Jonathan Buchanan/
sea of windows lights the lobby and study area of Washington University’s West Campus Library, shining light on purple couches and chairs and wooden study tables. The atmosphere is quiet and clean, almost sterile. The common study area is brightly lit, with readers dotting the scene on couches and at computer terminals.
Beyond the entry stand rows upon rows of stacks, housing thousands of books temporarily moved from Olin Library Floor 1. Each stack shelf runs approximately 20 to 30 feet and sits on a movable metal track. Because the stacks are so close together, those searching for books must press buttons to slide the stacks automatically right and left.
But despite the high-tech and welcoming atmosphere of the West Campus Library, students have been muttering complaints of what they claim are short hours, an unhelpful staff and malfunctioning stacks.
Criticisms are not limited to just the West Campus Library. Students gripe about Olin Library’s need for extended hours and its ugly exterior. They say that the staff there is unhelpful as well, that books get lost and that the building, in general, is unwelcoming and unpleasant.
Library administrators say they are addressing these concerns as best they can, but they add that few student complaints have been issued directly to them.
This summer, thousands of books were relocated from Olin Library Floor 1 to West Campus, where they are now housed on the stacks. The majority of the books at West Campus are in the subject areas of history, anthropology and the social sciences.
Initially, the West Campus Library was not open on evenings or weekends, but student complaints sparked administrators to tack on more hours, first adding hours into the evening and later adding Saturday and Sunday afternoon hours.
According to Barry Weller, library assistant at West Campus, the staff is not looking to extend hours further. Besides, said Weller, the biggest complaint recently has not been about the hours.
“Most of what people don’t like is just the fact that the books are here,” he said.
Weller said that moving the books to West Campus from Olin was the upshot of a lengthy discussion on where to relocate them. The committee considered putting the books in trailers outside of Olin or simply warehousing them and cutting off access, said Weller. But the move to West Campus seemed most logical, he said.
Iver Bernstein, professor of history, said that having the books at West Campus is an inconvenience, but is understandable.
“It’s not ideal, but given the need for a renovated library, I think that the library staff has been doing everything they possibly can to make it easy for people who need to use these books frequently,” said Bernstein. “There’s always going to be some disruption when you renovate the library floor by floor.”
The movable stacks at West Campus raised concerns earlier in the year, when the system was still being polished. When first installed, the giant wooden shelving units had problems with leveling, or making the stacks glide smoothly along the tracks, said Judy Fox, associate dean of university libraries. The stacks were leveled before the books were placed on them and again afterwards. Fox and Weller both said that the stacks now are functioning fine.
“Back in June and July I know there were problems, but I haven’t seen people having problems anymore,” said Fox.
Once renovations on Olin are completed the movable stacks will be placed on Level 1. Until then, Weller said that the university will likely rotate the books that are on the shelves at West Campus. Level 1 will be the only floor with the automatic movable stacks because the shelving units, when full, are too heavy for higher floors.
But according to junior Isabel Suchanek, searching for books at West Campus is more than just a nuisance.
“It makes my research a little less thorough because I can’t find the books that I need,” said Suchanek. “They’re unavailable to me.”
Complaints about the library system are not limited to West Campus and its users. Students have requested a number of changes of Olin Library, from more frequent cleaning of restrooms and longer hours to beautifying both interior and exterior portions of the library.
“Right now I go in and get my books and get out as fast as I can because it’s so horrendously ugly,” said Suchanek.
Suchanek and others also complained of frequently broken equipment, ranging from computer workstations to Microfilm, copier and Venda Card machines.
Giles Bissonnette, a junior, said he was frustrated by the microfilm machines’ unreliability.
“It’s pretty consistent that a few of the microfilm machines are broken,” said Bissonnette.
Suchanek said that when she asked for help on the malfunctioning Microfilm machines, her complaints fell on deaf ears.
