Academic Library visit
Space and Physical Access
The Fenwick Library is located on the Fairfax campus of George Mason University. It is a 5 story building in the heart of campus. Access as a visitor was difficult. Parking instructions on the website were confusing and no options were close to the library. I parked in a paid parking deck about a quarter mile away. As I walked to the library, I only noticed a few closer parking spaces. The library is very accessible to able bodied students living on campus, but not those with disabilities or visitors to campus.
The front door is oddly placed and has no signage on the door itself. It appeared to be the entrance to a cafe so I walked right past it. Once I doubled back and got inside the building the double doors leading to the library itself were obvious. Accessibility is again an issue with large, heavy doors that swing out as the only access point. There was a button. I did not attempt to see if it was functional.
On each of the five floors, accessible by stairs or by elevator, there were large study areas, stacks, and smaller group study areas. There was a print station on most of the floors and bathrooms seemed to be plentiful.
Services and Intellectual Access
Each floor of the library had tower book stacks. To check on the ease of using physical materials, I used the online catalog to look for the book To Kill a Mockingbird. I found the Library of Congress number pretty quickly and there was a sign near the elevator bank leading me to the correct floor. Unfortunately, once I got to the correct floor, I wandered for a while trying to find the correct tower stack. The areas were poorly labeled and were located in multiple rooms. Once I found the correct room, I realized the book was in a compact shelving unit. The shelves moved easily enough, but were packed so tightly in the room that I could only get a space wide enough to walk through. A wheelchair would not have fit.
Someone with a physical disability would have a hard time accessing specific materials. I did find the book easily on the shelf.
As most academic libraries have poured more money into “databases and digital collections, research journals, special collections, rare materials, dissertations and theses, data sets, and monographs” (Rubin and Rubin, 2020, p. 170) I expected to see more access to the digital world. There were 3 computers per floor, one of which was dedicated to the catalog. While I understand that the expectation is most students will have their laptops and therefore their own access to the catalog/databases, it still surprised me to see so little provided access. The website indicates there is a DiSC lab that houses computers for specialized software. I did see the door to that space but could not access it while I was there. There is also mention of laptop checkouts on the web page, but I saw no mention of it in the physical space.
Patrons and Staff
I visited this library for an institution with over 38,000 students on a Sunday evening in the summer. I didn’t expect it to be busy. However, I was surprised at just how empty it was. On the five floors, I saw perhaps 20 students utilizing the various spaces. The only two staff members I saw were the two at the circulation desk at the very front of the building. All of the other offices were locked up tight, and I saw no evidence of any staff helping patrons or shelving.
Collection
As with most academic libraries, the physical collection looked old and smelled musty. There was full of large rooms of maps, microforms and government documents. There is robust online journal collection, and there appeared to be several special collections located within the building. Because of the day and time, I was not able to access any of these collections for closer inspection.
Overall Impression
Fenwick library is clearly an academic library. It felt much like the large University library I used 30 years ago. The book stacks felt frozen in time, with the small addition of the compact stacks which I had never seen. While I liked the open collaborative spaces located on every floor, I feel like a large University should be updating their spaces more frequently and moving to meet the needs of the modern student.
References
Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.
Five floors?! Gulp! The academic library I visited only had two and my special library had three, so that’s quite intense. I have never personally been to George Mason University, but my brother-in-law attended there for his undergraduate degree. I’m sad you didn’t get to observe the DiSC lab, because that sounds really neat. Parking at my academic library was a bit odd as well – maybe this is a theme for college libraries. Thanks for sharing!
It was interesting to see the variety of signage during this project. I never really thought about how poor signage could negatively affect a space until confronted with it firsthand.
I have never seen a compact shelving unit before, so it was neat to see, but boy did it look awkward to access.
I agree with you that this library doesn’t seem so inviting for handicap patrons. Bad parking would deter me since I sometimes have difficulty walking long distances, especially in the cold. I think the counter height seats and tables are cute, but not comfortable enough for a long study session. To add to those things difficulty locating books and the tight spaces not accessible for wheelchairs, especially a wide wheelchair for a bigger person, this library could be difficult to navigate.
I could imagine a whole lot of people having trouble operating the pulls on those compact shelves. I have noticed that people tend not to want to delve further if shelves need to be moved (our audiobook section has two layers of shelving – the front ones can be moved aside to reveal the ones behind, and patrons often need to be shown that can even be done).
It’s disappointing to hear that a major university’s library is not more accessible and better organized than this. Those movable stacks are intimidating at first. When I had to access them for the first time I had ODU I ended up having to have one of the staff members come upstairs and show me. And watch out for your fingers. They are an interesting space saver.
It is interesting that they did not have a more up to date library. It is unfortunate that many aspects of the library did not seem accessible to someone with disabilities. Based on what you said about the parking situation, I am sure it would be difficult for commuter students to access the space. I am surprised there were not many computer, it seems like a basic need in a library now.