The Rocket

Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Steve Reed Amanda McKenna, left, and Brittany Black, both freshman biology majors, are hard at work, poring over their science texts. [Click to enlarge]

Shelby Foote, the late novelist and historian of the Civil War, once said, "A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library."

With finals week approaching, perhaps this quote is even truer.

But while most people stereotypically think that a library is a quiet area, where there is little talking and noses in books, times have changed.

"Libraries are different today," said Philip Tramdack, the director of library services at SRU. "Today, they come with different expectations, and break the stereotype of what a library is."

Tramdack, who has been working in a library setting since 1966, said he has seen how libraries changed gradually over the years.

"When Bailey Library opened in 1972, there were pictures of people sitting individually with books in front of them," Tramdack said. "Now there are groups of people talking, eating, huddled around computers and maybe even sleeping."

Tramdack said that years ago, none of these things took place and that the library wasn't built to accommodate the kinds of activities that it's used for today.

But he said that this doesn't stop students from using the facilities, and that they actually get complaints about the library not being open later than 2 a.m. on weekdays and Sunday nights and after 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

"We're already open about 103 hours a week," Tramdack said. "That's how long libraries at research institutions such as Ohio State, Carnegie Melon and Pitt are open. I believe we're the only state school that's open that much."

Besides the hours, Tramdack said the biggest complaint the library gets is that it isn't quiet enough, especially on the upper floors.

Though Tramdack said it is sort of an understanding that the higher the floor, the quieter it should be, the third floor is actually designated as the quiet floor, and the library staff does try to enforce this.

Continued...

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