The St Andrews Library: friend or foe?

By Opinion Editor 5 years ago

‘If you had the opportunity to sit down with the library and tell her how you really felt, what would you say?’

If you had the opportunity to sit down with the library and tell her how you really felt, what would you say? Would you praise the library for its small quaint café? Would you express gratitude for the IT service which resuscitated your dying laptop? Or would you tell her how grateful you are for the hard-working and friendly attitudes of her employees who are always on standby to help us find that elusive book? It is of course useful to have access to these services in the library, but I have a suspicion that the overall tone of this exchange may be a little more scathing.

The central criticism of the library to almost every student’s mind is its insufficient seating capacity. “Why, library, does yours cater to less than ten percent of the student body? Why must it be that in Week 3, you are practically full in mid-afternoon?” I can only dread the imminent examination period, during which no doubt I will have to rise at an ungodly hour to be guaranteed a space. The most obvious question I have for the library as a here-and-now solution is “why do you grant entry to first years”? Yes, I propose a library ban for first years. They don’t need a space in the library, and they know it. Even if they do feel the need to get that revision for SA1001 in early, there are pleasant and plentiful study spaces situated in most halls of residence.

Photo: Pixabay

And don’t get us started on the seating vs journals vote. The digitisation of these journals should have happened long ago in response to the growing university population, which of course caused a growing demand for library seats. In fact, digitisation of a greater proportion of library books in general would be an ideal relief to this problem. And please do something about the parkers! Half an hour for coffee? Not a problem. An hour for lunch in the middle of a hard day’s work? Sure. But leaving one notepad on a desk for three hours? Not on, and a system to prevent this should be implemented.

Library, we also all want to know what on earth you were thinking with the toilet situation. One cannot ignore the pied piper’s procession eternally slinking out of the ladies’, and to have three male cubicles in the entire building is entirely questionable. The situation is worsened by your necessity to have them cleaned at such frequent intervals, presumably necessary due to flooding with the tears of the aforementioned students that couldn’t find a seat.

Photo: Pixabay

We would need to talk about the library’s aesthetic. Her décor is stark and clinical…an endless sea of white tables and bricks. One could go as far as describing it as prison-like. As a place for reading Cicero, or studying the anatomy of a human, this doesn’t quite work. The dreich, drab, beigey tones of the library can stifle thought and creativity, and sadly the main motivation to keep calm and carry on with whatever assignment you’re battling is the audience of fellow library-goers that surrounds you, thanks once again to how full the place is. Moreover, despite the seeming abundance of windows in the library, very little natural light enters the building. The substitute for this is bright, blinding lights which I can only assume ended up in the library due to a light fittings mix-up with Ninewell’s operating theatre.

It’s true, if we did get this opportunity to give face-to-face ‘feedback’ to the library, she’d be in for quite the hammering. Honestly, we have not a clue what the designers of the library were thinking when they thought 1000 seats would suffice, when they thought brown wooden panelling was an attractive look, and when they decided on a 40 to 1 seat to toilet ratio. With regards to all these bewildering decisions, we would ask the library ‘why’ they were made, and more importantly, ‘when’ they will be rectified.

Comments

comments

Tags: , , ,

201 thoughts on “The St Andrews Library: friend or foe?”

  3. Hi there very cool site!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your website and take the feeds also?I’m glad to seek out numerous useful info right here within the put up, we’d like work out extra strategies on this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .

    Reply

  16. Thanks a lot for sharing this with all of us you actually know what you are talking about! Bookmarked. Please also visit my web site =). We could have a link exchange arrangement between us!

    Reply

  33. Good web site you have got here.. It’s hard to find high-quality writing like yours these days. I honestly appreciate individuals like you! Take care!!

    Reply

  35. Thank you for every other fantastic article. The place else may just anyone get that kind of info in such a perfect manner of writing? I’ve a presentation subsequent week, and I am at the look for such information.

    Reply

  43. Spot on with this write-up, I really suppose this web site needs rather more consideration. I?ll most likely be again to learn rather more, thanks for that info.

    Reply

  75. Hey! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new apple iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the outstanding work!

    Reply

  89. This is the right web site for anybody who would like to find out about this topic. You understand a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you (not that I really would want to…HaHa). You definitely put a fresh spin on a subject which has been discussed for many years. Great stuff, just wonderful.

    Reply

  94. Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve visited this site before but after looking at some of the posts I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m certainly happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back frequently.

    Reply

  106. This is very interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I have joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your great post. Also, I’ve shared your site in my social networks!

    Reply

  107. A further issue is that video gaming became one of the all-time most significant forms of fun for people of various age groups. Kids engage in video games, and adults do, too. The particular XBox 360 is probably the favorite video games systems for individuals that love to have a huge variety of activities available to them, as well as who like to learn live with other folks all over the world. Thanks for sharing your opinions.

    Reply

  108. Definitely imagine that that you said. Your favourite reason appeared to be on the internet the simplest thing to be mindful of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed whilst people think about issues that they just don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as smartly as defined out the whole thing with no need side-effects , other people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thank you

    Reply

  131. I’ve really noticed that credit score improvement activity has to be conducted with tactics. If not, you will probably find yourself endangering your rank. In order to reach your goals in fixing your credit history you have to take care that from this moment you pay your monthly costs promptly prior to their slated date. Really it is significant simply because by not accomplishing that, all other activities that you will choose to use to improve your credit standing will not be successful. Thanks for expressing your concepts.

    Reply

  134. You are so interesting! I do not suppose I’ve read a single thing like that before. So great to discover somebody with original thoughts on this issue. Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This website is one thing that is needed on the web, someone with some originality.

    Reply

  138. Pretty great post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I’ve truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I?ll be subscribing in your feed and I am hoping you write once more very soon!

    Reply

  157. I’m amazed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that’s both equally educative and engaging, and without a doubt, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is something too few folks are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I found this during my search for something regarding this.

    Reply

  171. Hi my friend! I want to say that this article is amazing, great written and include approximately all vital infos. I?d like to peer extra posts like this .

    Reply

  182. After looking over a number of the blog posts on your blog, I really appreciate your technique of blogging. I added it to my bookmark site list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my website as well and tell me what you think.

    Reply

  194. certainly like your web-site however you have to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very troublesome to tell the reality nevertheless I will surely come back again.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

THE STAND