“You tell the people at circulation, and they don’t know what to do,” said Suchanek. “They go in to fix it, and the problem isn’t fixed…. I had to leave the library because none of the Microfilm machines were working.”
Another common complaint about Olin Library concerns the hours of operation. Many universities offer a 24-hour library, for both study and research, and students at WU say this is something they would like to see.
But Fox, associate dean of university libraries, said a 24-hour library is not necessary: during later hours and on weekend nights, few students visit the library, whether to study or to do research. She said that between 20 and 30 people typically use Olin after midnight, even during reading week and exam time.
“Basically, our hours are determined by when the students are here studying, and we’ve found that Friday nights, very few students want to study,” said Fox.
In addition to low late-night usage, Fox is concerned with the security issue of having a 24-hour library. Currently, two graduate students staff the library during late night hours, with one making rounds to ensure the building is secure. But even though Fox says it takes only two people to staff the building at night, a 24-hour library is not necessarily feasible.
“It’s very difficult to get people to work [that late],” said Fox. She added that staffing is also an issue at subject-specific libraries, whose hours vary by library.
At the physics department library, however, students can come and go as they please. Using magnetic card readers, faculty and undergraduate and graduate students in physics have access to the physics library 24 hours a day, though the library is only staffed until 6 p.m. weekdays and not at all on weekends.
Alison Verbeck, the only librarian in the physics library, said that security after regular hours is of little concern. On average, she said, 12 books are stolen each year and records are kept of all the students who enter the library through the magnetic card reader.
“Students are definitely here in the middle of the night. so I know [the library] is getting used,” said Verbeck. “I know students would probably like staff here in the middle of the night, but I don’t see that happening.”
Verbeck noted that the physics library is not operated by the university’s library system, but rather by the department. She speculated that this might be the reason for the 24-hour admittance at the library.
Outside of departmental libraries, Olin houses a number of subject-specific librarians. Each has a master’s degree in library science, and according to Fox, nearly all of them specialize in an area in which they hold an undergraduate or graduate degree.
Even with no specific library in mind, students complain about access to books. The Inter-Library Loan (ILL) system, they say, is slow and ineffective.
Laurence Schneider, professor of history, said that problems with the ILL system caused a few problems for students in his courses.
“We’ve had to negotiate a different approach to the project because of a lack of books,” said Schneider. “I’ve never had problems with our own collections and access to them, [but with ILL] people have had to change the nature of their project to fit the materials they have and can get.”
Schneider could not speculate as to the problems with the ILL system.
“It’s not clear to me where the problem is,” she said. “That is to say whether the problem is on the outside from the libraries that are sending us the materials [or somewhere else].”
Michelle Leavitt, a member of Student Union’s Student Committee on Olin Library (SCOOL), says she hears a number of complaints from students regarding library issues. Frequent complaints, she said, address noise, broken equipment and an overall lack of cleanliness in Olin.
Leavitt said that SCOOL was working to inform administrators about these complaints and to request that they increase the cleaning schedule and repair machines more quickly.
She noted that administrators were receptive to students’ complaints, and in some cases were unaware of problems (including the cleanliness issue) before students brought them to their attention. Administrators are dealing with these issues, while any problems that will be solved during the renovation process are receiving less attention, she said.
“The administration’s attitude [right now] is that they’re sorry [about the noise], but things will get better,” said Leavitt.
Contact Allison at [email protected]
Olin Library-Finals Hours
Wed.-Fri., Dec. 5-7 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 a.m.
Sat., Dec. 8 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 a.m.
Sun., Dec. 9 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 a.m.
Mon.-Fri., Dec. 10-14
7:30 a.m. – 4:00 a.m.
West Campus Library & Conference Center
7425 Forsyth; 935-9889
Monday-Thursday 8:30a.m. – 8:30p.m.
Friday 8:30a.m. – 5:00p.m.
Saturday & Sunday 1:00p.m. – 5:00p.m.