Maroon Opinions

Kudos for Scan and Deliver

I just wanted to let you know that Scan and Deliver is the most amazing innovation of the Library ever. I am a doctoral student doing research abroad and it has radically improved my ability to get access to the secondary literature I need. Thank You!!!

[We're left with literally nothing to say, except "Thank YOU."]

Snacks and the Cafe

I am very happy that Ex Libris is finally open and there is a place I can get fresh coffee in the library. However, I have noticed that the cafe carries a wide variety of small snacks (package of nuts, chocolate bars, etc.) and am concerned that it encourages eating in the reading rooms. Every time I am in the library, there is not a single day when I don't see someone eating at the desks. Now that the cafe has moved from the basement to the main building, it is far easier for users to grab a snack and bring it into the reading area. Small snacks are designed to be carried around and enjoyed wherever you please. If you get a small package of chips, it just doesn't make sense to sit down and take time just for eating it. If the library administration wants to maintain the rule that eating is not allowed in the reading areas, they should request the owner of the cafe to stop selling small snacks. As regards eating in the library, I should also note that the rule is not presented in a clear and compelling manner. There are only a few posters on each floor and the notices on the desks are tiny. To any concerned patron of the library, the current policies put in place display nothing but the administration's inaction and unwillingness to enforce their own rules.

We agree that small snacks are easily concealed and carried about to other parts of the library. However, we are hopeful that patrons will "self-police" and choose to consume their snacks in the cafe area.

(The Suggestions Office wonders if the old setup was more conducive, perhaps, to disobeying the food policy. It might have been slightly harder to get your M&M's, for example, but generally people didn't want to linger there.)

Ready to Study But No Place to Go

It's the weekend before finals and you close at 10? This is an outrage. I'm in the Reg struggling for a place to study. I should not have to deal with this for $50,000 a year. The A-Level is closed, the 1st floor has limited space, what am I supposed to do?

There is always Harper Commons...open 24/7 until the end of finals week.

Unfortunately, we can't keep the Reg open in similar fashion: after Circ closes, there are only 2 staff on duty*—at Entry Control and the security desk—who generally can't leave their posts.

When the new cafe space opens in Winter Quarter, we're hopeful the additional seating will allow more people to take advantage of the first floor all-night study space. (We've heard that while the cafe itself will close in late evening, but the space will remain open all night.)

 

*Frequent users of the all-night space may spot an occasional reference librarian or reading room staff member on the first floor. Feel free to ask them questions, but they aren't really on duty...

 

Those Undergrads...

It would be nice if undergrads were not allowed into the library, or at least not during the month before finals. The undergrads are loud and take up study space.

Before the Suggestions Office gets stormed by irate "Reg Rats,"  we note that the comment is strangely ambigious about a specific venue, and subsequent attempts to glean further information went unanswered.

In any case, all locations of the University Library are open to College students.* While we admit that some locations focus on serving a particular Division or School,  this University holds that research and scholarly inquiry occurs at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and often such work cuts across traditional disciplinary lines.

This being said, we find that a polite request to any noisy colleagues nearby (coupled with a reference to the appropriate Library zone) serves well regardless of academic status. If the patron refuses to stop making noise, feel free to involve a Library staff member.

 

*The D'Angelo Law Library has limited access to non-Law students during reading period and finals. See Law Access and Privileges for more details.

Cold in the 4th floor bookstacks

Why is the ac on in the stacks on the fourth floor? It is freezing here and has been all week.

Our temperature logs for the northern end of the 4th floor bookstacks indicate normal temps (low 70s) for the past few days. We'll continue to keep an eye on the situation, though.

(Mechanical) Noise in Mansueto

There is consistently a high-pitched metallic noise in the Mansueto Library. It is very distracting and unpleasant. It would be very appreciated if the noise could be eradicated.

The Suggestions Office staff, when out and about in Mansueto, haven't noticed any high-pitched noise. However, it's been objectively verified that our hearing is disappearing (all that loud rock we listened to as kids), so we looked for a second, third, and fourth opinions.

Unfortunately no consensus emerged. Some colleagues say there's no sound in Mansueto at all. Others admit to hearing something, but chalk it up to the air handlers. So for now, we're going with "random airflow noise."

