Digital Access
https://library.gmu.edu/locations/fenwick
The website was easy to find and navigate. I was able to see what services were available online. There were borrowing policies and fines listed. Only currently registered students, faculty, and staff of the University may check out materials from the libraries with their valid Mason ID. George Mason alumni and members of the public may obtain borrowing privileges as an Affiliate by joining the fee-based Library Passport Program. There were also standard loan periods for items based on the grade level.
Undergraduates: 4 weeks
Graduates: 1 term
Faculty/Staff: 1 term
Affiliates: 3 weeks
By having a Mason Library Account (which is only available to people who have a Mason NetID) you can view due dates, fines, and fees. Also, you can renew items checked out from the library before the due date online.
Also, a great service that I used a lot when I was a student at George Mason University was setting up appointments to use the group study rooms. Of course, a valid Mason NetID is required to reserve a study room and may be reserved once a day for up to 4 hours per day. The Fenwick Library specifically has multiple rooms from 2 people all the way up to 8 people.
There is a link that you could click that says, “Ask a Librarian”. You can either schedule an appointment with the Subject Librarian to help with your research. Also, it includes extra tips on how to email and prepare for your meeting with a Subject Librarian. You can also email, text, and chat during its service hours.
There is also an Online Learning service available if you are a student or instructor of a Mason Online hybrid or fully online course. Also, you can get both journal articles and books without having to come to the library and can look at them online. Another service that the website provided was the Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) which provides an online, virtual computing environment that allows all faculty and students to select and use academic software resources remotely. After selecting the desired software, you can remotely connect from any location to the appropriate virtual machines at the scheduled time.
Within the “Accessibility” section, it states that upon request, arrangements can be made to assist patrons with locating and retrieving materials, photocopying, and printing. Also, all the technical equipment and software are available to patrons with disabilities.
The Space & Physical Access
The Fenwick Library is located centrally on the Fairfax campus and is George Mason University’s main research library and houses the majority of the University Libraries’ 1.5 million volumes. The facility contains both traditional and compact shelving.
The lobby of Fenwick contains an extended-hours study lounge as well as an Argo Tea Café. The noise level in the lobby is quite noisy especially when there are a lot of students. When you enter the library, you will find the Information Desk, an express self-checkout station, and the Fenwick Gallery space for showcasing student and faculty art.
The Research Commons, on the second floor, is a space designed to bring together students and faculty to research in the libraries in a multi-disciplinary environment. The group study rooms are equipped with whiteboards and monitors. Also, there are two presentation practice rooms that are designed to allow students a space to practice and revise oral presentations. The fifth floor contains a graduate study zone which is a quiet space to give graduate students a place to pursue their research.
In the elevator and throughout the floors, there is a chart that lets you know the noise level of each floor. The first and second floor is moderate. The third floor is quiet. The fourth and Fifth floor is silent. I would usually go to the fourth floor as I do not prefer having sounds when studying. The fifth floor is for graduate students so I wasn’t able to use that floor when I was still an undergraduate.
As mentioned earlier, the Fenwick library houses the majority of the University Libraries’ 1.5 million volumes. There are movable compact shelves majority located throughout the first floor.
I do think Fenwick focuses on targeting experienced researchers as they give space for specifically graduate students and upperclassmen. There are a few other libraries located on the campus, but I saw that Fenwick was the most popular as it provided space for undergraduates, graduates, and faculty as they could pick which floor to work on. There was space made for groups and individuals.
©Fourth Estate
The fifth floor, specifically for graduate students, is filled with 55 individual study carrels. Each carrel comes with a cubby equipped with a lock where students can store research materials. A student can reserve a carrel for an entire semester and they are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. These carrels are only available on the fifth floor, so the entire floor looks different from the other levels of the library. The library does not necessarily have policies that only graduate students can use the fifth floor, but they expect undergraduate students to give space to the graduate students and use other parts of the library.
There was diversity depending on what I have observed among the patrons and staff. Even though I wasn’t able to go and see it, I do remember that there was a mix of diversity within the library. George Mason University itself has a very diverse community and the library was the same as well. All the research books were available in English only though. While my time there, I haven’t seen a lot of staff at the front desk. Maybe 1-2 people would be standing there and most of them seemed to be student volunteers.
