Melissa Brown
Published: March 8, 2006
“Four walls!” Jake Haynie, a television production major at PJC, exclaimed. Haynie would like to see the LRC’s quiet areas enclosed in the new addition scheduled for construction in 2007.
Haynie complained that the existing two-walled glass partitions don’t keep nearby conversations from seeping out into the surrounding area. While the LRC currently offers three enclosed rooms, Haynie finds them to be “tiny enclosures” that aren’t equipped with computers.
“A portion of the money that’s allocated for construction is supposed to be designated to furniture and equipment,” Dr. Sandra Davis, the district department head for learning resources services, said. “Hopefully we will buy the state-of-the-art technology at that time.”
An excess of $6 million in PECO funds was allocated for the renovation of the existing building and construction of the new addition, which will attach to the fa‡ade and preferably connect to Bldg. 1, but the process is a long and tedious one.
“We’re thrilled to have the money to work on it,” Davis said. “Unfortunately it will take several years, but it’s good that it’s in the works.”
The most prominent proposition is the inclusion of a coffee shop, a feature Davis has persistently petitioned for.
“We would like to have the atmosphere inviting, comfortable and pleasant so students will want to come in to study and hang out, get a cup of coffee.”
This won’t be your traditional library.
“Our focus has not been going around to shush everybody in the typical library way,” Davis said. “We allow drinks and food, and we encourage people to meet and talk.”
But noise is a nuisance for some students attempting to study in the building. Coyote, a nursing major working at a computer in stacks on the second floor, also complained about the noisy atmosphere.
“Sometimes students come up here and they make a whole lot of noise,” Coyote said.
Davis has good news for concerned students: the education specifications the architect should have by summer 2006 feature several enclosed study rooms.
Dr. David Sam, vice president of academic affairs, proposed the TEAL Center, a Technology Enabled Active Learning Center to be incorporated in the new addition. Davis said the projected facility “will include a multitude of types of technology, meeting space, group study [areas], and a student production area,” enabling students to create and edit presentations using the most innovative tools.
“We think we’ve included everything students, faculty and anybody who was interested have asked for,” Davis said. “We certainly took note of what they recommended.”
The LRC’s website, https://lrc.pjc.edu/, features a link to an electronic suggestion form that proceeds directly to Davis.
“We have had wonderful suggestions. I’ve been saving all of the e-mails in a special file. And I can tell you they run pretty much the gamut, but oddly enough I haven’t received anything yet that we haven’t already thought of; I think it’s because we’ve been planning on having a new building for about 30 years…actually 20, maybe,” said Davis with a chuckle, “and we’ve been scheduled for renovation probably for the last 10 years.
“If all things go well then construction on the addition would begin in 2007, and I guess it takes a year, maybe 18 months to build a new building,” Davis said. “As soon as the new addition is completed, the tentative plan is to move the LRC into the new addition and then let them renovate this building (Bldg 20). We want to keep the services open [but] we may not have access to all our materials. It depends on how big the addition is and how much we can get moved into it.”