So, we're working on adding about 35 more computers to the total in Atkins Library--10 of them will be Macs.
We are limited, right now, in where to put them, because of the limits on where ethernet connections are.
But, working within those limits, we might have some flexibility. Here is where we could use a little more information.
What kind of furniture do you like best, when you have to sit and work on a desktop computer? And be specific about what kind of work you are doing when you are at the desktop. Do you like the big tables? The carrels? The circle-pod thingys on the first floor? What about the furniture makes your work easier or harder to do?
Are you doing work in groups? How does your group use the desktop?
And if you have a laptop, what kind of furniture makes it easier to do the kind of work you need to do for your classes?
It will be nice to see some variety to the computers available!
ReplyDeleteThe topic of furniture is important to me, and I would like to see more seating in general especially in the basement and in the tower, both places where I prefer to do my work.
For working at a computer, a good solid chair is probably best. Something a little taller, like the chairs already being used at the computers. I have a tendency to find it hard to reach the computer and uncomfortable to sit up in the lounging chairs. This goes for if I'm writing or doing anything which generally involves a surface. The general rule should be: low reclining chair - low table (good for reclining and passing out in a book); higher chairs for the legged tables and desks (best for doing any work that I need to stay awake and alert for).
I have a preference for the type of computer desks that have the dividers between you and the people next to you. Without those it's easy to be disturbed by people around you, even if they're not talking on their cell-phones (another rule that ought to be more strongly enforced in the library).
Group work works out best in the low reclining chairs around a large low table or in the solid chairs at the large legged tables. It all just depends on what kind of work we're trying to do, so it's nice to have the option.
The soft chairs with the swivel desks on the mezzanine in the Union are nice for doing work on a laptop computer.
Me personally, since I'm a big person, would perfer seating with us in mind. I want to feel comfortable in an easy chair w/o the tiny desk attachment. I think they're for smaller children.
ReplyDeleteThere are two kinds of computer chairs at the library: those that rock and those that don't. I like the ones that rock, and I don't think I'm alone because many times they are moved around from desk to desk. Those chairs are nice.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of work area, I think that the circle pod thingys (with computers placed in a circular arrangement) are not so good because the other people at the circular thingy can sometimes be very distracting. Because they are more communal it is much more disrupting when students clump together and start talking about a project on one or two of the computers; whereas this problem isn't so severe when there are desks with dividers.