by Katy Knapp
Daily Lobo
Teresa Neely, director of Zimmerman Library, said the West Wing study area in the building is not a designated quiet space.
However, she has received about five complaints from students who say their study sessions are disrupted by public discussions and meetings held in the wing, especially in the Willard Reading Room.
"Unfortunately, the students who sit right outside that room, they think the hallway is a quiet space and none of it is," she said.
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That number does not include students who go to the Dean of Library Services Camila Alire or comment on the Web site anonymously, she said. She did not know the exact number of complaints they receive.
Megan Coalson, an anthropology student, said she studies in the West Wing study rooms almost every day.
On Nov. 10, a Faculty Acknowledgment Award was given to a UNM dance professor in Willard Reading Room. Coalson said people were clapping and playing music loudly.
"There were even people out in the hall practicing their dance," she said.
She understands the hallway outside Willard is not a designated study area, but the West Wing study room where most people go for quiet should be, she said.
"I just tried to ignore it," Coalson said. "Then I just left and went back to my dorm."
A schedule of events is posted outside the Willard Reading Room to inform students of times they are not allowed to study in the room.
According to guidelines of use for the Willard Reading Room on the University Libraries' Web site, the room and the adjacent West Wing area is primarily for studying and no more than 50 people are allowed to attend a single event.
"Library programmatic events will be scheduled in the Willard Reading Room by the Dean's office, ensuring that the West Wing areas are minimally disrupted," the guidelines state.
Jonathan Oshida was studying in the hall outside the Willard Reading Room on Monday night.
"I usually don't have a problem with the noise," he said.
Neely said there are designated quiet areas to study on the upper floors of Zimmerman, as well as the other three libraries on campus - Parish Memorial Library, Centennial Science and Engineering Library and the Fine Arts Library.
"But people feel an allegiance to Zimmerman Library," she said.
Neely said she has been working on coming up with more quiet areas in Zimmerman, although she could not guarantee the space will be in the West Wing. All decisions are made by the University Libraries administration, which includes Alire, Associate Dean Fran Wilkinson and Director of Development Emily Collis.
They will decide if more quiet study space in Zimmerman can get funded, Neely said.
"We do our best to accommodate solitude study and students studying in groups," she said. "But it's also important to be engaged in scholarly dialogue, which is what is happening in Willard."
Dina Ma'ayan, development coordinator of University Libraries, said a focus group made of mostly graduate students met earlier in the semester. The group expressed concern over the lack of quiet areas to study in Zimmerman.
The library is planning another focus group for undergraduates next semester, she said.
Ma'ayan said the Willard Room is closed to events in December for students preparing for final exams.
