This is the one that makes me want to weep: 7 years here and I am defeated by this one [can it be that architects repeatedly and universally design bad, unworkable libraries because they hate librarians?].

So here is a potted history on the problem: we have had complaints about this every year, without fail – you are a little late in surfacing it, may I add?  We have signs at both stairwells that say “Noise carries – please don’t talk near the stairs” which few observe, and I keep my eye out for people talking at those locations when I am walking around.

We have had suggested:

1) sound buffers attached to the stair walls;

2) sound absorbers on the upper floor ceilings;

3) doors at top of stairs (turned down on H&S grounds);

4) doors at bottom of stairs (turned down on H&S grounds); and our own;

5) creating glass partitions near both stairwells on lower floor.

We have not heard further about the latest suggestion (number 5 above) so, in desperation:

I will find a £30 Blackwell gift voucher to anyone who can come up with a practical solution that is H&S proof, and doesn’t involve moats, drawbridges, banishment of students from the lower floor, or massive architectural adjustments. 

Chris

Re: Tissue Box – done!
(See the front counter).

Chris Flegg

Oh dear: busted chairs – I can see we are in need of some TLC, furniture wise: I have referred this to our very kind maintenance people, although they will probably wish to test and fix after the exam period so some forbearance may be necessary at this stage of the year.

As to the temperature this also has now been reported but it would be very helpful if temperature problems that occur after hours could be reported to the Downstairs reception staff as they are charged with getting this looked at after hours, and will have someone come out and fix this when it occurs, but thank-you for letting us know that this problem has resurfaced…

Chris

This morning we have found two notes about heating issues:

Hello to both students who have reported “freezing” upper floor.

This is not good – am referring this urgently to our buildings person. It might help to be able to let him have more details know if the temperature dropped at any time or if it was cold all day – can you add any further details.

Chris – who also can’t work when temperatures plummet

I am sorry you are feeling the cold. I have left a query with our buildings people as – as far as we are aware – the heating remains on until midnight each day. There was recently a problem with the near-window heat strip not working, but this should now be fixed.  But will report back as soon as I hear further. Best,

Chris

The question of extended hours is one that comes up regularly but is in fact not a library issue but rather a buildings issue.  I am conveying therefore the response from Roger Essex Head of Property and Maintenance at SBS:

We have in the past been asked to consider remaining open 24/7, and have considered this. In order to establish demand we have periodically tried extending the hours beyond midnight (although not to a full 24 hours) and have found that post-midnight very few people have remained, and the library has typically been empty before 1am. The exception to this has been the period immediately before exams. We have found that the right compromise seems to be to open until 1 or 2am on the 2 weeks immediately prior to exams.

To add to Roger’s point above –with our duty-of-care hat on, I think there is much to be said for not-encouraging students to neglect their overall well-being by adopting crazy study hours, but Roger is prepared to monitor uptake when we extend during the 2 weeks to see if further extension is a good idea.

Chris Flegg

Food and Noise… Noise and food…………

These are our 2 continuous problems and to be honest, we can grapple with the food issue (mostly) but the noise problem is of a different order entirely.

In the case of noise, the difficulty is that our students need to engage in group work, and group work inevitably leads to noise, over which –  on a  good day – the impact of our “shushing” and cajoling lasts all of 2 minutes, after which the noise levels return, soufflé-like, back to their cacophonous levels.

And you are absolutely correct about the intrusion of social chit-chat: alas, we have found ourselves singularly unsuccessful in pointing out to our students the fine and subtle difference between social chit-chat and work chat: hence the trialling of new signs which will be going up soon.

The other major problem we have is an architectural design fault – a “quiet” upper level to which two sets of stairs beautifully and effectively transport both foot and noise movement.

But your point has been heard and any suggestions (from anyone) on remedies, solutions, alternatives to study space arrangements, behaviour modification ideas, would all be very welcome.

Chris Flegg

Good question, (and the first one, so thank you):

3 reasons:

1. Technically, we are a Bodleian library, which strictly speaking, rules out coffee and coke etc., so we are already on our own in breaching the rules here (Bodleian is currently debating water being allowed in the Bodleian libraries).

2. Food = Mess + Noise – which is a disaster for pest control and minimizing the complaints I already receive (already had one about greasy keyboards on the library computers – student caught eating potato crisps, you know who you are!!).

3. A LOT of your fellow students get really resentful of people eating round them while they are trying to study, especially when the eating is noisy and people eat “smelly” food, so given that we are the library and not the cafeteria (and there’s no other library), I get their point, and their needs trump those of the would-be munchers.

(Despite all the above, we once allowed “dry non-messy” food in on a trial basis, and it was a disaster – people interpreted this as including cutlery requiring meals and the complaints and results were horrific – if it’s any consolation, I don’t let the library staff eat in the library offices because you can’t eat in the library, and they hate it)

Chris Flegg