This academic library was clearly different from the public library visit I had. There were books that were mostly used for research instead of casual reading. Something that I really appreciated with this library is the sound level difference of each floor. You can clearly experience that the third floor was quiet with a minimum sound like whispering among the students. On the fourth floor, the only thing you can hear is either page flipping or keyboard typing. I thought that having a silent place like that in school was a great way for me to concentrate on my full potential. I would definitely love to make time with subject librarians if I do get the chance in academic libraries. I live far from Old Dominion University, but if I get the chance, I would love to visit their library and compare it with this library. Rubin and Rubin (2020) state, “Academic libraries advance society by education students and supporting research that will improve society”. I thought that this Fenwick library gave a lot of research materials to give students a chance to educate further within.
References
Rubin, R. E. and Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.
April 1, 2022 at 12:18 am
This library looks very modern. I visited the George Mason Mercer Library on the Science and Technology Campus in Manassas, VA and it looked very different from this one. I think it’s great that there is Research Commons where professors and students can come together. The moveable shelves are a nice touch! This allows for more books to be housed in the library’s collection. I have never interacted with movable shelves before but they seem like a constructive way to utilize the space.
April 3, 2022 at 1:30 am
Yes, I agree with how modern the library looks. It’s very popular on the campus, and I could confidently say that most of the faculty and students use this library out of all the other libraries on the Fairfax campus! I also haven’t seen a lot of libraries with movable shelves and thought it was great for more libraries to have them utilize the space as best as they can.
April 2, 2022 at 1:43 pm
The noise level indicators for this library is interesting. I have never seen that before! It is good to have those indicators upfront for the students, that way they know the expectations of the different levels when in the library. I was surprised by the fifth floor amenity of the studying carrels. You would think with the size of the campus that there would be more carrels available. I was also surprised that one could leave their research in the library and not have to transport their work back and forth each time you came to the library. I would suppose that if you occupied one of the carrels you would be in there daily to utilize it properly. Some students might not appreciate someone taking one for the whole semester and never going into the library to use it. Thanks for the post!
April 3, 2022 at 1:33 am
The noise indicators for the library was one of the biggest reason I loved going to this library. I thought it was a great idea for other big libraries to include. I also thought that only having 55 study carrels was a bit small for a big school like GMU. However, I thought that most of the students are off-campus, so I would think that there wouldn’t be a lot of problems as students don’t flood the library as much. I would’ve loved to use those study carrels for graduate students if I was a graduate student in GMU for sure. Removing the hassle of putting back books and picking them up again is a great idea for students to get right into what they need to do.
April 2, 2022 at 5:18 pm
One of the first things I noticed from your review was the tips for how to email and prepare for meeting with a Subject Librarian and I think that’s such a useful thing for places to include! It can be intimidating reaching out to someone for assistance so offering simple tips can make such a huge difference for some people. The noise level charts are useful and sound like what I found at the academic library I chose to visit, Radford University. They have floors which are designated as silent study floors but I don’t think they indicate the noise level for other floors, so that’s interesting! I also found those study carrels to be neat, especially given that students may reserve them for an entire semester. It’s good to know students have the opportunity to have a designated space reserved just for them.
April 3, 2022 at 1:35 am
I thought that was interesting as well! I’m one of the people that are intimidated by emailing and reaching out for help. Having that tip would help a lot of students to engage in emailing and reaching out more. It’s great that Radford University had the noise level charts as well! I love it and it’s one of the reasons I really enjoyed visiting this library during my undergraduate years.
April 3, 2022 at 8:09 pm
The option to use academic software remotely to connect to a virtual machines is an interesting feature. I like that there is a separate area for graduate students since they are usually doing a lot more research and are trying to compile information into a thesis or dissertation. I haven’t had a chance to visit ODU’s library either, but will, when I am in the area during the summer.
April 4, 2022 at 12:16 am
It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to use the separate area for graduate students. I would have loved to use that space and enjoy how silent the whole room is (as I prefer silence when studying). I haven’t been able to visit ODU at all and am curious as to how their libraries look!
April 3, 2022 at 11:35 pm
Hi Joyce, Fenwick seems like a great library! I loved your remarks from your own days as a undergraduate student — I’m glad you found it a space conducive to your work. I’ve never seen movable compact shelving in a library before — amazing. Though I haven’t been to Fenwick Library (nor GMU’s campus), many of its other features, like its dedicated quiet floors and spaces for graduate students, are similar to the academic library I visited, Cabell Library at VCU. Both are so much more developed than my own university’s library in the early 2000s!
April 4, 2022 at 12:17 am
It was amazing to see movable compact shelving in an academic library for me as well! I liked how they utilized the space and also added modern designs to the whole building. I remember the students loved using this library out of all the other libraries that were available on this campus. I would love to visit this library again just to enjoy the silent floors.