Tioga Library houses TLC and Power House
On October 3rd at 3:30 p.m an opening will be held for the Tioga Library Building, as the transition from Snoqualmie is almost complete. A lot of things have changed and are still changing in both the Tioga Library Building and Snoqualmie, and, as Anna Salyer, Community Outreach Librarian, explained it is “currently not the normal space you will find when coming into the library.”
For one thing, the only books left in the once overcrowded Snoqualmie building are reference and resource books. Everything else, including the 16,000 books from the Auxiliary, now in closed stacks in the basement of Tioga Library Building, are being housed in the first and second floors of the new building. Most of the library staff has also moved to the Tioga Library Building.
There are two classrooms in the Tioga Library Building as well, so when you see the acronym TLB on your class schedule, you will find these rooms on the first floor of the new building.
While the transition to the Tioga Library Building is nearly complete, the Snoqualmie building is still under extensive renovations. New and refinished flooring will be the first of many changes happening over the course of fall quarter to turn the building into a place for study.
The Power House room will be turned into a reading room, complete with plentiful chairs, providing a substantial increase in study space, as well as a very occasionally a place for events held by the Chancellor. Although some minor renovations must occur there, the room should be open fairly quickly. Along the same lines, there are plans to make old staff offices into group study space.
Most drastic will be the TLC move from Keystone to the second floor of Snoqualmie. Although this will now be the primary function of this space, the second floor may also be available as group and individual study space when the TLC is not open.
Along with space for study, the library is working to provide more equipment such as computers. An interesting new technological addition is a book scanner that will allow you to produce digital copies of pages as opposed to wasting reams of paper when copying material. This technology was provided by your student technology fees, a fund whose spending was decided last year by student suggestions. Tim Bostelle, Head of Library IT, hopes to carry on this process, so if you have any technology desires be sure to contact Library IT.
If you have walked into the library lately, you may have noticed that the current service desk serving at the main entrance is rather small; however, a new and improved service desk is currently on its way, and should be in place quite soon. This desk will newly feature a regular IT presence; specifically during lunch hour, a technician will be there to provide answers for your computer issues and other technological malfunctions.
As the changes have been rather extensive, some questions still remain, such as what will happen with the top two floors of the Tioga Library, so look forward to an update in the next issue.
While the new library and renovated Snoqualmie come with huge benefits, with all the renovation and changes currently going on, it may be hard to find a quiet place to study. Salyer explained that the staff will be on hand to help with these issues, and do everything possible to make the transition as easy. If you want to explore the new library, attend its grand opening, but be sure to register at www.tacoma.uw.edu/events/tlb.
