A-level
GENERAL
1. However, the construction is at times distracting, and there
aren't enough study rooms, now that the A-level is not available
for the most part.
2. I would prefer more spaces to study where there are not so many
people in one room--like where the tables are broken up by
bookshelves or lockers, like on the north side of the 4th floor
reading room, as opposed to the south side. It's less distracting,
but also less claustrophobic than the carrels.
3. Lack of sufficient faculty work space in the library.
4. Focus on developing many inviting spaces for individual study
and group collaboration. In a place like Chicago, an inside city
for much of the school year, there is a huge need for third places
to provide for activities not accommodated by students' homes or
classrooms. The library should become more inviting and comfortable
for the complete process of study.
5. Materials are good, the libraries as study spaces are not so
much.
6. Lack of group study rooms and individual study cells in
general.
7. Study spaces can be cleaner.
8. Also, the study space is not as good as it could be.
Unfortunately, my division does not provide office space for
graduate students, and a carrel at the library just isn't quite the
same thing.
9. I mainly use the library as a place to study, but whenever I've
needed things there, they've been easy to find.
10. In addition, it would be great if there could be more study
rooms -- if that's possible.
11. Any negative ranks I gave the library have to do with the
construction and the study space.
12. There is absolutely nowhere to sit [speaking of
D'Angelo].
13. There are a nice variety of different types of study
spaces.
14. What are your plans for more space?
15. The lower level computer area was a great study space.
16. It would be nice if there were a designated quiet study area.
Also, perhaps group study rooms that would be reserved in advance,
and reserved for group meetings rather than private study.
17. NO space to study, NO study rooms, Not enough tables,
18. More big tables and fewer carrels would IMHO be much
nicer.
19. I would like improved work space in microforms
collection.
20. Why not update Harper into a useable study space instead of as
a warehouse for broken furniture? You could heat that space, add
more computers, and make it accessible instead of squeezing
everyone into the Reg.
21. Study spaces in my opinion do not aide or promote study. Harsh
light, little natural light, sometimes sizable environmental noise
(e.g. building related, not from other users). Comfortable chairs
do little more to help make a comfortable environment for studying
than for sleeping.
22. The library should be more inviting and comfortable for
students to go and study
23. In six years the shrinking space has become a problem for me.
Not only there is a lot more of undergrads, but they are
increasingly coming to the Reg rather than Harper. I do not find
this problematic in itself, but there should have been a parallel
concern to expand the available space which is now hosting a higher
amount of people.In addition to lack of space, entire parts of the
library seem to be chronically under construction, i.e. the fourth
floor - especially classics and its surroundings- and the A level.
In the A level it is even worse, because there is a lot of space
that could be used and is actually wasted because there are piles
of objects that have been there for a long time. To add another
problem, the previously spacious A level has now been shrinking
too, not only because they have left things as if it were a storage
for garbage, but also because half the space where tables were is
now occupied with stacks. The idea of constructing an extension to
the Reg sounds exciting, but more immediate solutions are required.
THIS IS A UNIVERSITY WHERE GRADUATE STUDENTS HAVE NO OFFICE SPACE,
THE LIBRARY IS OUR ONLY SPACE FOR WORK OUTSIDE OF OUR HOMES. It is
true that this situation has been the result of an institution with
a disproportionate amount of graduates. This has given the
university a lot of advantages, but the cost has been the
impossibility to offer office space for all graduate students. In
addition, as the Reg used to be an almost all-graduate research
library, it was a welcoming space to work. However, this situation
has been changed dramatically. Undergraduates are increasing their
numbers significantly, and they are at the library all the time.
They are understandably more noisy, but it makes graduate work more
difficult. So in a way we are going in the direction of the worst
of the possible worlds about this. Chicago is becoming just another
major institution where the uniqueness of the disproportionate
amount of graduate students is disappearing but at the same time
the benefits of a bigger undergrad population is not present. Most
universities with a number of undergrads grant more private spaces
to graduate students. Not only my office hours are in public spaces
that are sometimes noisy, but in addition there are problems about
being a TA and grading. I am afraid of leaving my stuff around when
I am grading, as any student could just flip a paper and see it
when I go for a coffee. The privacy required for graduate students
who teach undergrads is not available at the library. I THINK IT IS
REALLY UNFAIR THAT THE ISSUE OF SPACE IS NOT EVEN MENTIONED.
24. We should pack Regenstein with books rather than undergraduate
students. Alternatively, let's turn Harper into a research library
since it's already abandoned by undergraduates.
25. I am not being humorous here but I would suggest that you hire
a former high school librarian to police the ground floor of the
Reg. The amount of food eaten, cell phone calls taken, computer
spots littered is truly egregious.
