Library Suggestion Box

I’m not sure if the maintenance people are aware they disturb students in the 7th floor stairwells. Almost every day there are several members of the maintenance crew lounging and chatting in the 7th floor stairwells disturbing the students. I’m sure they are on their break and just want to sit down, but they do not adhere to the silence of the 7th floor and it is disturbing to the students. I don’t mean to rat them out, but this is a sort of a hidden quiet spot in an always crowded library that I would like to see preserved.

Thank you for this information. We will investigate and take action.

The electrical outlets on the 6th floor of the Wilson Wing, along the green chairs, don’t work. Please fix them so I don’t have to move to work on my computer.

Thanks for letting us know. We will call it right in to Facilities.

I’d like to know where the Reference department is physically located but I can’t find any department information listed and searching the site gives many links but no success. Aren’t librarians supposed to be able to organize information?

The Reference Department is on the 4th floor of the Wilson Wing, behind the giant "Ask" sign over the stairs in the atrium. There are signs that should help you once you get in the building. We note your comments about the website. Our web team is in the midst of interviewing students and faculty about the usability of the site and your feedback will help inform that process.

I am working in the basement next to what looks like a closet number 152A. I just literally watched a cockroach run from under that door INTO my backpack. I’m not one to really get bothered by stuff like that but I feel like someone else might. And it was pretty disgusting.

Thanks for letting us know. We will call the exterminators. In the meantime, you might want to get out of the basement!

1) The water fountain on the 4th floor could use some repair. It tends to spray anyone who goes for a drink. 2) If something could be done so students would appreciate the library is a QUIET study space (ie if you want to talk, go to a study room; if you want to talk on your cellphone, do it in a stairwell. Not at a table surrounded by 20 others trying to study), it’d go a long way toward making the library a more effective place to study.

We called in the water fountain on the 4th floor. You might try floors 6, 7, and 8, which have been designated as quiet study and have individual carrels and tables.

Is there any way to turn the temperature up even a few degrees? It is always much colder in the library than any other place on campus.

We wish we had more control over the temperature in the library, as it is often variable. We will call in your complaint to Facilities.

I would very much appreciate it if the water worked in the library. There were signs posted notifying students that Starbucks and Benson would be closed due to water main problems, but there was no notification that the water would not work in the library.

We all wish the library enjoyed uninterrupted water service, but occasionally we experience water main breaks and repairs such as happened last week Wednesday and Sunday. Both times, we did post signs at the front gates and on restroom doors that the water would be off. Everyone connected with the university regrets the inconvenience to library users.

Most of the time I find it really hot in the 24 hr. room. Is there a way to lower the temperature to the mid or low 60s?

Thank you for letting us know. We will put in a request to Facilities, though I think if the temperature went all the way down to the mid or lower 60’s we would have more complaints that it would be too cold! Temperature regulation is one of the most frustrating things about our aging building. Often, when one area is adjusted, another area in a different part of the building is affected in the opposite way. We’ll see if we can reach a better balance in the 24 Hour Room.

Lynn Sutton

First of all, thank you for having the 24 hour study rooms as a great option for students to come to study. I do have one suggestion to improve them, and that is to put “white noise” machines in them. Student health services as well as the learning assistance center use them throughout their offices to reduce the presence of distracting noises. A lot of distractions in the 24 hour study rooms comes from the sounds of computer keys, people shifting their things around, and other basic noises that could be drowned out by a white noise machine. If you have never been around one before, they can be annoying for about 30 seconds until you adjust to it. I just thought that I would pass along that suggestion to you all. Thank you again for having these rooms available, I use them quite a lot.

Thank you for your suggestion. This is actually a great idea! We will buy two white noise machines for each room and see if they help. Let us know.

Lynn Sutton

I think that the entire library should be a quiet zone, and that designating 6, 7, and 8 as silent study zones makes it seem like you should be able to talk and giggle anywhere else.

In our experience, many students would like the library to be entirely quiet, but just as many would like it to provide a more collaborative environment for group study and discussion. Most modern libraries provide spaces for both and that is our stated goal. In the coming years, you will see the renovation of library spaces for both individual, quiet study and collaborative group study. We will try to keep them separate and distinct and ask for tolerance of varying learning styles among students.

Lynn Sutton