When I think about the library, I think of all the computers that are on the second floor and how it is nearly impossible to get a seat. I think about how nice it is that the school finally got scanners, hooray! I think about those chairs on the fifth and fourth floor that everyone keeps sleeping on. Didn’t they hear the rumor about bedbugs?!
The scanners are a nice addition to the library but bedbugs? That’s gross, somebody should do an article on that.
I always see people sleeping in those couches during finals. Makes me not want to sit on those chairs now that you mention it.
I’ve been a librarian at Baruch for 15 years. The bedbug story is a myth (thankfully, as I wouldn’t want to have to go to work there 5 days a week if it was true).
I’m kind of curious about something. If you could buy all new furniture for the library, what would want to get? Someday we will be getting new furniture, and I’d love to pass on the information you share with the person who’ll be doing the purchasing.
I’m glad it’s a myth! I’ve been so afraid to sit on the chairs that I always see people sleep on. If I could buy all new furniture for the library I would want to get an actual sofa, more of those big chairs and tables with actual charging spots for our phones and laptops. Right now I believe the only way to charge your devices is to unplug one of the plugs underneath the table since it’s usually all plugged up for the desk lamps.
Elaine, thanks for your suggestions! If you get a chance, take a look at the new outlet we’re testing at one of the tables in back of the 2nd floor (that’s the side of the building that faces 26th Street). Depending on how it holds up to use and what students tell us that they like/don’t like about it, that will be one of the solutions we may implement to help address the issue of the limited number of outlets.
FWIW, here are some other spots to find outlets: along the wall between the bathrooms on floors 3-5; along the walls the face into the atrium (about every 10-20 feet, you’ll find one); inside the study carrels (there’s a little hinged door at the back of the flat desk portion that sometimes hides a power outlet); and on the high counters right by the elevators on floors 3-5.
The library building opened in 1994, which was a few years before laptops were just starting to become affordable and lightweight. The design of the building goes back even a few more years before that, when the vision of computing was limited to desktops (and cellphone ubiquity was but science fiction dream). Over the years, we’ve tried to retrofit as much as possible to a more mobile computing environment: first we started lending laptops out (there are hundreds of them now), then we offered wifi, and lately, we’ve been loaning out iPads (regular and mini). The library is soon going to being a strategic planning process, which means in everyday language, that we’re going to start a new plan for the future that will include redesigns of the interiors and an evaluation of the future viability and value of current services and resources.