26. I like the general sense of flexibility and casual setup of the
library.
27. Somehow improving the miserably depressing study spaces on the
stack floors in the regenstein (what matters above all to me is
improving air circulation.)
28. In the winter, Harper Library is only marginally warmer than
the outside temperature. Otherwise, that is my favorite study
space.
GROUP STUDY SPACES
29. Please add more group studying areas. A serious but completely
overlooked problem with the University is that it does not
encourage group study. It's bad enough we have to do that much
studying, but to want to study alongside someone and derive some
kind of enjoyment from it and not given enough space for it, it's
beyond my comprehension why this is the way it is. I'm sure there
are either other places in this world to selve books or to build
some more group study areas.
30. Devote more space to group study? Crerar and The Reg are
punishingly quiet at times...
31. More group study areas, perhaps enclosed rooms would be
helpful.
32. More group study space in crerar.
33. More study rooms/places for two or three person groups would be
good. The booths in the basement Crerar computer lab are fantastic.
The A-level in the Reg is seriously missed!
34. Group study areas?
35. Group study space in Regenstein, and in general, insufficient.
Rooms on the 4th
36. and 5th floor are unnecessarily large and there are too
few.
37. More group study space is needed in general, especially in the
Crerar, but also in the Regenstein.
38. I really like the group study space in the A level of the Reg
because of the white boards, tables and quick access to computers
if needed.
39. Please provide more group study spaces in A-level of Reg.
Currently groups are moving to study in other levels creating a lot
of disruption.
40. We couldn't find good group space to work.
41. During many times, I have trouble locating space to work,
especially in a group,
42. I would like to see more (and quieter) study spaces for small
groups. The fourth floor seminar rooms set aside room for 10-15
people, which is way more than usually occupy them (I typically see
2-4 people occupying the long tables). The A-Level cubicles get too
rowdy during the term to make them good places to work. If you
could make actual rooms for small groups, it would make my
experience of the library much more congenial.
43. The only problem I find with the library (Regenstein) these
days is that the group study spaces are often being taken up by
just one person studying alone, so that it is usually impossible to
find one free for a group. Also, the library feels very crowded,
but that's inevitable now that it has become a study hall for
undergraduates.
44. I think the library's greatest problem is lack of group study
space. It is the biggest problem for me personally, and the one I
most often hear people complaining about, especially after the
elimination of the A-level study space. I do realize that areas
that allow (relatively) quiet group study have undesirable
consequences that may seem counter-productive to the library's
aims, but they are invaluable resource that, right now, we are
seriously lacking.
45. And more group study space that isn't in the basement at the
tables
46. More availability for quiet group study areas in the Reg would
be fantastic.
47. Too few places to work as a group (not enough classrooms in
Crerar or in the Reg),
48. I love the A-Level group study cubicles.
49. It is very important to have conference rooms with adequate
blackboard
50. facilities. What I want is: a place where I can study with my
friends, in the library, and be able to be loud (or at least talk
in a normal voice). I rely heavily on group study, but ever since
the a-level has been turned into bookstacks, I don't have that
place.
INDIVIDUAL AND/OR QUIET STUDY SPACES
51. Also, more quiet study areas are needed and desktops should be
cleaned more periodically.
52. I would particularly be interested if, in the restoration,
there could be permanent study spaces for PhD students.
53. I think it is an awful shame that Humanities and Social
Sciences students do not have carrels. A university with such a
large graduate student population really ought to provide adequate
research space for its students. I also think the locker situation
at Regenstein is ridiculous. The lockers are not wide enough to
hold either my backpack or larger folio volumes.
54. There is NO quiet study space in the Reg. Lack of quiet study
space is my biggest current problem with the Library, and it often
keeps me from using the Library.
55. I wish there were more private study areas, and some more of
those nice wooden chairs they have in the north room of Harper
instead of all cushy ones.
56. I find there is a lack of study rooms, where one can go and
study in the privacy of a separate room. I often find giant study
rooms, which potentially can fit ten people, are monopolized by a
single person, especially in the Regenstein. It would be wonderful
and greatly appreciated if there were more single/double occupancy
individual study rooms, and the larger study rooms were actually
reserved for large study groups.
57. But I do wish there was more comfortable study space. It would
be nice if graduate students had carrels or some kind of assigned
study space, because I do find that things can get fairly loud up
on the fourth floor....
