Drexel Students Need Bigger Library

By Nicolle Morales Kern

A young man with dark hair walks into the computer kiosk area of the first floor, scanning over the tops of the hexagon-shaped kiosks with partitions. Just when it seems he found an empty spot, it turns out there was another student already there. After two minutes of waiting to see if anyone would leave, he looks toward the 11 open tables set up in the lobby only to find that each was taken. With a sigh he heads toward the stairs to the second floor to try his luck there, joining the ranks of students searching for a place to study.

Drexel is set on making its mark in the Philadelphia community and that includes expansion of already existing or new buildings to accommodate an increasing student population. However, some students planned a library “study-in” on May 7 to show that the W.W. Hagerty Library, located on 33rd and Market streets, has to grow.

The National Center for Education Statistics shows that the total enrollment for Drexel in Fall of 2008 was 21,537 students, when 13,572 were undergraduates. Currently, there are 13,484 undergraduate and 9,009 graduate and professional students, which brings the total to 22,493 students. To accommodate this influx in population, new residence halls and additional eateries have been built.

The presence of more students means that more people are using the already available space and some students feel that is important for the library to grow.

Freddy Padilla, a senior in the five-year program for biological sciences explained that during his time at Drexel the demand has definitely increased. He uses the library about three to five times a week depending on assignments due, things to be printed, and computer usage.

“The set up isn’t bad, but I wish it were bigger. Especially during finals weeks,” Padilla said.

Some changes that could be made Padilla suggested are more desk space and more easily accessible computers, since sometimes the kiosks on the first floor are taken and he does not like going to the lab in the basement because of poor cell reception or there is a class being held.

“If there was better WiFi access, I would bring my own laptop. But I know tons of people who have problems with it,” he said.

W.W. Hagerty Library was named after former Drexel President William Walsh Hagerty and opened in 1983. A framed State of Occupancy notice from the city of Philadelphia marks the maximum capacity approved for the years 1981 to 1983 and hangs behind the circulation desk. The Dean of Libraries did not know the current number for maximum capacity.

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and law school students share Hagerty as the third floor was recently renovated into the Earle Mack School of Law Legal Research Center. During law school finals weeks, which usually fall during the regular undergraduate terms, the third floor is restricted to use by law students only. The library is also open to the public and non-Drexel students until 5 p.m.

As a second-year law student and Cornell University undergraduate, Omar Graham uses the library all the time to read, study and to use the Internet or to rent headphones from the circulation desk.

Used to a school that has seven libraries that a student can easily hide in, one of the main things Graham does not like about Hagerty is the inability to find a secluded study spot that is not easily found. Another is the hexagon-shaped atrium immediately seen from the entrance. Topped with a sky light it allows for good lighting, but also carries all sounds from the ground to third floors.

“I can hear everything from the guards’ walkie-talkies to people coming through the turnstile,” Graham said.

What Graham looks for in a library is a space to be able to do work and the ability to study.

In terms of improvement, he is not looking for something aesthetically pleasing, but functionally bigger. Some of his suggestions are to increase desk space and make lounge and study spaces less integrated.

The current Dean of University Libraries, Dr. Danuta Nitecki, joined the Drexel staff in January 2010 and is still exploring how the library runs and how it is used. Previously employed as Yale’s Assistant University Librarian for Public Services, she is in charge of running all Drexel libraries. Her goal is to build on the traditional two roles of a library, as a place to access information and as a place to come and study, to expand it to a learning environment she said.

“It is clearly heavily used and we’re in the process of planning to create spaces. We don’t just want to say that we want more space, but to reconfigure what we already have,” Nitecki said.

Through talks with stakeholders, focus groups with students and general observation of how the library is used, Nitecki said she will then be able to determine exactly what needs to be improved or changed.

“By instinct I would say the library is used for groups [work and projects], borrowing text books, and to come see and be seen,” Nitecki said.

Another use for the library is to hang out with friends as well as get some work done. Claire Olivar, a graduating senior studying corporate and public relations, is in the library every day for this exact reason.

She mainly uses the 24-hour Bookmark Café area that is separated from the main body of the library by a set of double doors. Students are required to scan through this to prevent them from bringing full meals and Taco Bell into the library.

“It’s probably not big enough. It could use more outlets, more tables, and quiet areas because everyone is too noisy; also more printers and copiers and better scanners because they’re really slow,” Olivar said.

Oreste Jimenez, a part-time chemical engineer major and the evening and weekend supervisor at Hagerty, agreed that the library is limited and that more room is needed for everything such as students, books, and computers.

What many people may not know is that Drexel already uses the Drexel One Plaza building for off-sight storage.

“What we do have we use to its fullest. I rarely see this place empty. Most complaints pertain to lack of space as a result some areas being restricted,” Jimenez said.

Hagerty is currently under renovation to replace the floor of the basement and the second floor has new carpeting, reupholstered chairs, and new desk space along the wall of the atrium.

“We have to think of something ergonomic that’s not cramped,” Jimenez said of future renovations.