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Comment: New library- Drive for excellence or unholy mess?
For those old timers at Queen’s like myself, it can certainly be agreed that the new library is a welcome addition to the University. For years we had the overcrowded and noisy Seamus Heaney library; a place that at times perhaps mirrored a night out rather than a study venue. We’ve had an antiquated, crumbling tower block, and a Science Library that also looked like something from the past. It was thought that The New Library at Queen’s would offer the ‘be all and end all’ solution to these problems. After all, it IS part of the University’s master plan: 1) Russell Group status 2) drive for Top 100 University status in world 3) attract as much money/investment as possible…blah blah blah…
BY PAUL LILLY
If we are to believe the Queen’s website, the New Library marks “the greatest contribution to the University’s search for excellence.” Yes, it is true that the New Library certainly is an excellent building. One can do nothing but be in awe of the C.S. Lewis Reading Room or majestic views over Botanic Gardens. Yet, image and first impressions are one thing, but is the building really fit for purpose?
At a recent meeting of Academic Board, students as well as myself raised quite serious concerns about the New Library. Many of these centered on the proposed opening times for ‘exam period.’ While we were told that current Library opening times are “reflective of demand”, certain students felt that demand is much greater than Library services actually realise.
With the Library being busy on most nights, students felt concerned that Library plans for 24-hour opening are not sufficient as we enter exam season. John Gormley (Director of Information Services) and Elizabeth Traynor (Assistant Director Library Services and Research Support) informed the Academic Board that there were indeed no real plans (save for contingency plans) to open anything other than the front computer room of the building for 24 hour access. Exam season therefore, would have no open study space for Queen’s students after normal times. This is certainly a worrying scenario, and one that should be addressed now, rather than later.
While the Seamus Heaney may have been occasionally loud, the building did meet the needs of students; at least one large open study space was open throughout the night during exam season. I feel that The New Library should at least open the entire bottom floor to accommodate demand. If they cannot do that, then it is a poor reflection on the New Library, and will only further highlight the University’s scant regard for the views of its students.
Paul Lilly is VP Equality and Diversity in the SU.
Tags: Gown, Library, newspaper, Paul Lilly, qub, Queen's, queen's university, student, The Gown
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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“Comment: New library- Drive for excellence or unholy mess?”
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Fantastic job Paul, very well done!
unlucky shane….it puzzles me how the other ‘decent officers’ you failed to resolve this issue in a way that the deadwood paul lilly has. in fact id love for you to point out what exactly those other ‘decent’ officers have acehived so far in office. now dont get me wrong, im not proclaiming paul to be a hard working saint, in fact I think the whole union sabbatical posts are PR exercise by queens to protray the illusion of some degree of control by students and in practise have no control whatsoever. All im saying is that this seems to be first issue that actaully affects the students that was resolved and it was by aforementioned vain deadwood…so where does this leave the other officers in the deadwood scale???
as for CB….”close the holylands”….good one….nnnaaatttt. get a life you pathetic individual and go back to whatever hole in stranmillis you crawled from….
Hold on…!?
In what way did Paul Lilly resolve any issue regarding the library?
He wrote an article…he went to a committee meeting. That’s activism to a whole new level there! (note the sarcasm)
The Gown should investigate whether or not Paul Lilly was really the person to make the difference.
Clearly Queen’s managment team didn’t graduate with a degree in Mathematics. There should be at least one computer availbale on campus per every 2 students attending Queen’s, and the library is falling short of expectations!
Why should we need to wait until the dead of night to aquire a computer and silence? We are paying in excess of 3,000 per year in fees and, for the majoirty of us we have nowhere to complete the workload!
I say, while seamus Heany is available open it up to the student body around exam period!
Who is with me???
If nothing changes, action is needed.
I think most of the furnature and computer equiptment in the Heaney was sold off a few weeks ago to various other departments within Queens.
If the building were to reopen for the exam period it would be limited to studying facilities alone without any computers.
The main Libiary may be a safer bet as the old desks have remained in place in the tower block. I’m not sure whats going on in the old building itself though.
If you want to know why the computers in the new libiary are constantly full, one word, Facebook.
You can’t get facebook in the main library, I’ve tried.
I must say i’m extremely disappointed with the new library. It is too open-plan and for students like myself who actually like to concentrate on their work, the new layout offers nothing. For 3 years I have used the tables on the subject floors of the old tower because it was the only place that offered privacy and tranquility. Today was my first day in the New Library and after hunting the place up and down for somewhere to hide myself, I resorted to one of the single desks with the wooden board separating the person infront. I sat there for over 2 hours and barely got one page of notes done with the amount of distractions going on and people walking past. After 3 years of excellent grades, I fear for my final year in Queens.