Liberating the Library of Liability: Fixing the NAC Library

Team Ground Zero: Arseleena Ali, Anas Ashraf, Josue Flores, Grace McGrath

The students of City College deserve better in every sense of the word. As such, one situation that is in dire need of amelioration would be the quality and quantity of study space for college students within the confines of the NAC library. Initially, our group investigated the library scene at CCNY and determined that the Cohen library within the NAC needed a few modifications on the behalf of all City College students. In general, the Cohen library contains a surfeit of unnecessary elements such as unoccupied bookshelves, printing release stations, etc. These components, as “insignificant” as they may seem, tend to detract from the library’s efficacy when complying with the nuanced needs of their campus. In some cases, these detractions are so cumbersome that some students become utterly disgruntled with the facility and decide to find a new study space that can actually meet their academic necessities.

If the quantity and quality of the study space were improved, many more CCNY students would be inclined to study at this library, as demonstrated in Figure 1. As such, we plan to rectify these academic obstructions by incorporating a few changes to the library. These alterations consist of altering the primary function of print release stations to replicate a standard CCNY desktop with a circumscribed window of time and the addition/implementation of large-scale printers, charging outlets within cubicles, group study desks, and QR codes within the library’s parameters. In addition, while researching these additions, we sat down with Charles Stewart, the Associate Dean and Chief Librarian, at City College. He discussed the current plans of the Library and Tech Center for renovations to accommodate more students. These plans fortunately aligned well with our proposal, and we have integrated those ideas with our very own. Nearly everybody wants more space in the library, and as such, our proposal merits consideration and by enacting these changes, we hope to observe an overall increase in the efficiency of the library and a proliferated usage of this facility by its students, especially during critical study periods such as Midterms and Finals.

Figure 1: Student Survey Results

Forms response chart. Question title: If you selected any option except Library, would you study in a campus library with more study space?. Number of responses: 34 responses.

Fig. 1 demonstrates the overwhelming student response to the lack of space in the library. The previous question asked students where they studied, and Fig. 1 reveals that those who currently don’t study in the library would if there was more space.

Action Plan

Costs & Benefits

1) https://www.southwestsolutions.com/equipment/high-density-mobile-shelving

2) https://www.thelibrarystore.com/product/ad94-07094/library-tables

3) https://www.thelibrarystore.com/product/94-07103/item-number \

4) https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/electrical/install-an-outlet/

5) https://www.ldproducts.com/blog/most-economical-business-printers/

Table 3: Cost & Benefit Analysis

Experience

Josue Flores is a Sophomore majoring in Computer Engineering at the Grove School of Engineering within The City College of New York. Josue was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and became infatuated with the functions of computer ever since he was young. At the moment, he is currently learning about the programming aspects of computers through the programming language of C++. In addition, he is well versed in the fundamentals of computer programs such as Microsoft Excel, Word, MatLab. He hopes to learn several more programming languages along with other Computer Engineering skills during the remainder of his time at CCNY.

Anas Ashraf is an aspiring Electrical Engineer at the City College of New York. He has adept knowledge in organizing payroll in a bespoke software for a large company, setting up a dynamic server message to share files through, and modifying existing software so it can run faster on terminals with no processing through his internship with A.F. Enterprises. He is currently interested more in the metaphysical aspects of his field and is hoping to publish a paper on the journal Noûs on the question of whether two bodies can be identical not only in form and matter but also in its properties. He hopes to be able to cause a burgeoning in the field of metaphysics through his work both in philosophy and in engineering in verifying and proving the universality of his claims that have been made prior to experience and on pure reason alone.

Grace McGrath is a freshman majoring in Electrical Engineering at the Grove School of Engineering at The City College of New York. Grace was born and raised in the Bronx, and studies engineering to combine her passions for technology and creative problem solving. Since coming to college, she has joined Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York (WiTNY) and Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Through WiTNY, Grace participated in a winter internship at Credit Suisse in January 2019, working on the Java back-end development for a tool that sends buy/sell signals to credit traders. She has also joined the CCNY Aerospace Club, Harlem Launch Alliance, as Engineering Secretary and a member of the Recovery System Team for one of the two rockets. She loves the applications of Electrical Engineering that she has already discovered, and is looking forward to all the opportunities that her major will provide.

Arseleena Ali is currently a freshman at CCNY focused on pursuing engineering. Born and raised in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, she was always very fascinated by how the things around her were created. Although she does not know what type of engineer she wants to become, she is open to exploring her options. All throughout middle school and high school, she loved math and science and has always received excelling grades in them. Additionally, she’s done a ton of volunteer and fund-raising work, which not only helped the community around her, but also contributed greatly in bettering her social skills, which she currently uses at her job as a receptionist at a daycare center. She is very good with technology so she can easily operate windows and mac, in addition to all word processors. She is very organized, responsible and cooperative, as she easily adapts to different environments.

Conclusion

As Mr. Stewart said in our meeting, “CCNY isn’t admitting any more students than before, it’s just that the students are becoming more studious.” As the preparers of this proposal, and in talking about our colleagues here at City College, we wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. Everybody we have spoken to wants more space in the library for students to get work done. Another element of this issue is that many students are commuters and must fill the time between their classes; many choose to relax or study in the library. Given all of these, as students, we deserve to have a library that works for us and accommodates our needs as our academic standards are ever-increasing. The bright minds of City College require the library as a major support for future success. The library resources are certainly plentiful, but we cannot let the lack of space to use those resources deter students from success. Our ideas have not fallen on deaf ears; the library is eager to create the space that we want, and we vehemently urge them to consider our proposal as complementary to the ideas that they are already brewing.

References

Bedwell, L., & Banks, C. (2013). Seeing Through the Eyes of Students: Participant Observation in an Academic Library. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Libraryand Information Practice and Research, 8(1).

Webb, K. M. & Schaller, M. A. & Hunley, S. A. (2008). Measuring Library Space Use and Preferences: Charting a Path Toward Increased Engagement. portal: Libraries and the Academy 8(4), 407-422. Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved April 1, 2019,from Project MUSE database.

Young, V. E. (2003). Can We Encourage Learning by Shaping Environment? Patterns of Seating Behavior in Undergraduates. 11th National Conference Papers, American Library Association. Retrieved from

http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/pdf/young.PDF

Appendix A: Compact Shelving