Recently completed upgrades to the second floor of McKeldin Library are a sign of changes the university hopes to eventually phase in throughout the building, officials said.
Over the summer, the university remodeled the library’s second floor and dubbed it the Terrapin Learning Commons, which features more computers, printers and scanners; more electrical outlets and warmer colors on the walls and floor.
“It’s kind of a community center in a way that has an academic focus,” Libraries Dean Patricia Steele said.
Steele envisions similar changes for the rest of McKeldin, beginning with its first floor, but those ideas remain far in the future without concrete plans or funding sources just yet. A recent review of the university’s libraries showed the system was still millions of dollars in the red.
More immediately, McKeldin’s new Terrapin Learning Commons will feature new carpets and additional new, more comfortable furniture for students who come to the library, as well as access to more electronic journals for students who study elsewhere, Steele said.
“The way libraries are being used is changing dramatically,” she said. “A lot of what you want is having the information, the resources and the support wherever you are, whether that be in a building called a library or in your apartment, your dorm room or seated out on the commons.”
The Terrapin Learning Commons has already proved to be a popular destination for a number students and study groups thus far.
“I love it,” senior finance and international business major Woo Seok Yoo said. “It used to be so bland and just all one color. When I first came here freshman year, I thought this place was so boring, but I came in here at the beginning of the year and was just like, ‘Wow, this is pretty cool.’ … Now I always come to the second floor to study.”
Changes Steele hopes to incorporate by next fall — which the library system couldn’t afford in this summer’s remodeling — include more furniture replacements, more electronics and some television monitors. Officials also hope to begin work in January on two new graduate-only spaces in McKeldin — a lounge on the second floor and a study space on the third floor.
Many of the changes will be driven by student feedback and officials will use trial and error to determine what works and what doesn’t, Steele said. For example, she said, a furniture company will leave a sample of a table it sells that includes numerous electrical outlets for students to try out and give feedback on.
“We believe in ‘try it before you buy it,’ so we’re going to do that as much as possible as we look at new things for the floor,” she said. “It will reveal itself; it will be a constantly changing thing.”
But money remains tight. Steele said a recent external study of university libraries revealed that the system was underfunded by $10 million. She said the library does have money from its operational budget and a lot of support from the provost’s office.
Steele also said a new student technology fee approved for this year will generate $3 million exclusively for the libraries, much of which will be used to get more electronic resources.
And while much of the new “vision” is still in the pre-planning stage, Steele said once it is more concretely outlined and articulated, it will become much easier to raise the necessary funds for the improvements.
Until then, many students said they are content with McKeldin for the moment. When asked what the library could do to make it even better for students, senior finance and operations management major Jeffrey Wei just looked around the Terrapin Living Commons and replied, “Just make all the rest of the rooms like this.”
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