Library construction an annoyance

By Sharn Dhah
The Collegian

IT BREAKS MY heart to walk by the fenced-off expanse of dirt that used to be our library. I miss being able to wander down aisles of books and browsing through them, touching their spines, and finding great books by chance – books I wasn’t looking for and wouldn’t have stumbled upon if I hadn’t been poking around the shelves.

I admit I have avoided using the library for the last year. I don’t want to bother with requesting books, even though I hear the process is fairly simple. I like to see a book before I commit to checking it out.
Many of my teachers are fine with using online journal articles as sources for research papers, so I’m not even required to use books anymore.

I don’t even like to use the remaining part of the library for a studying place anymore. After visiting the library in the middle of the afternoon and hearing the sounds of construction reverberating through the walls, any desire I may have had to reconnect with the library died. I don’t know how anyone can concentrate with that ruckus.

This means having to get creative with finding a spot on campus to study. The science building is a personal favorite. I even spent an afternoon in the physics study room, which was quite peaceful, but in the back of my mind I was hoping they wouldn’t find out I am an English major and kick me out.

As we are all well aware, there is construction going on everywhere across our campus this semester.

There’s also the road construction on Chestnut, the roofing projects taking place on top of McLane and other buildings, and talk of a much-anticipated parking structure to be built near the Save Mart Center.

These days, it seems like we are in a state of perpetual demolition and construction. I have realized that it’s not just Fresno State, but every school I have been at since elementary school that is constantly updating and rebuilding their campuses.

I first noticed this in sixth grade, when my school, ironically, began construction on a library annex the year I was going to leave.

It made me mad because I wouldn’t be able to use the new library by the time they were finished working on it. As far as the Madden Library goes, do they really expect me to come back after I graduate to check out their new facilities?

In junior high, my school decided to remodel the performing arts theater on campus, as well as a new amphitheater, which meant many blocked off paths and finding alternate routes to get to class.

In high school, there was a lot of landscaping work going on, laying down of concrete, cutting down of old trees and the planting of new, baby trees.

I remember the annoyance of running into orange cones and mud and big machines all around campus. It was disheartening, and I’m sure it must have had a negative effect on student morale.

Construction in general is a disturbance to the learning environment.

This persistant, ongoing construction creeps me out. Are all of our facilities so bad that we have to be updating everything constantly?

Can we ever be happy with what we have? Is this a race, are we in competition with someone that I don’t know about? Do we really need to be always working on something, like some disturbing manifestation of “1984”?

I also take offense to the computer-generated pictures of the new library that seem to be displayed everywhere. It’s only a simulation of what it may look like, but it’s supposed to tide us over until we have the real thing. Is it meant to pacify the student body?

Personally, I will be sorely disappointed if it doesn’t look exactly the way it does in the picture.

This is not to say that all construction is a bad thing. I realize that it is for the greater good, and that future generations of students will benefit from these changes.

And I even get a perverse pleasure out of witnessing the destruction of these buildings. I remember a year and a half ago, when the “temporary” San Ramon buildings were finally torn down after having stood in their spot for over 30 years.

The walls were laying in a cheap and debris was scattered everywhere. It was a beautiful mess. If I had known the exact days they were planning to demolish the library over the summer, I would have shown up to watch.

In the end, I guess there isn’t much we can do to stop this current construction around campus except to wait for it to end and hope there aren’t many delays in the workers’ schedules.

And in the meantime, we need to take solace in small mercies. After all, we have a shiny, pretty Rec Center to distract us.

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