Library seating not conducive to effective studying

By Colleen Sinsky

While the new library may be an architectural masterpiece and have more technology than a NASA control room, the Harrington Learning Commons, Sobrato Technology Center and Orradre Library -- or HLCSTCOL, as I like to call it -- is not the ideal place to study.

There, I'm the blasphemer who said what you all have been thinking.

The lower-level squiggle couch and second-floor art deco "blocks" will undoubtedly look amazing in brochures for prospective students, but when it comes to practical use, the areas designated for "high energy group collaboration" would be better put to use as quiet study space.

Glossy promotional pictures won't show students wandering around for ten or fifteen minutes looking for a place to study.

While a good amount of tables and seats are available, the number of impractical backless couches and coffee tables are forcing frustrated students to spend more time searching for seats than working on papers or studying for exams.

I envy those people who can study on couches. Personally, I prefer some kind of table or desk to spread out books, papers or my laptop. While the library's Web site boasts of "over 1,100 reader seats in a variety of formats," I believe that it is this variety of seating formats that's contributing to the problem. When it comes to actual studying, I'll take an old table over a designer couch any day.

Noise pollution in the more open areas and inconsiderate neighbors in the more secluded spots become a problem with the open design of the library. Cell phone chatter, echoing stairwells, blenders and people who obviously didn't come to the library with any intention of studying are just some of the auditory obstacles that I have often encountered.

Furthermore, battles over reservations for the collaborative study Rooms are common, and tensions run high during prime study time. Because these rooms can be the only sanctuary from all of the building's noise, these turf wars have become inevitable.

The addition of the online reservation system is great, and has eliminated a lot of circling through floor after floor to find a room without a red light. I propose we use one of the library's 47 LCD panels near the entrance to display each room's reservation schedule, and start a wait-list for drop-in groups.

At the moment, we have several $15,000 screens advertising pictures of the library. We don't need advertisements of a building we're already in. Showing off the latest and greatest technology should be second to creating an effective study space.

If the university can't find a better use for those screens than scrolling through pictures from opening day, then the money obviously could have been better spent elsewhere.

With all the attention now focused on the new library, study seats in other campus areas have been closing. Both Kenna computer lab and the Nobili Hall library space were quietly shut down last week because there is supposedly adequate space for studying available in the new library.

While I do feel lucky to be a student at Santa Clara during the library's first quarter of use, until the excitement wears off and the law students return to Heafey Law Library, I'm avoiding peak hours by studying in the morning and, when I can force myself, on Fridays and Saturdays.

I've also rediscovered my building's basement, downstairs Benson and even empty classrooms.

HLCSTCOL has enough square footage to be flexible. If we use the 194,000 square feet more efficiently and replace couches and coffee tables with seats and tables, we would have a much easier time finding a place to spend a few hours studying for midterms.

The reality is that we are doing much more hunched over busywork than the group brainstorm sessions that the library's designers envisioned.

If the library's planners had given more consideration to the realistic needs of students and less to designing a space that looked good on paper, they would have created a building that was as practical as it is beautiful.

Colleen Sinsky is a sophomore economics major.