During winter break, the Undergraduate Library started some new renovation and reconstruction projects to provide more assistance and accessibility to students. Many students use the Undergraduate Library, but they have problems with some of the resources provided there.

“I really hate the outlet situation at the Undergrad,” said Shiraz Hazrat, sophomore in LAS.

Some of the main projects over winter break were:

Electrical infrastructure upgrade

“There will be an improved electrical distribution system in the building and great expansion of the number of outlets in the building for students to use,” said Lisa Hinchliffe, head librarian.

Advanced technology

“This spring we look forward to completing the electrical upgrade, upgrading laptops that we have for in-library use and expanding our investigations into how to make library materials and services better accessible from cell phones and other mobile devices,” Hinchliffe said.

General cleanup and maintenance

The library faculty completed the between-semester project of reshelving library items, cleaning tables and generally picking up and reorganizing the facility over winter break.

“The library does look a lot cleaner than it did before break, and it seems like there was a lot of work done in here,” said Katy Sover, sophomore in Education.

Even though there are changes going on, some students still like the Undergraduate Library.

“They have these big open tables, they provide a lot of room to work on, and it’s pretty cool that they’re making some changes here,” Hazrat said.

Updated and converted media

Lisa Hinchliffe, head librarian, said that the library “converted media items to a new computer system that will improve inventory practices and also display media items checked out along with books in MyAccount in the Library Online Catalog.”

She also added that “through MyAccount, library users can also renew media items themselves instead of calling the Undergraduate Library.”