Good Ole Angus: A whole new look
/Minor updates improve library study conditions
Walking through the ominous doors of Angus L. this year, all those frequenters, lovers and haters of the library cannot help but notice something different in the air; an inkling of change has swept over the stacks. This queer feeling is not unfounded as there have been quite a few changes implemented within the cavernous walls of the campus library, and here’s what they are.
Air conditioning/circulation has been updated in the hopes of balancing out the front and back halves of the library. In the past, Angus has been notorious for its varied temperature, your warmest sweater insufficient in providing warmth in one half whilst making you sweat your body weight in the other. Whether this new system works is still left to be determined, but thus far there has been a wall of cold passed through when entering the back of the library and it’s particularly noticeable in the evening.
It might seem brighter around the library, especially by the front desk area, and yet it would seem ridiculous that the light of reason is only finding the school now. Instead, the dreary lights of old have been switched out for LED lights, due to save the university both money and energy. For those who find it abrasively bright, there are dimmers arranged to arrive, however they are six months late with a couple more months to go. And no, the library is not haunted; the new sensors in the library ensure that energy is saved by having lights turn off after movements halt for a certain amount of time.
One of the bigger changes – a result of Nicholson’s demolition – is the classroom that has been installed in the basement. Hidden and hard to find, this new computer lab has sent many students to the belly of the beast. Pro tip: the middle staircase at the top of the ramp when leaving the front half of the library is not the staircase you want, despite the signage that might make you think otherwise. Instead, you must continue past it until you reach the back wall of the library, descending the staircase through the door at the back of the main floor computer lab or else the staircase immediately to the right of that. The other result of this new classroom is that journals have had to be repositioned on the second floor, making room for those that are being brought up from the basement.
Students (especially those with group projects) should be aware that there is one less study room in the library, as one of the second-floor rooms has been converted into an office for library staff. This simply means that, especially around high volume times at the library, there will be increased demand for these limited rooms and thus it is best to book them as early as possible – within the week-in-advance timeframe allowed by the library.
The final change that will be completed within the upcoming weeks is the displacement of the Centre for Accessible Learning (the Tramble Rooms) from the fourth floor of the Bloomfield Centre to Angus L. Soon it will be located at the back wall of the computer lab, through the door on the left. There have already been concerns voiced by students about this location change; its whereabouts in this more public area would force certain students to walk through a busy area of the library in order to seek resources that they need. Many who use the Tramble Rooms have an invisible disability and, as such, might be wary about having eyes watching as they get the resources that they require, thus disclosing that which would otherwise be very personal. It is important to give this change a chance, as there might be many benefits gained through having this resource in a central location with many other educational aids within reach.
Despite all of these alterations to Good Ole Angus, it still stands in the middle of campus as a beacon of simultaneous dread and comfort, ready for students to enter and study their semester away.
