Students flock to renovated library

Daily Hampshire Gazette - December 28, 2006
By Kristin Palpini, Staff Writer
 

AMHERST - Innovative renovations at the University of Massachusetts Learning Commons in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library have increased student use of the library by tens of thousands. Administrators are scrambling to keep up with students' evolving study needs.

The newest addition to the commons is cell phone booths. The red, soundproof cylinders were installed on the heels of renovations that increased the breadth of the Learning Commons. Similar study spaces, designed to be conducive to quieter learning habits, have been added to the second and third floors of the library.

"They're completely different, but similar in that the furnishings are the same style [as the first-floor Learning Commons]," said Emily S. Silverman, director of development and communications at the library.

"It's taken off better than we could have ever imagined," Silverman said of the commons. "We're talking about renovating other floors because there is such a demand."

"It's so popular because they are responsive to students' needs," said Brian A. Whalley, a UMass political science major. "Anytime of the day you go in there, it's crowded with students."

The renovations, which have cost the university about $2.97 million, have proven effective in getting students into the library.

The number of people who walk through the library's front door (where the flow of patrons is monitored) is up over 90 percent from 2004, the year before the first-floor Learning Commons was unveiled, Silverman said.

And as the university expands its commons, the students keep coming in. The counter at the library's entrance tallied 27,000 more people this November than at the same time last year, said Theresa M. Warner, assistant director for administrative services at the library.

"At first, we were wondering if we would hit the mark with this. Were we really going to have bodies in here?" Warner said. "Truly, we've gotten it right."

Whalley said the changes the university has made to the library make it possible for a student to spend hours in the building.

"You don't need to go anywhere else," Whalley said. "They have food and drinks and tons of computers - they're always adding more computers - and there's lots of study spaces. It's really nice."

Among the changes

The new cell phone booths have elicited a few quizzical looks, but once people realize what they're for, they are much in demand, Silverman said. The library now has four cell phone booths. The cylinders of silence, which are approximately 80-inch-tall, provide students with a place to answer and make calls while at the library.

"People tend to not realize everyone can hear what they're saying on the cell phones, and the louder the environment the louder they tend to speak," Warner said.

And the volume on the first floor of the Learning Commons can get loud, she said.

"We've transformed the traditional 'shh ... quiet' library setting into a really loud collaborative space to work in, and we encourage that," Warner said.

The Learning Commons space on the first floor was dedicated in October 2005. It's about 23,000 square feet, with comfortable furniture, cooperative meeting/study space, 164 computer workstations, 400 laptop ports for access to the campus network and Internet, and 16 tablet PCs and email kiosks.

Along with adding the commons, the library expanded its operations to 24 hours a day, starting on Sunday at 11 a.m. and going through 9 p.m. Friday. It is also open on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The W.E.B. Du Bois Library is open to the public.

Two more Learning Commons spaces were added on the second and third floors of the library.

The second floor was completed in the summer, and the third floor wrapped up in December. These upper-level commons are for quiet study. They feature comfortable furniture, work desks (smaller than the eight-seater desks on the first floor), and wireless Internet access.

The second floor "wasn't large enough, so it got overused," Warner said. "We just completed the third-floor quiet study area a few weeks ago and students have already found it. It's just packed. Every work station has a body in it."

"It looks like what one might find in a book store," Silverman said.