Students scramble for library space

By Katie Powers

Like adjusting after a break-up, students are coping with the loss of Orradre Library. After going through the first finals week without the comforts of a permanent library, some are already reminiscing, while are worrying about the next five quarters before the new library is finished.

Take Molly Scudder, who typically gets coffee in the early morning to prepare for a long day of studying. She turns right out of habit but is disappointed when she sees a large crater where Orradre once stood.

"I miss walking through the automatic doors, through the turnstile -- stopping and knowing exactly where go to depending on what I had to do," said the senior political science and French major. "When I think of going to the library, I still think I'm going to Orradre."

Scudder is one of the many students who are disoriented without a central library on campus. Orradre's absence isn't hard to miss; one can't help but notice the gaping 45,000-square-foot hole in the center of campus where it once stood, and the alternatives just don't seem to stack up.

"You saw more people in Orradre. It was the center of campus," said Scudder. Now students are scattered between temporary locations, including the interim library, Nobili Hall, Benson Memorial Center, Kennedy Commons and wherever else students can muster.

The Learning Commons and Library, Santa Clara's new, unnamed library, won't be finished until fall of 2008. That leaves students with five more quarters of temporary facilities. The interim library provides all the services that Orradre once did, and Nobili Hall is the biggest new study space but is not staffed with librarians.

The separation between facilities has bothered some students. "I just wish you could check out books at Nobili," said Scudder.

Since the induction of the temporary facilities, students and administrators have been most concerned with the heavy demand during finals week. Fall quarter's finals gave students a taste of what's to come for the next two years. Though students are accustomed to studying in the library for finals, many stuck to their room this year.

Junior Laura Fowler studied in Nobili during the quarter, but she spent her finals week in her room. "I was mostly writing papers, so I just did that on my computer in my room," she said. "I like Nobili, though. I've never seen it too crowded. I don't think a lot of people know about it, so it doesn't get too busy."

Sophomore Jenny Heap had a different problem. "Nobili was definitely too crowded," she said. "If you really wanted a silent room to study, then there wasn't room."

Heap used her own gusto in Nobili to find a spot. "We broke into a random meditation room and some guy came to pray ... while we were there," she said. "We left to respect his religion."

While Orradre housed 996 reader seats, the interim library only holds 213 seats. The Nobili study space holds 134. Combined, that makes 347 seats, which only makes up about 35 percent of what was available in Orradre. "It hasn't been an issue most of the quarter, but during dead weak it's been packed," said senior Brian Kelly, vice president of finance for Associated Students, while studying in a conference room in Nobili Hall during finals last quarter. "The only way you can get a table is if you know someone," he said.

After assessing the total head counts from finals, however, Chief Information Officer Ron Danielson was actually disappointed in the turnout.

The total number of students during the week before finals and finals week itself was 3,385 for the interim library, 2,277 for Nobili and 2,960 in Benson. These numbers amounted to only half of the number of students who used Orradre in a typical week.

"There were fewer people using the interim and Nobili than we would have expected in Orradre," said Danielson. "We need to try to find out why that is."

And the number of students using the library facilities before Thanksgiving break last quarter was even fewer. According to head counts provided by Sean Reinhart, former help services coordinator, the number of people studying in Nobili dramatically increased during the 10th week and finals.

While the weekly total of people in Nobili for from Nov. 6 to 11 was 753, the total for the 10th week of the quarter was 1,645. That's more than double the numbers before Thanksgiving.

"It's like the C and E people," said senior Megan McCoy while studying for finals in Nobili. "You're a regular at mass and then on Christmas and Easter you come and your spot is taken."

On Sunday night of finals last quarter, sophomore Phil Longbrake said at least a dozen people came into the interim library to find it packed, looked around, and then left.

Kelly, who said he detests the interim library, thinks the university did not have a good enough plan for the temporary library spaces.

"What they made it sound like is that the trailer would be better than it is," he said, referring to the interim library. According to Danielson, the location of the interim library was the only plausible location, and the university made it as big as possible.

Kelly suggested that the Nobili library space should include the large room on the south of Nobili that was once used as the Jesuit's Dining Hall. University Librarian Helene Lafrance said the library did try to acquire that room, but was denied. The dining room will be used for special events on campus and will be available to Adobe Lodge and Bon Appetite, according to Danielson.

Reinhart said that the university library is in a period of sacrifice right now because the library was and will be a major meeting place on campus.

"The library is a major center for learning, activity and group studies. It's not 100 percent right now, but it's just not possible to be," he said.

Library staff has also had to adjust. Lafrance, who has worked at the library for 11 years, said, "I feel like we cannot help the students or faculty as much because before, if no one was at the information desk, students would drop by my office," which was located in the information commons of Orradre. "Now students will e-mail or call me, and I'll meet them in (the interim library)," she said.

The temporary library facilities are experimenting with new furniture to get a sense of what works and what doesn't, according to Danielson. This included the set-up of the main reading room in Nobili and the rolling furniture. "That long, undulating table is similar to something that we saw at another institution that was popular with their students," he said.

Modern touches will likely be present in the Learning Commons and Library. Lafrance said the design of the new library and the interim spaces is following a cross-country trend of libraries emphasizing social connections, with chic comfy seating and lattes on site.

"The idea of a quiet study space is disappearing," she said. "For undergraduates, it's great because they spend so much time on the computer. It's fine here because we don't have a lot of graduate study."

Scudder said she was excited for the new library but said she wasn't sold on the trend.

"Give me a library. Make it traditional. Make it all wood," she said. "I want to feel like I'm going to an institution of higher learning. Not all this technological 'blah blah.' "

Contact Katie Powers at (408) 554-4546 or krpowers@scu.edu.