Oh, falafel!

Why hasn't anyone recommended the falafel cart that sits outside the bookstore before today? Maybe it's because I haven't had one in a long time, or maybe it's because I don't have my finger as closely on the culinary pulse of Eugene as I'd like to think, but that was a dang good falafel!

So the main library here has a pretty big reference room, with many many public access computers. It also has a huge current periodicals room, with many many empty shelves. As we move toward electronic journals, and we gather research that says professors and students only want 'core titles' in print (and electronic access to everything else), and as we can afford to buy fewer and fewer titles in print anyway, why don't we:

• Move the journal collection into the reference room. Let's admit it, not too many people are using those encyclopedias anyway.


• Convert the current periodicals room to a larger computer lab. With the existing lab frequently running at capacity, and so many people in the reference room only checking their email anyway, let's consolidate those services into a mega-lab. Look at OUGL at UW as a model.

There's two really good advantages here for traditional library services (ala reference). First: it's gets the e-mail checkers, chess players, and wankers out of the reference room. The librarians will get to spend less time policing, and more time answering questions. Second: students would have to take a long walk through the reference room and current periodicals to get to the computer lab. They might just stop and take a look along the way.

It would be a really pretty lab too. The existing quiet area could be moved to the old computer lab.