I've been procrastinating on going to the University library all morning. I know I need to spend a few hours in the library. But I really don't enjoy spending extended amounts of time in the library, for the following reasons:
1. The stairs make me really tired. For serious. I can handle any other stairs, but these ones are an odd height or angle or something, and they cause my legs to ache and I get out of breath. (I mentioned this fact to someone else, who affirmed that they have the same problem. This might just be a sign that we're both out of shape.)
2. All of the books I need are on a mezzanine on the third floor. I get dizzy up on that open balcony, and my obsessive fear of falling takes over any time I get near any of its weird staircases.
3. There aren't nice places to work, and the computers are frequently taken.
4. I frequently end up having to stand in line at the circulation desk, because the circulation desk also deals with all account problems and Inter-Library Loans.
5. I have a lot of rage issues regarding the number of books that are indefinitely in 2-hour reserve.
6. Everything's even less convenient because the library's under construction.
7. So many studying (and non-studying/using the computers) undergrads! They're everywhere!
8. When I do find a spot to work, I have to give up that spot every time I need to go and find another book, because I can't leave any belongings unattended. And so I end up lugging huge quantities everywhere, tiring me out.
Writing these out, I'm beginning to realise the following:
1. I'm really whiney, and possibly also crazy. (The angle of the stairs? Standing on a balcony near the stairs makes me dizzy?)
2. Most of my complaints stem from an unfair comparison to my old university's library. Oddly, my old library also wasn't that good, especially after its crazy expansion/conglomeration with the Education library that happened late in my undergrad. But especially after they lifted the ban on using the library computers for non-library purposes. It was crazily busy and frustrating there. I'm idealising an old library that drove me crazy at the time, too.
3. I'm really out of shape.
4. I need to find ways to adapt to the library. Today's attempt will involve bringing Chris along, who will sit by my belongings while I go and find books.
3 comments:
Seriously, though, ILLs, circulation and account problems all at the same desk??!! That's just bad organization!
Seriously. And the workspace at UVic sucks.
I've had similar problems working in libraries and leaving stuff in your spot... I tend to leave a notebook or folder with nothing in it and a few library books to mark my place... If you aren't gone too long they don't usually come pick up your stuff :).
I also tend to scout new spots and will leave a few library books on the table to mark a new spot before going back to the old spot for the stuff I left there.
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