This year, Princeton Review placed the Cullom-Davis Library in the “This is a Library?” category behind Clarkson University and the United States Merchant Marine Academy at No. 3, only two spots better than it was a few years ago.
In 2013, Princeton Review ranked the Cullom-Davis library as No. 1 in the “This is a Library?” category, a listing of 20 universities nationwide that score lowest in student satisfaction with library facilities.
Not taking volumes, circulations, or other available materials into account, the category university falls into depends upon student answers to the survey question: “How do you rate your school’s library facilities?”
Because the category is entirely student-opinion based, there are mixed feelings about the library and what needs to be done to improve.
“I don’t think [the library] is terrible, but it needs some serious database updating,” senior biology major Ashley Hanviriyapunt said. “I think a lot of the stuff there is old.”
Common problems cited by students seem to be a lack of seating and issues of comfort.
“I sometimes feel like it’s hard to find a table, especially a table with a plug,” sophomore English major Jackie Fleming said.
In 2013, the Student Senate Speak Up! event provided the opportunity for Provost David Glassman to address student questions about the library, noting that renovations would be around $3 million based on recommendations made by Cannon Design. He also said project renovations would begin upon the establishment of revenue sources.
Executive Director of the library, Barbara Galik, said some changes have been made since then.
“By reallocating space, we have added more study rooms on the first floor and a lounge type study area on the lower level outside the quiet study area,” Galik said. “We also added more furniture on the first floor and increased the number of white boards and monitors in study rooms.”
However, some students said their use of the library is limited due to a lack of comfort and space to study.
“I don’t even want to waste the time to walk over there when there aren’t even any tables open,” junior civil engineering major Angela Linley said. “The only quiet area is the basement, which is stuffy and has really uncomfortable wooden chairs.”
Student Senate recently passed a resolution to remove 12 rows of empty bookshelves to free space for study areas. However, this plan hasn’t had time to be enacted yet.
The Princeton Review sent out the survey link in early February for a future publication due Feb. 15. Although all students are eligible to take the survey, only a select group of students had been invited via email to take the survey at time of printing.
Students that received the email invitation to take the survey were asked to share “insights on favorite classes, extracurricular activities, sports, clubs, school traditions, professor/student interaction, residence life, food and more, [which] provide invaluable guidance for college bound students searching for schools like Bradley.”
Other students did not know about the survey and were disappointed that they were not directly invited to take part in the survey.
“I haven’t received anything [about the] Princeton Review [survey],” junior public relations major Hayley Feichter said. “I’m usually a person who loves taking these types of surveys, so it would have sparked my interest, and I would have looked into it.”
The next issue of the Princeton Review is projected to be available August 2015.
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