If you're hearing something different, let us know -- the dome is supposed to be a quiet zone, and we're not giving our equipment any freebies. Why, just the other day we had to crack down on a  robot [crane] with an uncovered coffee mug. You wouldn't believe what they try and get away with...

Setting the monitor in portrait mode

We would like to use the computers on the 1st level in portrait mode! There is obviously the physical capability to do so (the new mounts allow it), but the control panel setting to actually output the display to portrait mode is locked. I've already emailed IT services, but I thought that if the library agreed that it was a nice idea they might encourage IT to enable it. Enabling portrait mode would facilitate the mass of reading that students and others do on scanned documents! Thank you for considering it.

Our IT colleagues are understandably loath to unlock control features...but the keyboard shortcuts seem to work:

• CTRL+ALT+up arrow: landscape [default]
• CTRL+ALT+down arrow: upside-down/flipped  landscape
• CTRL+ALT+left arrow: portrait
• CTRL+ALT+right arrow: upside-down/flipped portrait

Please remember to put the display back in regular landscape mode when you finish, or else the next patron to use the PC might have an unpleasant surprise.

UPDATE: Our colleagues in the Library would like to (strongly) encourage you to leave the computer in landscape mode, as the next user may not be as monitor-savvy as you. Also, the computers on the monitor arms are maintained by the Library, not IT Services.

Please return reserve books where you borrowed them...

I was wondering if there was any way of requiring that course reserve materials checked out from the Reg should have to be returned at the Reg? It seems like the purpose of a short loan period is to make the material available to as many students in the course as possible, and having a book unavailable for anyone while it is "in transit" between libraries does not really support that goal. I understand that all students are busy, but I think requiring students to take an extra ten minute walk to return a book so that another student can use it makes more sense than having a book in transit between locations for 3 hours or more. I don't know if this is feasible, but it seems really reasonable!

We couldn't have said it better ourselves, and do ask that patrons return reserve materials to the locations where they checked the material out. (see:  http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/using/borrow/).

Admittedly, the problem is enforcement. We usually don't levy fines for materials returned to the wrong location, because our system is programmed to stop the fine clock (so to speak) once a book is checked in at any library. Transit time, if any, back to the shelf isn't counted against the patron.

This being said, we could certainly fine people for the time a reserve book spends in transit. (3 hours would be on the fast side -- sometimes we can't ship books immediately.) Another option would be to notify the instructor, especially if the "stuck in transit" problem occurs frequently with a specific book.

Both of these options, however, are rather big guns to fire: overdue fines -- $1/hour -- would rack up quickly, and instructors often come down pretty hard on students who appear to be obstructing use of reserve materials. If you notice a specific reserve title frequently "in transit" please tell us, but otherwise we're inclined to assume that someone just made an honest mistake. 

Interim Hours

I noticed today that the Crerar library changed its hours for the rest of the summer.  These weeks are crucial for graduate students writing dissertations. There were a lot of students in the first floor and all of us were wondering why you changed the hours at the end of the summer. There is no other space in the University with extended hours so I would really request that Crerar keep its normal summer hours.

Traditionally both Crerar and Regenstein have closed earlier in the evenings during interims/breaks. (Generally, 8pm for Regenstein and 10pm for Crerar.)

While we understand this inconveniences people who enjoy studying late into the night, having shortened hours during interim allows us to save some money. Further, this year we have a security guard doing walk-throughs of Crerar and Regenstein at closing, and this has required us to keep the closing times of both buildings within a few hours of each other.

Even with our reduced building hours, Crerar is still open over 90 hours each week. The building will also be open Labor Day, a University holiday, for 14 hours (8am-10pm).

 

Where did the call numbers go?

I'd like to comment on what appears to be a new feature in the Library Catalog (not LENS). When search results appear, it is no longer possible to see the call numbers for various items without clicking into the record. This seems to me to be an inefficient change to the catalog, and makes searching for items more difficult, frustrating, and time consuming. This does not seem to be an improvement, but rather somewhat of a step backward, and I hope that this is something that might be considered and changed.

Our apologies -- a few days ago we noticed that (keyword) search results were occasionally dropping their call numbers. Our crack Library IT staff is on the case.