The first time I visited the Newmann Library was during a tour the summer before my junior year of high school. I was with my dad and all I can remember from that visit was my dad’s enamoured reaction. I had probably commented on the sleek interior design, but the lendable laptops and calculators, $100 printing allowance, cheap textbook rentals, and private study rooms had not impressed me. I attribute my underwhelmed reaction to the strange infatuation I had for NYU at the time.
During the second visit (which was at the tour Friday last week) I was much more receptive. It was really sinking in (even before our discussion at seminar) that Google and Wikipedia wouldn’t fly as resources in college, and that some professors would want book references in conjunction to weblinks. I’d never used a library to find a source for any paper or presentation I’d done in high school. Last time I was in a library for an educational purpose might have been 4th grade. Libraries made me feel like a fish out of water. There were just too many shelves. Too many sections. Too many books. You can’t Ctrl+F and search for key words. And the Dewie Decimal System might as well have been braille. My local library had two floors. Baruch’s had seven. I was terrified.
But I took home with me after that tour a sense that I wouldn’t die looking for sources at the library. And the tour left me the idea that I could probably get work done faster there than at home.
It was true. I’m here now, actually, handwritting this blog entry and finishing up the rest of my homework for the rest of this week. And not only is this place tastefully constructed, it’s comfortable and conducive to a productive environment. I may never do homework at home again.