Story, image and slideshow by Amanda Allison

Overlooking a study hall on the second floor of the library.

We all know it exists. We’ve heard of people going there. We’ve been linked to their website and probably had a guest speaker in a class or two.

But, not all of us have been to the library. And even less of us have any idea of the services they offer.

It’s not just a place full of shelves and shelves of books. Though, they do have over 100,000. But those books are only ten per cent of the library’s collection. 90 per cent of the collection is online in many forms, including e-books, journals and statistics.

There are also ten group study rooms available to book online on the library website. Bookings for any day open at 10 a.m. on the previous day.

The rooms cannot be successfully booked by the first person who signs up for the room. After the first person creates a group, the other members can sign in and finish the booking. Rooms on the second floor require at least two members to complete the booking, while rooms on the third floor must have at three members.

The study rooms are extremely competitive to book, said the chief librarian, Pamela Drayson.

“If we had one hundred group study rooms, that wouldn’t be enough,” Drayson said.

That raises the key issues the library is battling against – space.

With two new projects on the books to add more room for students, the library is expanding. With the completion of the UOIT Education building library two years ago, more seats were freed up in the main campus building.

The library is continuing their growth with the creation of a UOIT Social Science library downtown and turning their existing basement storage space into a casual study den.

The Social Science library will transfer one hundred more seats downtown. Meanwhile, a new basement student lounge, funded mostly by the Student Association, will have tables, couches, and higher bar-style sitting areas.

“The most frequent complaint from students is that the library is too small. The second is noise,” said Drayson.

That’s why after the renovations, the basement and first floor will be designated for group space, while the second and third floor will marked as a quiet space.

Another issue students have with the library is hours.

When the library was at Durham College years ago, it was only open 77 hours a week. Now, they’re open 94 hours a week and will be adding more hours in the future.

“It’s kind of a balancing act. We want to be open the hours that the students want, while still being on budget,” Drayson said. “We certainly don’t want to up the prices.”

Drayson said that most of the positive feedback they’ve received from students is in regards to their helpful staff and outstanding resources. And whatever they don’t have on the shelves or online, can be borrowed from others via the InterLibrary Loan program.

“I think it’s important to tell students that if we don’t have it, we’ll get it,” said Drayson.

And whether that’s a novel, textbook, space to work as a group or a quiet area to study, the library is proving they’re living up to their word by listening to students and making changes.

Click below to see a slideshow of the campus library.