Before the basement computer lab in the English Building was remodeled, Rebecca Kaplan, junior in LAS, occasionally felt the presence of the building’s ghost, an urban legend on campus. However, after new carpet, a fresh coat of paint and additional technology were added in December, Kaplan said the lab is now “airy and spacious.”  

CITES plans to bring similar updates to all six of its instructional computer services labs. The Undergraduate Library’s ICS lab has already undergone some renovations, and the Illini Union ICS lab will follow once the UGL is finished. CITES hopes to renovate each of its labs in the same fashion as the English Building ICS lab, also known as 8 English.

“There were a lot of deficiencies in that space (English Building),” said Lori Beeson, facilities coordinator for CITES. “It had not been remodeled for several years, even though the technology was updated often.”

8 English had leaking windows and pipes, along with electrical conduit visible on the ceiling and on the crumbling walls. There was a loud and inefficient cooling unit in the middle of the room and some broken flooring.

Kaplan said she goes to 8 English to use the software installed on the computers.

“The computers have Adobe Photoshop, and that’s great because I’m a resident adviser, so I need to make posters for my programs,” Kaplan said. “They also have Microsoft Word, which my computer doesn’t have, so that’s great for homework.”

Another feature commonly used by students in 8 English is the collaboration tables, which allow for multiple laptops to be connected to the table at once, allowing students to easily share ideas and do group projects.

“It’s kind of a hidden location, but once people find out about it, they want to return to study,” said Bridget Anderson, a CITES consultant at 8 English and sophomore in Business. “Every day, the collaboration tables are pretty full.”

Candice Solomon-Strutz, student employee service management coordinator for CITES, said a lot of the funding for the renovations is provided by student printing fees.

The ICS lab in the UGL will not undergo such a complete renovation because recarpeting that ICS lab would require recarpeting the entire library. The majority of changes to the UGL’s lab were additions in software on computers and increases in the number of computers available to students.

CITES wants the Illini Union lab remodel to be similar to 8 English and would like to see a “full-fledged remodel where everything looks better,” Solomon-Strutz said. “The Union’s not really low on space, so we want to make sure we use it effectively,” she said. 

Solomon-Strutz said CITES is interested in reviving the idea of public computer kiosks throughout the Union so people can stop to quickly check email or do other quick tasks on a computer without having to get out their laptop. 

Janelle can be reached at [email protected].