It is time to inject some color in St. John’s University. St. Augustine Hall is the destination St. John’s students flock to when there is major studying and homework to do. It is a place dedicated to academics in a quiet, serene environment, where students can go to work on research papers, notes and projects. Their long hours make it very convenient for students to settle there for the night to burn away the candle; there is even a food facility to provide nourishment so they do not have to even leave the building to get food.
One of the best features of the library is the floors of abundant resources at the disposal of students. There are thousands of books ranging on every topic, computers for Internet research and printers for students to print out materials for class. The only flaw of the printer resource is that there are no color printers anywhere in the library.
This does not seem like a huge convenience, but if the student is on time restrictions, it can be a problem. If a student needs to print out a paper or project in color, they must pack up all of their belongings, exit the library and trek over to Sullivan Hall, where there are color printers available. That can be an extreme nuisance and a huge interruption to a student.
Granted, the walk to Sullivan Hall is not that far, but it is not exactly right next door either. It requires a walk down the flights of steps of the library (can be four flights), outside, then around Marillac, across the pavement and into Sullivan Hall. It is probably a five-minute walk, depending on the volume of students on campus that day. This can be a huge hassle when the student is engulfed in books.
At the library, there is room to lay out numerous books, papers, notebooks, highlighters and laptops so that everything can be within arm’s length. Having everything organized and visible makes it easier to accomplish work, and it makes it that much easier that the printer is right there so their work can be instantly printed.
If a student needs to print out colored work, they would have to pack up all of their studies, walk all the way over to Sullivan, enter into one the computers and then print out their work. There is not as much space in Sullivan Hall’s computer lab to lay out everything like there is at St. Augustine.
Students do feel affected by this hassle at the library. “I do not think it is right that in Sullivan Hall they have color printers and that in the actual library there is no color printer,” said freshman Krystal Torres. “I went to the library to print out a project, but since they did not have the colored printer, I had to walk over to Sullivan, which was an inconvenience.”
“It’s not a huge hassle if you have enough time planned out, but if you do not have enough time to run from the library, then you have a problem,” said freshman Cait Mason.
The library staff has fielded various complaints about the situations. “We have gotten complaints from students, usually about three to four a week,” said student library worker Iman Reda. “It would be beneficial for students if the library had a colored printer.”
Sullivan Hall is a great place to do printing, if printing is just the only thing that needs to be done. It is not the best place for students to work on projects for a long time that require a lot of room. The library is the place on campus where it is the designated place to do major studying and projects without any interruptions of any kind. It would make sense that if the library was fully equipped to meet every need that a student would possibly have, then it should get color printing.
