Tell me about library and learning spaces at your university

anyone...?

We had 4 group study rooms with PCs in them. There were 20 other group study rooms (on a campus of 33,000!), a few of which had laptop jacks.

NEED COFFEE ACCESS

My campus has everything you mention. We are the second (sometimes first) largest university in the nation with a huge endowment. So such amenties are not a surprise.

Hit send by mistake. All of which had chairs -of varying degrees of comfort/ergonomics - tables and whiteboards (though not necessarily dry-erase markers). There were a great deal more study rooms that were reserved for faculty, which was a laugh because faculty didn't ever use them.

There were also a number of desks and positioned throughout the library, so if you didn't mind disturbing other people who were trying to research in peace, you could do group work there. The same applied to the computer lab.

There was a separate, designated quiet study area which filled up pretty quickly.

Wifi was available at various places throughout the library. The best spot was an alcove with about 20 cozy Ethan Allen chairs. I pretty much lived there.

I would have used private/quiet study areas much more if you didn't have to jockey for position to get them.

When I was a student we had two huge main libraries with plenty of study rooms, corrals etc. One of those has now had all books removed and is strictly computer labs and computer research stations. You can check out powerbooks there if needed (wifi is available anywhere on campus). The other main library has books, coffee lounge, etc.

Also most colleges on campus have their own library which is where I usually chose to study when I was a student (staff now). My favorite place was the life science library. The reading room has glorious, tall ceilings with quotes painted on the beams:

http://www.utexas.edu/tours/mainbuilding/interior/library/eastroom.jpg

It was just nice to be in. For serious studies I would use its stacks which wind through the Tower and are dark, secluded and smell like old books:
http://www.utexas.edu/tours/mainbuilding/interior/library/stacks_then.jpg

They are still like that.

Overall the facilities are top notch.

Two bad things about our library:
- no endowment whatsoever until five years ago, now about £0.25m I think (=poor)
- to join, as a member of staff, I had to get a letter signed by my head of department, to confirm I was a member of staff. They refused to phone HR and check. So I did not join

One good thing about our library:
- the head librarian has the loveliest twinkliest eyes

Also, about once a month I get an email from an alumnus/a wanting access to the library's electronic resources and I have to tell them no because our licence doesn't permit it. This makes me unpopular.

Hi dere welcome to my job:

http://www.lib.uci.edu/services/gateway.html

(I oversee this.)

http://www.lib.uci.edu/services/ask/ask.html

Can we chat with you via that link Ned?

Alas no, that's a reference desk service.

:(

I wanted to get on and be all, "Can I speak to Ned please? No, only him."

You could ask a question about library reserves which would require them to call me, but that would be about it.

Our main library is being torn down, the books moved to another and more attractive building, and a new administrative building built in its place. In a word, it is ugly, and must be destroyed. Also, it is unconnected to the student union but I think that's right, libraries are for working. (I never really studied there, though, I preferred somewhere like the student union or a common room due to padded chairs and background noise. Silence inspires me to distract myself, but if people are chatting nearby I work much better.)

Essential stuff it had: computer lab, computers in the lobby, small tvs with headphones for watching class videos on reserve, wifi (in my last year there, yay), carrels and desks.

Stuff it needed: group study space, even though private study space is more important you had to go to the science library for group rooms; chairs at the desks that were NOT bolted into the floor, in case you have short arms like me; COFFEE!

Whether you work or study there...

What group work spaces and technological equipment is available, how flexible is it, what kind of codes of conduct are in place, what individual study spaces are there, what about learning space provision would you change and what do you think is just right?

Library I work at:

There's a spot on our web page for reserving study carrels at the beginning of the year. If you don't have one reserved, there are tables in random spots in the library (our library was built in the 40s with a weird addition put on in the 60s, giving the whole place an uber-creepy feeling). If it were up to me, there's be a whole new library, with lots of places to study, and carrels for those who don't reserve ahead of time. Also, I would make the place less frightening, and more enticing for students to come in and study.

As for study rooms and rooms with computers for presentations, etc., we also have a webpage where you can reserve a room with or without a computer.

What kind of services would you want? What kind of spaces, furniture? Would you like a wi-fi room with sofas and a coffee machine where you can research in a relaxed manner? What kind of media equipment would you consider essential? How much use do you make of private, quiet study areas? Which is more important, private study or group study?

There's talk of getting an "Information Commons" here which will be a glorified coffee bar. That's fine and dandy, but there still needs to be silent areas for students to study.

haha, i'm currently in my university english faculty library, having just paid nearly seven quid's worth of overdue book fines :(

Bumpity.

I can't use my laptop in our uni's wifi areas cos nobody in the Computer Centre can get my laptop (iBook) liking it.

There is one group study area in the main library but the heating is always blasting out down there so I never arrange to use it if we have a presentation to sort (which is rare - I only had one lecturer last year who ever requested group work, yey).

I'm not desperate for a sofa/coffee machine area for me to use my laptop in, cos I like to spread out over a desk and be forced to concentrate (not being able to slouch or use the internet helps me with this, sometimes).

Just a quiet area without any pigeons (there are sometimes one or two), with wireless I can use, without choking BLASTING heating or nasty BLASTING freezing ice air coming in, would be improvement enough for me. I'd be happy if they never installed a coffee machine, ever, but spent the money instead on improving the book collection where they can.

Too fucking crowded.

my libraires let me show you them:---

senate house london: nowhere to sit. periodicals room is the effing shiznits though.
birkbeck college london: barely counts as a library
bodleian oxford: yeah bwoyeeee.
cambridge university library: girls girls girls. also ghostbusters-esque upper floors with neato timer-lights.
bfi library london: fucking shithole.
british library: lacks dynamic range.

colindale: fucking weak dude.

Are there group work spaces in the library? If you need to plan a presentation on Powerpoint, say, with a few other people, where would you go?

FUCK THAT, WHY WOULD I USE POWERPOINT? (OR WORK IN A GROUP -- DO YOUR OWN WORK FUCKERS)

What kind of services would you want? What kind of spaces, furniture?

DESKS, CHAIRS

Would you like a wi-fi room with sofas and a coffee machine where you can research in a relaxed manner?

COFFEE + BOOKS? UR KILLING ME HERE MAN. AND FUCK A WIFI! COME FOR THE BOOKS. MAYBE IF THEY ALLOWED SMOKING THAT WOULD BE COOL, IT DOES GET COLD AND RAINY IN WINTER.

What kind of media equipment would you consider essential?

MICROFICHE READER

How much use do you make of private, quiet study areas?

IS THERE ANY OTHER KIND?

Which is more important, private study or group study?

WHAT IS "GROUP STUDY" SRSLY?

Have you ever actually been to college?

i named three different colleges in my post!

or three universities, one college.

I only was talking about your last one where you answered the questions one by one. It suggested otherwise.

dammit why do i never go to the university library

it's in the middle of nowhere, which is problematic.

i've only been once. dedicated a whole afternoon to just wandering around, exploring. the upper levels in the wings are indeed pretty creepy, but they'd be great for surreptitious Jackass-style fire-extinguisher trolley propulsion experiments. long, straight corridors with no people in them, perfect!

then i checked out the cafe and it was indeed full of girls, but i didn't feel like drinking.

i never really went to the library when i was a full-time student. i go most days now tho'.