Many St. John’s students express the difficulty of completing academic work on the library computers in St. Augustine Hall. While some students wait hopelessly for a computer to finish assignments on, others use them for instant messaging or designing Farmville plots on Facebook. As a result, tasks as simple as researching information or printing papers include tedious expeditions throughout the building in pursuit of available computers to work on.
Sometimes students are not even able to complete or print their work on time before class because of the selfish and unstructured way that the library computers have been used.
With thousands of students on campus that rely on the library’s printing services, discrepancies in computer usage are far from astonishing. With an ever-growing student population, more efforts should be made towardcatering to those using library computers for academic use. Computers at St. Augustine Hall should be individually designated for either educational or recreational functions with Web site locations programmed accordingly. The library should also institute more academic-based computers than recreationally-used computers, as their use is more urgent and important.
Considering the fact that every St. John’s student is bestowed with a laptop serviceable on our campus-wide network, the need to log onto entertainment-oriented web locations should not interfere with library computers used for academics.
Students’ laptop proprietorship allow for recreational use that won’t take time away from everyone else’s school-related needs.
By designating the two different kinds of computer locations and distinguishing them scrupulously, students who want to print out papers or complete online research will have more time and convenience to do so.
Recreational users would benefit as well because they wouldn’t have to worry about other students who need to finish homework breathing down their necks to get off the computer.
This would increase the comfort level of entertainment-seeking Internet users, allowing them to stay longer at the library.
In fairness to the University, the library has attempted to differentiate library attendants by establishing different environments within the building. Quiet study areas are designated locations within the library that prohibit food, snacks and loud noise.
They do not, however, regulate their computer usage or emphasize academic Internet usage to avoid misuse of computers. The Academic Commons was designed as a more socially tolerant sector of the library that contains numerous computers and printers, but also does not have computer regulation. Although different rooms within the library were designed to set varied environments for students visiting with distinct intentions, the issue of designating computer usage has still not been addressed.
Regardless of the library’s regulation and monitoring of this current problem, it remains up to the students to realize the rudeness in using library computers for anything other than school-related activity.
Students who are running around feverishly trying to print or work on an essay before heading to class shouldn’t have to wait for someone else to finish checking their Facebook account.
Students should save the games for their own time and personal computers and keep the library computers open to those in need.
