Researching is dangerous, even when it only takes place in a library, office or archival room. No, I'm not just refering to the 5 paper cuts I received this week while reading (thanks again, mom, for the hand salve), nor am I refering to the tripping hazard I keep giving myself each time I leave the library with a tall stack of books. The library itself is a dangerous place.... or at least it is in my mind.
My reading adventures have taken me away from the general stacks and digital world of interlibrary loan to treking through new areas of the library. How is it that after 4 years of graduate school, I don't know every inch of the library? I've been spending a lot of time in the basement looking for old journals in compact shelving. For those of you that don't know what compact shelving is, let me enlighten you. When a libary needs to create more space, it can invest in motorized bookshelves. Each bookcase is set on a track with buttons on the end. For every 10 or so bookcases, there is only space to walk between two sets of shelves. The rest of the bookcases are squashed together with no room to walk though them, (unless one is an ant of course). To access books on shelves that are currently pressed together, one must press buttons on the edge of the bookcase row and hope that everything will move in the direction needed. With my luck, I usually have to move 8 rows before I can access my row. One of these days, I will walk down the rows that are open to figure out what subject could possibly be more interesting that linguistics to gain such popularity within basement compact shelving. Until that day, I will continue to groan while pushing buttons. Moving 8 rows of cases wouldn't be so bad if the shelves would actually move. Usually they prefer to lock and make me press the correct sequence of buttons 5 times before they move. And half of the time, they move in the wrong direction. This is especially frusterating when I just moved two rows in the correct direction. Luckily, it is only possible to move one row at a time, so it is unlikely that I will be squished between rows should some other scoundrel ever press a button with more finesse than I am able to while I am looking for journal p10001.34abc1932.
Okay, so my library isn't exactly that dangerous after all, but soon I will have to travel to the other state university to research in their larger, better funded and better stocked library. My campus only has one library open to the general student population. The other state university has over 40 libraries on campus. My library only requires a student ID after 7:00 at night. The other state university has libraries that require student IDs at all times. I, however, have a student ID for that library, and although I can't check anything out with it right now, I can get in to the library of doom. It might not really be called the library of doom, but it should be. Without naming it and thus identifying my real location, I will simply write that the name of the other library would make a better cemetary name than library name. Thus, the library of doom will do for now. Harry Potter has a whipping willow to outsmart to get in and out of
Hogwarts, but I have angry political activists to face before entering
the library of doom. Harry Potter has the Deathly Hallows but I have the Deathly Halls.
After sneaking past security with an invalid student ID, I have 12 floors to navigate. My home library only has 5 floors. The floors that house linguistics materials have compact shelving with buttons that work better than my home library`s- thus, the possibility of being squished between rows is much more likely. The library of doom has more researchers frequenting it than mine, thus it is more probable that someone will be in the same section as me needing access to a neighboring row. Furthermore, as it is easy to counterfeit student IDs or borrow someone elses (as the security check is run by student workers who don`t really pay attention), it would be easy for an irrate political activist to follow me and trap me between compact shelving rows.
Returning to the graveyard-esque name of the library of doom, there is a creepy sensation that follows me whenever I enter certain areas. And, unfortunately, the journals I will need to access are in such said creepy areas. In this section of the library, all lights are controlled by motion detectors. Thus, the lights only illuminate 5 feet of floor space at a time. Once I cross the threshold of one shelving unit to the next, a light turns off behind me before the light in front of me turns on. AND, if I spend too much time looking for a journal within only one bookshelf, the lights will turn off due to a lack of movement. Not creepy enough for you yet, dear reader? Keep reading.
The library of doom also has study carrels at the edge of each row of books in this section. This is great for university publicity--"send us your money, we are a research university with ample research space in our libraries"-- but as the general population of students nor their parents will ever venture onto floor 6 of 12 of the library of doom (after all, they won't have IDs!), the other state university never has to show people what these study carrels look like.... so allow me to further enlighten you. The study carrels in "my" section are pure metal. They have a metal desk, metal chair and 4 walls (3 are metal and one is cement). The floor and ceiling are cement. The metal walls and door might as well be made out of barbed wire- if stuck on the inside, you'll never make it out in one piece. Furthermore, the doors only stay closed with a lock. The books in this section of the library are very dusty, showing that there isn't a lot of movement in this area. As professor doctor advisor Indiana Jones keeps telling me I need to go to the library of doom to scan journals, I can only conclude one thing: professor doctor advisor Indiana Jones is really professor Snape in disguise and I will face Voldemort in the library of doom. Being that my wizard skills are nonexistent, I will die between compact shelving bookcases while protecting the full description of Geraldine, and Voldemort will dispose of my body in a locked, dark, dusty study carrel in a section of the library of doom, never to be found again.
With that explained, does anyone want to travel the floo system with me to the library of doom before the month is over?
No comments:
Post a Comment