Bowman Library Gets a Refresh By Linda Smith Dean of Library Services
And to brighten everything, the Library got a paint job in the two main rooms of the Library, the group study room, the Library’s classroom, and the hallway. A new, more efficient, more modern circulation desk was installed.
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n Fall of 2014, a group of students from a Business Communication class made a presentation to the librarians on ways to improve Bowman Library. Anne Linvill, Instruction and Circulation Services Librarian, worked with two of the communication class students, Rachael Gianoli ’15 and Garrett Gemgnani ’16 to put together two focus groups to gain more insight into what students wanted from their library. Student suggestions included: more quiet spaces in the Library; longer hours; more study rooms; and availability of tea and coffee. The results of the focus group motivated the librarians to hire a library space consultant who visited the Library for halfa-day in January 2015 and offered ideas on remodeling the Library. Working with her suggestions and some of their own, the librarians made some changes to the Library this past summer.
Jon and Ann Bowman, benefactors of the Bowman Library, visited during Menlo’s recent OAKtoberFest.
Several spaces were reconfigured so that more computers were put in the main room, which is a non-quiet area, freeing up space in the Tech Center for more quiet study carrels. To address the need for more group study space, several large tables were moved around in order to allow for easier group and project work, and group study rooms got new tables and chairs. The Library’s classroom got an overhaul, with a large projection screen, ensuring much easier viewing from all parts of the room and a much improved teaching environment.
Thanks to help from the Security Department, Bowman Library has been able to offer extended hours on a regular basis after library staff leaves for the day. A security guard keeps the main room of the Library open until 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights, and until 3 a.m. the last two weeks of the semester through finals. Bowman Library has also been able to meet students’ request for tea and coffee and received feedback in a handwritten note: “To whom it may concern, thank you very much for maintaining this station. It means a lot to us students.” Thanks to ideas from students, Bowman Library has been able to provide a better study and meeting space for students. [Read how students also redesigned the campus store, page ten]
The glistening new circulation desk and newly painted walls make the library look more modern and the workflow feel more manageable for students and librarians Melissa Pincus, Linda Smith, Cheryl Collins, Marie Varelas, Anne Linvill , and Tricia Soto. 30
W I N T ER 2016