Despite 900 new spaces added in the ECC, there have been three areas where seats have been lost. The biggest is a 1,300 seat loss from closing Reading Rooms 5, 6 and 7 on the fifth floor of the Centennial Library, which have been converted to offices for the Graduate Law School. The other 340 seats lost are from the 7th floor of the International Education Building and Reading Room 2 in the basement of the Centennial Library.
“Many students looked forward to a reading room in the ECC when it was under construction but we did not expect it to come together with other lost studying spots,” said Park Yoo-ha (English Education, 2).
Another problem students complain about is that the newly built reading rooms in the ECC are only open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., unlike the fifth floor of the Centennial Library, which used to close at 12 p.m. “We plan to open the reading rooms only until 10 p.m. this semester. We are not sure yet whether we will extend the time during the exam period,” said a staff member in charge of the ECC reading room.
“Students should not only consider the number of the seats in the reading rooms but also their quality. The space allocated to each student is much larger in the ECC reading rooms and also accessibility has improved,” said Kim Young-sim who is the director of the Office of University Planning and Coordination (OUPC).
Many students have not noticed the loss of the 340 seats outside the 5th floor of the Centennial Library. Reading Room 2 in the lower level of the Centennial Library, which had about 240 seats, was changed to a Graduate Reading Room during the winter and is no longer open to undergraduate students. Also, the Reading Room located on the seventh floor of the International Education Building, which had about 100 seats, was changed to the Scranton College Administrative Office during the summer vacation.
“I was perplexed to find out that the reading room was gone when I came back from summer vacation. I think the school should have notified us about this decision in advance,” said Jung Hae-ji (International Studies, 1).
The Student Government Association (SGA) of Scranton College is demanding that the school take some action to make up for the lost spaces. “The school promised to open Room 1401 of the International Education Building when there are no classes, until late at night. But we are also demanding that the International Information Center, which is located on the sixth floor of the building and closes at 7 p.m., to extend its opening hours,” said Jung Seung-yeon (International Studies, 3) who is the president of the Scranton College SGA.
Students are worried, as this fall semester is their first time without access to the fifth floor of the Centennial Library. “The school should find some solution for the lost seats before the midterm period or students might not have places to study. The Centennial Library is already humid and crowded during the exam period. So I can’t even imagine the hardships students will go through with fewer seats,” said Kim Da-hee (Philosophy, 3).
According to the OUPC which controls the space coordination of the school, there is no specific plan to build new library or Reading Room on campus yet. “To build any new library on campus, we need to make a close examination of the demand for seats and it takes a long time considering the complexity of the decision making procedure,” said Kim.
“The seats in the library have never been full after the start of the seat allocation system. We also think that there will not be any deficiency this semester either. If there are problems arising from the lack of seats, the school will find some other ways to solve the problems then,” said the Director of the Centennial Library.
Although there is no specific plan on building new Reading Room the school is trying to make efficient use of spaces that currently exist. “We are planning to reorganize the seats in the ECC reading rooms to arrange for more study spots. Also there are about 1,100 seats provided by various departments on campus. It will be helpful if students make effective use of them,” said Kim.
- 기자명 고은혜 기자
- 입력 2008.09.16 13:05
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