The renovations in Strozier suck. There, I said it.
Not too long ago, Strozier library began working on renovations in the back of the third floor, and I was excited. (Take a moment to think about the loser I must be to get excited over library renovations and then carry on with the rest of this article.) The third floor had a lot of potential, but not nearly enough room for students to study.
Pretty much all of Strozier is like that, with each floor having its own personality. The first floor is for socialites who are only there to be seen at “Club Stroz." The second floor is for Greeks who have an exam the next morning, yet want to be seen studying by others, even though it’s too loud to focus. The fourth, fifth, and basement floors have limited seating and are strictly no-talking zones. All of these floors have their faults, but the third floor is different. The third floor is quiet enough to get serious work done, but approachable enough to sit with friends at. The only thing that could make the third floor better is more space, which is what the renovations were supposed to fix. Instead, renovations meant futuristic chairs and no additional spots.
I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed. And I have a few questions for the person who is in charge of the Strozier renovations:
1. Why did you think putting in booths without tables was a good idea?
Seriously, why in the world are there a ton of booths but no tables to do work on? I assume the booths were placed to save room, but the only sort of tabletops they have are small and look like nightstands. I’m not a math major, but I care about those nerds. How are they going to able to do math in those booths without a desk to work on? The only thing those booths are good for is watching Netflix during a three hour class break, which is something I’ve seen multiple students do.
2. Why are there still so many books?
Let’s be real: no one reads the books in Stroz. The only reason those books are there is to give an aesthetic of a library. This makes sense, except the books in Stroz aren’t beautiful, leather-bound volumes like one would find in Hogwarts. They are all cheaply-printed, green-skinned books containing the dissertations of past students. If not all, but some, of the books in Stroz were moved somewhere else, then there would be a ton more room for actual studying to be done.
3. Why can’t you build a new floor?
I’m not an architect, so this is harder than it sounds, but please build a new floor. There are over 40,000 students and there is not enough space for 10 percent of those people. I’m a regular Stroz visitor, not one of those people who only come around during finals week.
I don’t mean any disrespect, but please, don’t make these mistakes with the fourth floor renovations. I love this school and want our library to be great. I just think there are a few problems that need to be addressed about FSU’s way of doing things.
Don’t even get me started on parking.
