Okay so I know I don’t go to school anymore but I still get emails from the university because I only just finished. So I recently got an email notifying students that the library will be closed from May 2017- May 2018 for renovations. A FULL YEAR, NO LIBRARY. Now, Trent is such a small school, the library is one of the only places to go to quietly study and camp out for the day to work, as well as the only place that has large enough spaces to meet and work with groups. What hurts even more, is that with these renovations, they are removing 50% of their physical materials, that’s books, maps, photos etc., apparently they will try to donate most to the community, but like, there are waiting lists to get books already, why are they getting rid of half?
On a slightly more positive note, the new student center will be open Sept. of 2017, which apparently will have some spaces for studying, but I’m sure it will be nowhere near what the students will be losing. It’s also behind schedule, so maybe it won’t be ready for the school year, not to mention there will be no where for the summer students to go to study while both are under construction.
This library has 4 floors, I don’t understand why they couldn’t renovate one floor at a time and therefore not take away an invaluable resource from students who are playing thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars to study at this school. Although it doesn’t affect me, it absolutely infuriates and frustrates me that this is happening. I saw it was announced on facebook and parents of soon-to-be students were commenting saying that they would be reconsidering allowing their child to study there, as there will be no space to study. Students are upset and furious, there will be a meeting open for the community and students and I really hope they go and tear into this plan. A university with no library is not a university.