58. My experiences are limited to Crerar library, but I really wish
there were more private study rooms, because there are so few of
them there. Those rooms are great for group problem solving,
working on projects, and talking with students. But I very rarely
get to use them because they are nearly always occupied (and
sometimes by single individuals who could just as easily sit in the
regular seating). Also, throughout this winter, Crerar has been
freezing! This really isn't conducive to learning.
59. I want to go to the library for a quiet place to study, but
often students and library employees are talkative, which I find
distracting, at least in the small SSA library.
60. I find Regenstein too noisy for studying. D'Angelo used to be
good but the current construction makes it less so. Harper is quiet
but always seems to be too cold or too hot for comfort, and the
chairs are really ratty.
61. The library is often far too loud and exceptionally crowded. It
can make it hard to study. Designating some silent areas might
really help.
62. The current library at Gleacher (and Gleacher in general) has a
reprehensible lack of individual study space.
63. There should be at least one place on campus that folks can
find comfortable chairs to study in. Yet in no library (or even
coffee shop) is there such a location. I can't understand it, as at
Harvard there were dozens of places to study.
64. I wish both Eckhart and Regenstein had more inviting/enjoyable
study spaces (New furniture, more comfortable chairs, etc.)
65. Need better individual study area with sufficient lighting and
quiet/comfort space.
66. More insulated spaces for individual study
67. More private study rooms are desired.
68. Graduate students really need a quiet, comfortable library
space in which to work.
69. I used to work in the library daily. The construction noise and
hassle drove me away last summer and I haven't been back. A quiet
yet public work space is essential... doctoral work is extremely
isolating, and my quality of life has deteriorated since I have
been unable to tolerate the conditions of the library.
70. Space available, especially for those students ACTUALLY
studying and wishing to do so in a relaxing and completely quiet
environment.
71. The library is no longer a setting for quiet study and
research. It has become a student union for undergraduates.
72. I'd like to see cleaner carrels and more isolated study
spaces.
73. The construction this year has been extremely detrimental to
study conditions -- I used to stay in the stacks for hours to work
quietly, but this year, it has been noisy, dusty, and
freezing/burning -- I feel homeless without my usual spot and
certainly feel that my productivity has declined significantly.
Otherwise, I love the library and prefer it to my apartment.
74. Greater assurances for quiet study in the library, including in
the downstairs computer lab;
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1. WHY did you take away the A-level? So sad. And the outside of
Crerar isn't well lit at night, so it's a little creepy.
2. The A-level in the Reg is seriously missed!
3. What happened to the A-Level at Regenstein?
4. I miss the A-Level.
5. You should not have moved the 24 hour study space to Crerar. I
am very disappointed with that.
6. Why take away the all-night study space? There's no damn group
study space at Crerar and it's like a tomb. I'd rather kill myself
than go to Crerar again.
7. I was abroad autumn quarter of this year and returned to find
the all-night study space moved from the Regenstein to Crerar. This
is possibly the most useless and frustrating thing the library
could have done. The Regenstein is used by the majority of
undergraduate students (who are the ones to use the all-night study
space), and it's fairly ridiculous and, more importantly, extremely
unsafe to leave the Reg at 1am to go over to Crerar, which has a
horrible atmosphere completely inconducive to studying.
Furthermore, leaving the all-night study space at Crerar is made
even more unsafe because there are no street lights on Ellis. As
for the A-level in the Reg, I don't think I've once seen a single
person even attempt to find a book in the shelves that have been
placed there. A productive resource was taken away. It was the best
space to work on group projects and to meet for exam review with
other classmates. The move was just ludicrous. It would be
sincerely appreciated if the A-level were converted back to the
productive space it used to be, rather than a place to shelve dusty
volumes that are never touched. As for adhering to the needs of the
graduate students over those of the undergrads (which were the
terms in which a member of the library staff explained the moveto
me), I selected to come to the University of Chicago because of the
focus that was purportedly placed on undergraduates. Other than the
all-night study space move, I would rank the overall quality of the
library as 9. The change, however, brings it down to a 5 for my
needs and for the majority of the undergraduate regular users of
the library.
8. Also, sometimes people do not understand that the library should
be a quiet place for study and not for socializing. This seems to
have gotten worse to me after the fact that the A-level is no
longer used as a study space.
9. I miss the A-level (Crerar is too depressing) :(
10. It would be nice if the Reg stayed open later instead of
Crerar
11. The A-Level of the Reg. is missed.
12. Crerar can't handle the capacity that the Reg used to. And the
A-level needs to come back as soon as possible.
13. The Reg was a much better overnight study space rather than out
of the way Crerar.
14. I know that there is the Crerar Study space but there are no
vending machines (the drink vending machine does not work) and it
is not convenient for the shuttles.
