prove to be inflexible and unwilling to work with the reality of a functioning library. Many libraries are interested in creating new group study spaces, when quiet study is still a top priority for students.
I wonder that as well. It's quite possible, however, that given this library's (supposedly) temporary nature, how much careful planning was actually involved. I imagine they--librarians and architects--were working under serious constraints. But yes, group study space is considered sexier for some reason.
I do know that when I was there and they were working to make the transition that not many users were consulted. The few that they did consult complained that they were not being listened to and I know that the staff/faculty that was asked about the plans were not well listened to either. In general I think that some people tried to allow an open discourse, but a more powerful group just wanted this to be put together as quickly as possible and didn't seem to consider the students or the staff/faculty.
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