The perfect modern day library tale

Mike Sholars
FEATURES AND OPINIONS EDITOR
Once upon a time, the downtrodden and hardworking students of York University had a library.
The library was called Scott, and although it was old and was cursed with a terrible paint job, it was good to the students, and they were good to it.
One day, a magical renovation committee came upon more money than most of the students would ever make in their entire lives, and decided to use it to transform Scott into something new, exciting and focus-group tested.
They toiled – or rather, dozens of unionized workers toiled – for months until a new appendage emerged from Scott; it wasn’t a useful or vital appendage, but it was there all the same.
They dubbed this new area the “Learning Commons” and immediately began planning for the next stage of its development, with a projected finish date of 2012 or 2013, depending on funding.
The Learning Commons @ Scott Library exists at the exact intersection between a mistake and a post-modern mess. It was designed by a group of people that must sincerely believe that the Apple Store, a bright, chairless room, is the height of architectural majesty, and that scrolling red LED displays are the future of information technology.
The computer room has been scrapped; in its place you’ll find a pleasantly lit area containing five booths sitting about eight people each, a random smattering of chairs and a couple of truly confusing arrow-shaped table-chair things.
The arrow forms a circle, and in the middle is a single plastic chair. York U has gone avant-garde, and it has no room for plebeians who cannot understand its newly acquired taste.
Aside from getting rid of the easy-to-access computer room that easily housed the better part of 100 desktops and replacing it with a series of tiny coffee booths, what else has happened in the library?
The Learning Commons included expanded renovations into previously inaccessible parts of the library, with additional seating in rooms with names like “The Salon” and “The Collaboratory.” Coll– wait! You mean, it’s like a laboratory, in which you collaborate? Brilliant! Give these people a million dollars! That already happened? Well played, Scott Library. Well played.
I understand the motivation behind the renovations; our dear university is starting to show its age, and kids don’t like studying in outdated, “unhip” areas. Personally speaking, I refuse to write an essay if I’m not in a limo driven by supermodels.
Public relations is a huge part of attracting new students to any post-secondary institution, and I have no doubt a few ethnically diverse press photos of students laughing and studying in The Salon will help sway student interest.
They wanted to make something new and shiny, and they succeeded. The greatest triumph of the Learning Commons, however, is how it now perfectly reflects the York University experience as a whole.
They took a straightforward, easy-to-comprehend area and turned it into a labyrinth – a convoluted waste of money and resources.
If that doesn’t scream York, I don’t know what does.