Maroon Opinions

Lockers and Hot Water Taps (though not necessarily together)

As a frequent library user, I would like to make some suggestions...

...it would be nice to have a water station that also has hot water on the first floor of the Reg. Ex-libris as well as other cafes on campus closes on weekends and during interims /breaks, and there is no way to get hot water. This is very crucial during the winter times, when it is very cold. I think one solution would be to install the water hydration stations like the ones in the Maroon Market, Hutchinson Commons and Midway Market. Instead of buying bottled water, people can fill up their bottles with filtered water (hot or cold) for free there.

Thirdly, it would be convenient to have lockers installed in the Crerar library. Crerar is the only library that stays open late consistently on weekdays and weekends during the interims and breaks. But there are no lockers to keep personal belongings. It is impossible to carry laptops or personal items all the time, and this is one of the main reasons that keep students from going to Crerar. It would be nice to at least have coin lockers, so people can leave their belongings in for a short while without having to worry about theft.

It seems a well-kept secret, because we hardly ever see anyone using it, but there is a hydration station on the first floor of the Reg. Admittedly, it only dispenses cold water.

However, when Ex Libris is open, we've noticed the cafe staff will often fill up your cup with hot water (note "yours" -- don't ask for a free cup) if you ask nicely.

***

We get occasional requests for lockers in Crerar (see this post), and while it might seem a fairly trivial exercise to move some of the lockers in Regenstein across Ellis Avenue, there's actually staff costs involved in maintaining locker operations.  We've achieved some economies of scale at the Reg -- locker rental being one of many services offered by our multi-talented IPO staff -- but it's not something we can replicate at Crerar without significant time from our circ staff.

We're also a little worried about uncharged Library material being "cached" in lockers -- in the past, we've had problems with patrons hoarding materials at both Regenstein and Crerar. (The old-timers in the Suggestions Office remember regularly discovering O-Chem textbooks squirreled away on the 2nd floor.)

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).

 

Lights out in Crerar

Some of the lights above the desks against the east wall on the second floor of Crerar are missing their motion detectors, so they don't turn on. I was just wondering if this is a known issue and if/when it will be fixed. Thanks!

We'll investigate and place a repair request with University Facilities. Thanks for letting us know.

More bike racks at Crerar

#1, why is art history not on the departmental list?

#2, I'd like to comment that there are nowhere NEAR enough bike-racks outside Crear library! This poses both a security problem (for the bikes) and a safety one (for anyone trying to use the myriad hand railings that have bikes locked up on them). Since I heard earlier this summer that Crear has some money to upgrade some things, please let this suggestion come under consideration. The woman at the desk in Crear thought I should submit this observation here, for best results. Thank you!

You can tell we're getting close to the start of the school year...suggestions are starting to roll in!

Regarding #1, we mean no slight to Art History. Sorry. However, your question (in typical U of C fashion) has spawned a more wide-ranging discussion about the purpose/efficacy of asking patrons to specify their department. We may even discard the list altogether--stay tuned.

Regarding #2, the campus bike racks come under the purview of University Facilities, not the Library. We'll mention this to them if opportunity presents, although nobody in the Library has heard of any plans to install additional racks.

Can you vacuum some other time, please?

I'd like to make a suggestion that the library schedule loud/disruptive cleaning activities earlier in the morning, or after hours? It is 10 am on Monday morning. I had come to the Crerar library hoping to get some work done in a *quiet* environment. Instead, the janitor has been vacuuming the floor for almost an hour now, I had to move out of her way, and I anticipated at least 3 more hours before she will be done with an area in my vicinity.

This is not a comment on the quality of the work, nor a complaint on the janitor herself. The lady is very nice, but, unfortunately, her work prevents me from doing mine.

Because we're locking up Crerar at nights now, vacuuming and other custodial activities have to take place during the day. That being said, the custodians are supposed to vacuum first thing in the morning so that they are minimally intrusive. We believe the person working today was a substitute.

The University contracts with an outside company to provide custodial services to Crerar, the Reg, and other campus buildings, so we'll talk with the supervisor and reiterate our request for early vacuuming.

Noise in Crerar

I often study in Crerar. It would be nice if there was a better identification of the noise level allowed on each floor or in each area. I often have to ask students to stop their conversations while studying on the second or third floor. I feel bad having to be "that person," but I go to the library to work in a quiet space. If students were better informed of the noise level expected of them, we may avoid such problems.

[During recent days in the Suggestions Office, we feel as if we were living during the fall of Rome. If Crerar is now too noisy, it's time to admit the barbarians have taken over and head for Ireland.]

We rejoice that you are taking the initiative and asking people who are too noisy to quiet down. If they don't take kindly to your suggestion, please feel free to ask for help from Library staff.

We'll see if we can make the signs about noise more prominent, or otherwise call attention to the policy.

Crerar 3rd Floor Bathroom

Please fix the stall doors in Men's bathroom on Crerar, 3rd floor. Thanks!

We've reported the door that doesn't lock. Thanks for letting us know.

Noise on the First Floor of Crerar

It seems to me that the librarians at Crerar make more noise than any of the patrons when they walk through study areas. It seems like they don't even attempt to keep their voices down.

By "study areas" we assume you're referring to the first floor, rather than the second or third. Some amount of noise on the first floor is inevitable, because the reference desk is in that area and we need to be able to converse with patrons. (Ditto for the USITE employee handling computer queries.) However, we've asked our colleagues to keep their voices down when not at the desk.

Outlets in Crerar and Noise

1) Many tables in Crerar do not have nearby outlets, which makes them not useful for actual studying (almost everyone uses a laptop, it seems like).

2) I have multiple times heard the janitorial staff having long conversations on the phone while cleaning the floor or otherwise working within the library. This is not conducive to studying.

In 2006 the University hired electrical contractors to install 300 additional outlets in Crerar, so that almost 50% of the desks had a nearby outlet. So things are better than they were but (as you point out) still not ideal. While "more outlets" is on our wish list, it's unlikely to happen soon.

This being said, is there a particular area that is bereft of outlets? We might be able to reconfigure furniture or make other changes that make the situation more bearable.

Regarding the noise, we'll talk to the custodial folks. (The janitors aren't University employees -- Facilities contracts the job to an outside company.)

Noise in Crerar

Did anyone consider the noise implications of moving the Crerar Usite cluster up to the first floor? The first floor bank of computers used to be the only place where one could work at a computer in a quiet atmosphere. Now with the increased traffic and people asking the Usite help people for computer assistance and various staff members loudly discussing the transition, it is just as noisy as every where else in this university library system. The upper floors are quiet, but the computers are not set up for convenient work because they are not placed at desks. I relocated to Crerar because of noise at the Reg. Where should I go now?

We checked with the Crerar folks, and they said: "While overall the John Crerar Library is a very quiet library, the 1st floor has always been considered a discussion area because it contains the Reference Desk, which at times can be a busy service point."

"While the 1st floor is a high activity area, the lower level, 2nd and 3rd floors are considered quiet spaces. As you mentioned the computers on the 2nd and 3rd floor are not ideal for continuous use because they are on kiosk stands and not tables, however you may want to consider using the Library computer on the lower level of the library, which is located on a table. Your other option would be to use one of the NSIT computers located further away from the Reference/Computing Assistant Desk to avoid the noise created by staff assisting patrons."