My Library School Library

Posted February 25, 2013 by Sarah Barton

I’ve written about a handful of different libraries in this blog, but I daresay I have neglected one that has been integral to my time at GSLIS: the Beatley Library at Simmons. During my first semester I was neither working nor interning, so I had a lot of downtime outside of class. To combat any and all inclinations to sit around doing nothing, I would go to a desk on the second floor of the library after my morning classes and before my afternoon class to get as much work done as possible. I find that the library is kind of like the gym – sometimes I don’t necessarily want to go, but I am fairly productive once I’m there.
This and last semester, my increased extracurricular activities have reduced the amount of time I spend at Beatley. These days, I am usually only there for two-ish hours on Wednesdays, and I tend to splurge for the comfy chairs on the first floor instead of the studious desks on the second. Beatley is by no means huge, but it is modern and spacious and I have never had an issue finding a seat. The collection has always served my needs, except once when I was looking for the most recent issue of a mildly obscure library journal that I assume just hadn’t arrived yet. Overall, I have been very impressed with Beatley, although it did take a little while to win me over.
My undergrad library was a 1970’s-inspired brick behemoth that made up in desks and study corrals what it lacked in windows. The inside was dim and depended almost exclusively on artificial light, the wooden desks were so well worn (read: archaic) that they were impossible to write on without a book or something between the paper and the desk, and the study spaces were very, very close together. In short, I loved it. I tend to like dark, cozy spaces, and that library was chock full of them. Needless to say, Beatley was a complete shock to my library senses. Naturally lit, spacious, and contemporary – I was initially utterly overwhelmed. Clearly, I still have a soft spot for the big brick behemoth, but it didn’t take long for me to adopt and appreciate Beatley as my library school library.