I was shocked to see the computers removed from the rooms on the basement level. Are the total number of computers at the library changing? Also, what is happening with the lounge area under the skylight with the big indoor tree? It was a traditional meeting area for years.

Thank you for your excellent questions. The classrooms in the lower level (L13, L14, and L19) have been temporarily closed while they are being renovated—modifications to the classrooms should be completed by the start of the Fall Term. Some of the computers formerly located in these rooms will be relocated in the quiet study room on the lower level (L01), but due to space limitations, the rest will not be available for use. We ask that patrons make use of the hub computers on the entrance level. Temporarily, a slight reduction in the number of computers is unavoidable, but once the classrooms reopen in the Fall Term, there will not be a reduction of the number of computers at the library.

As for the entrance level atrium, we are temporarily storing construction materials in that space. For the long-term, we plan to move the Leisure Books collection to that area for quiet browsing. Our hope is to reduce the amount of noise that is generated in the atrium, as that noise has a tendency of reverberating throughout the entire library! Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Please devise a system so students will know when the next room will be available for group study—especially during finals when all rooms are taken! Thanks.

Thanks for your excellent suggestion. I am happy to report that such a system is now in place. Please see this blog entry which provides details about the new system: http://www.library.drexel.edu/blogs/librarylog/2008/06/reserve_a_group_study_room_onl.html. Enjoy!

Many of us Digital Media majors would greatly appreciate a library subscription to “3D-World.” Thanks.

I have forwarded your request to Ann Keith Kennedy, our Media Arts and Design Librarian. She is very interested in subscribing to this magazine and will pursue a subscription come July 1st (the start of our fiscal year). Note, however, that it will still take several months before this is available on our shelves. Thanks for your suggestion!

Please provide online databases for alumni use. We need this to stay abreast of our field.

First of all, congratulations on your recent graduation! Thanks for your suggestion. If you visit the library in person (with your alumni card), we will be more than happy to log you on to a reference computer. Additionally, we agree that remote access to online databases would be very helpful for our alumni. As a result, we are in conversation with Alumni Relations about the feasibility of this option. We encourage you to contact Alumni Relations directly to advocate for the availability of remote access. Here is a description of the library resources we provide for alumni: http://www.library.drexel.edu/about/alumni.html

DVDs are great, but get more. They should be shelved in some sort of order, though (alphabetical, genre, etc.).

Thanks for your suggestion. We order new DVDs about once a month, so every few weeks you should see some new titles added to the collection. If you’re looking for anything in particular, please feel free to drop us a note.

We are planning to organize the DVD collection by separating the movies from the TV shows, so keep an eye out for that. While we agree that further organization would be helpful in locating a particular title, the DVDs circulate far too often to warrant an alphabetical organization. Some DVDs are circulating up to 3 times a day! So it’s difficult to constantly keep reorganizing these titles. We’ll keep your suggestion in mind, and we may decide to provide better organization for browsing the DVD collection in the future.

Please get some books to help international students prepare for TOEFL. To be specific, please try getting the latest iBT ones.

Thanks for your excellent suggestion. I’m happy to report that we have ordered the TOEFL iBT 2008-2009 edition published by Kaplan. Please check back soon to see if it’s available.

The food in the café is always old. You need to label the sandwiches, salads, etc. with the date of when they were prepared.

Thanks for your suggestion. We agree that providing preparation dates on the food would be helpful. We will be happy to pass this feedback on to Sodexo, who manages the café.

Your vending machines are hard to find and not well labeled. I don’t understand why they needed to be moved in the first place.

Thanks for your suggestion. We moved the vending machines to the Bookmark Café so students would have access to the vending machines 24-7, even when the café food service is closed. We feel that the first floor location is more convenient for most people as that is the entrance level of the library. We will certainly consider additional signage to make the location of the vending machines clearer. As always, feel free to ask staff at the Circulation and Reference Desks, as they will be able to direct you to what you’re looking for.

Can you set up an RSS feed for the New Books List? The Tri-Colleges are doing it, and it’s great! Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/3ny9fy.

Thanks for your suggestion. I am pleased to say we are currently working on this feature. Please stay tuned for more details…

I don’t actually have anything to complain about. I just wanted to thank you guys for doing your jobs and caring what we think.

Thanks for your kind and encouraging words. It’s always nice to hear such positive feedback!