15. The loss of the A-Level in the Reg is a tragedy, although I
understand that those books had to be put somewhere. Longer hours
in the Reg would still be nice though. People who study regularly
in the Reg do not like to go to Crerar---it's different atmosphere
disrupts their studies, and often they have lockers in the
Reg.
16. The A-Level was essential. Not having it during my senior year
was, I believe, detrimental to my education.
17. I wish Reg were open 24/7.
18. With the expansion of the Regenstein, the A-Level was closed as
an overnight study space, and all the study tables were moved. I
feel that the A-Level was an integral part of my experience here as
an undergraduate, and the fact that there is no similar space with
the atmosphere the A-Level created is really a terrible
development. With the popularity of the A-Level, I would have hoped
that the expansion would have left it intact and found another form
of storage space. The movement of the A-Level is one of the most
disappointing changes for me here at the University, and since I
have not been as satisfied with a space for study.
19. But I do witsh you would give us the A-level back for an all
night study space! The room at Crerar is difficult for finding a
private space to study since it's all tables. Despite this, there's
no room for group study there, either, since you have to stay quiet
for everyone else in the room. If there's been a dip in the average
GPA of the college, then it's probably because you took the A-level
away.
20. Bring back the A-level!
21. Everyone I talk to, including myself, wants the A-level
reopened as all-night study space. I understand that there is a
severe space shortage, but the A-level being open all night
significantly contributed to the social life of the campus. People
miss this.
22. Make the Reg open 24 hours. Crerar isn't bad, but access to the
Reg's stacks at night would be nice.
23. BRING THE A-LEVEL BACK!!! U OF C IS NOT THE SAME WITHOUT
IT!
24. Please bring back A-level at the Regenstein, or some sort of
overnight service. It is ideal location for bus stops if a person
is studying late at night.
25. Please bring the all-night study space to the regenstein
A-level. It is more accessible and most students who wish to study
late are already at the Regenstein at closing time. It would be
nice not to have to switch buildings.
26. The loss of the all night study space in the Regenstein Library
is atrocious. Students depended on its convenient location and
hospitable atmosphere. Crear is a wonderful atmosphere for
graduates but it does not work well for undergraduates and is not
large enough.
27. Please bring back the all night study space on the A-Level of
the Regenstein.
28. I don't like the all-night study space in Crerar. The Reg
A-Level was much more comfortable!
29. Moving the all-night study space elsewhere on campus and
possibly moving undergradu
30. The loss of the A-level has sent chatty people all over the
Reg.
31. I also wish we still had the A-Level All Night Study Space. I
miss it greatly. I love the A-Level group study cubicles.
32. You really shouldn't have closed down the 24 hour A level!
Crerar is nice but not the same. I know so many students who are
sad and outraged. Also, Crerar is far away and the path there is
not well-lit. It's dangerous.
33. BRING BACK THE A-LEVEL ALL NIGHT STUDY SPACE!!!!!!!!
34. I also really miss the A-level, which I think was the best
thing ever about the library and has left a large hole in the
library services.
35. There needs to be an all-night group study space. No one
appreciates getting kicked out of Crerar study rooms by having a
security guard call the police-it's absurd.
36. Open Reg. A level 24 hours for students!! Crerar is too far
away from my home, and I even don't feel safe when I leave the
Library. so I gave up using Crerar over night study place since
winter quarter.but I strongly desire to study!
37. About the allnight study space. Crerar is a terrible spot for
the all night space. The lighting is poor, too dark. There aren't
enough computers. There is no printing. Crerar is not close to any
spot to get food. The cafe in the basement is permanently closed.
The space is also too small.
38. I am looking forward to the A-level being open all night
again.
39. However, I am so dissappointed that the A-level was ruined. 24
hour study there was SO much better than Cerar. Crerar is dark and
depressing and not near any eateries. It is also physically less
safe there in terms of muggings in the nearby area (you have to
wait for the drunk van in dark, isolated places). Before someone
gets mugged, I would recommend moving all night study back to the
Reg. Also, Please reconfigure the A-level for social studying again
and an atmosphere that finally made the u of c cool.
POSITIVE
40. Since closing the A-level for 24-hr study, Crerar has provided
a better study space, yet it does not have all the friendly
resources.
41. and I particularly like that Crerar is open 24 hours.
42. I also appreciate very much that it is now open overnight, as
grad studies tend to creep into the wee hours of the night more
often than not. [regarding Crerar]
43. However, I strongly appreciate the 24 hours of operation at the
Crerar library. If the Regenstein were open for longer hours, or
some nights for 24 hours, I would take much more advantage of
it
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