Students can now work on the fifth floor of D.H. Hill. Or they can work on the seventh floor. Or the fourth. Actually, beginning in August students could work anywhere in the library and have access to WebAssign, e-mail and espn.com, causing excitement amongst students.
“I use it a lot,” Maisha Haque, a sophomore in biological sciences, said. “I think I jumped for joy when I found out.”
Before, students who needed the Internet were confined to the first floor, second floor and a small area on the ninth floor.
“Everybody would huddle around, people sitting on the floor just to get wireless” Emily Foley, an office support in reserves, said. “But now it’s more freedom for everyone.”
Bradley Willis and Blake Wrenn, both seniors in industrial engineering, work on their senior design project three to four times a week in a room on the seventh floor. The library provides a quiet place on campus that they can spread out, Willis said.
Willis also said that the Internet connection is much faster than most places on campus, allowing them to research their building materials and costs, and check their course Web sites.
“We research and then e-mail each other the new copy,” Willis said. “Or we look at ESPN when we need a break.”
The environment in the library is much more conducive to studying, as opposed to at home or in the Park shops where there are friends and Halo beckoning, according to Willis.
And with everywhere in the library Internet-accessible, the librarians can tell a difference in students’ attitudes.
“I think students have really enjoyed it — to know they can go anywhere and settle in,” Katherine Willis, a reference librarian, said. “It gives them a lot more flexibility.”
Derek Brown, a junior in electrical engineering and Jason Burkhart, a sophomore in electrical engineering, sat at adjacent desks looking out the eighth-floor window while working on a lab report.
Brown said that the access is high capacity, and he has never had a problem getting onto the Internet.
“I use it for research, I’ve had a couple of papers this semester, and for checking my teachers’ message boards,” Brown said. “It offers automatic updates for e-mails and Web sites, so I can always check before doing something. Like today my professor canceled his office hours, so I know not to go.”
Kerry Colby and Tabitha Ikpechukwu, both seniors in biological sciences, said that they are always in D.H. Hill, and the new access allowed them to find a consistent studying spot on the fifth floor.
They use it to look up professors’ lectures, current events and e-mails when they have questions about assignments.
“Right now I’m e-mailing my professor with a question I have for a test tomorrow,” Colby said. “And I couldn’t do that before.”
