Money well-spent on library renovations
By Justin Manger
When I first heard about the new library and that a giant robotic arm would eventually be handing Santa Clara students their much-needed books, I thought it was a bad idea.
Many students agree. They believe the Automated Retrieval System (code-named ARS) will actually inhibit them from finding excellent books for research while perusing the stacks for another book to which the OSCAR search system had initially pointed them.
Says Junior Carin Posedel: "It sounds like a bad idea to me. I've spent a lot of time in Orradre, and most of the books that are really pertinent to my research I find by accident, while I'm looking for another call number I found on the online catalogue. This new thing sounds like it will take more time to give me one book than I would normally take to find 5 or 6 books. That's just inefficient."
Granted, an ARS-only system would be inefficient, for that and other reasons. Also, our current library looks good, and seems to function as it should. So what's the deal?
As it turns out, the current design of Orradre has a number of problems associated with it. First and foremost, the library is simply running out of space. Said Elizabeth Salzer, the head librarian of Orradre: "It is getting to the point where, yes, we could still use Orradre as it is, and just convert everything to compact shelving [archives and ARS]. But there would be, of course, a number of logistical problems with this, most obviously that students would have to wait a long time to get their books. If the book that the student did eventually receive wasn't what the student was originally looking for, they could be in the library for a very, very long time."
In addition, three departments have a hand in running the current library: Media Services, Information Technology and the actual library staff. The current design of the building allows only library staff to be based in the library, which becomes a problem when help from one or both of the other two departments is needed. Contribute to these arguments a sleep-inducing study atmosphere, a shortage of group study rooms and the fact that Orradre needs to be brought up to current building code standards for handicapped access, and it becomes abundantly clear the new library is, in fact, a necessity.
The only outrageous part of the new library will be the two-year period [tentatively scheduled between 2004-2006] when ARS will be the only option for accessing books. This will most definitely be a hassle, and I am glad I won't be around to have to deal with it. But when the aptly titled "Library for the 21st Century" opens in 2006, it will have been well worth the hassle. The university has made the wise decision to use tuition for the improvement of a facility that every student must use at least a few times throughout college - be thankful.