BEACON center should not take place of science library

Or maybe the library was closed because it cost money to provide the staff and upkeep. I had to hike over to that library once to get a book that wasn’t at the main library. It was small, and hardly anybody was there.

Given that the building has a huge atrium with plentiful seating and wireless internet, I’m not sure that the few extra tables and computers that the library provided was worth the cost of staffing it.

All of the resources are now located at the main library, still fully accessible, at less cost to the university.

It cost money, certainly, but the Physics Department paid the bulk of the cost. The startup money came from the Physics department as well.

I’m sorry that you had to walk to get a book. That sounds awful. Somehow you managed to survive, and now thanks to our enlightened administration, you’ll never be inconvenienced in this way ever again.

Instead, the hundreds of physics, biology, chemisty, and premed students who used this library on a weekly basis will have to go to the main branch.

But that’s OK. You don’t have to walk to get a book, and you’re the most important part of this equation.

That particular spot was where Physics students collaborate and finish homework. Physics majors are the best students and should have been given more consideration in regards to the disposition of their library.

Thanks for the personal attack. Yeah, I did survive. People with disabilities daily “survive” difficult tasks that others find simple. But you had no way of knowing that I am a student with a disability, and that having to make an extra trip to a separate library really was a hardship, so I’ll overlook your insensitive and insulting comment.

But that really wasn’t the point of my comment at all. The point is that the time I went to the library (and the other 2-3 times that I was in that building), I saw an empty library. I saw empty chairs, empty desks, and an under-utilized space. Perhaps I just wasn’t there at the right time to see the “hundreds” of students using this library.

The fact still remains that it is cheaper for the university to operate one library, and in the end it results in better access to resources. Now all those “best” physics students who want to study at 3am can head over to the main library and access all of those incredibly useful resources that before they were cut off from at closing time. Since the books in that library were so valuable to all of these students, they should be rejoicing that they are now housed in a facility with extended hours.

Or perhaps the students are upset because they lost an empty room to study in. Perhaps the physics students felt privileged that they had a deserted study area all their own (and fully staffed, at that!). But again, there’s a lovely atrium with lots of seating, tables, and wireless internet.

Not many departments provide their undergraduate students (or even their graduate students!) with fully staffed and stocked study rooms. Don’t feel so offended that “yours” was taken away.

And no, I’m not arguing that closing this library was the “right” thing to do. I’m simply pointing out that it came down to money. And at a time when the university is shutting down entire majors, the relocation of a resource that appears under-utilized to the casual observer is nothing to whine about.

Your comment is so eloquently stated. You sound like a beautiful, kind and compassionate person. I wish you the best in your studies. God Bless You. :)

Let me check the list of things I care about:

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Sorry, what you think isn’t on here.

But seriously, it’s in general bad policy to close libraries, not just the ones in which physics students study (who may be the nerdiest students. To say they’re the best is a bit of a stretch).

I think that closing libraries is a bad idea because it represents a willingness to sacrifice access to knowledge for the sake of getting a grant. This might be acceptable if the university was not in the business of teaching people things. Since it is, getting rid of a library doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Anyway, I walked that library several times a day and it was never empty.

Exactly,I needed to prove my point. I now know for certain, that I was correct. I have to smile. I needed to show myself that I was right, all along. Enough said. Books tell us one thing and common sense is something that a person could never get from a book. Just knowing when you are right is good enough and that is all there is left. Except, to maybe read a good book and do a little studying….time to get my library card renewed & to find a good mystery. Mary Higgins Clark, will be the best place for me to start. There is always room for a good book, oh, how I love the library & all the wonderful books!~

that comment is incomprehensible and I am dumber for having tried to make sense of it.

If you’re a disabled citizen, all living expenses are paid for through the Social Security Administration and all medical expenses through medicaid if you’re also poor. I wish you well, but don’t dictate to us where to put libraries when we’re looking down the barrel of financial armageddon and solvency at many universities and state governments.

Dr. Zelevinsky,

Our state’s (I don’t say nation, this federal government abandoned the people ond hundred years ago) knowledge deficits in the hard sciences are due to a number of intellectually subversive leaders.

With your experience and knowledge of how Russia’s institutions were subverted by the international communist/banker coup, you have an obligation to warn us. You have an obligation to tell michiganders how we route out the insidious forces that infect the most important institutions. Russia was ruined by Soviet internationalism, but then have since regained their sovereignty.

We need your knowledge to regain our own scientific, linguistic, and cultural literacy. Please help us.

Grow a heart, will you! Show some compassion for others.

I do have a heart, it’s called the FICA tax on my pay stub. Piss off.

And what direction would you like me to aim?