UIC Library

UIC Library

The building is uninviting and because there are only two entrances placed close together it has a shut off feel. We believe that because of the position of the entrances most activity is carried out in the centre of the building. Because most of the activity is carried out in the centre of the building the layout necessitates placing the study corals between the elevators and the books further out in the wings (we doubt anyone would use the library if this were reversed).
Despite being dusty and having a rundown feel the library is saved by having friendly staff. The door greeters are never aggressive, and will chat readily (excepting emo boy who we feel still has a lot of inner angst to work out).
Adjectives describing the library that come readily to mind: dingy, hot, suffocating, dark, and uninviting. These descriptors are true but unfair because cleaning and reorganizing could turn things around dramatically if there were the money for it. Also the library has a life of its own, it is like an idiosyncratic spinster uncle Ted who tried (but failed because of parental intervention) to by you that hunting rifle on your tenth birthday. Because things have changed and moved around so much over the decades the whole facility has an ad hoc feel that far from being off putting actually adds to the buildings overall appeal.
This is why people use the building because it has a flavor. There are always students discussing group projects (when CCC would do), and plenty of little nooks to make your own. The building is at the mercy of necessity not some architects aesthetic, which has freed it but made it disastrously ugly.

p.s. What do you all think of when you enter the UIC library?