The Saint
Tired old décor, tired old excuses
Ted Allatt on principles, principals and the library
From the outside it looks like an egg box and from the inside it looks like they used the jacket from a 1970s Maths teacher to carpet the floors. Yes Im talking about the one, the only, main Library. Over my years at St Andrews Ive heard many assurances that the Library is about to be redeveloped, Im fairly sure that Prince William heard similar statements and I suspect Patrick Hamilton on his stake was told that there was a strategic plan in place, and guaranteed funding.
To be fair to the University its taken almost 600 years for them to open any Library on a Sunday morning, expecting them to have rejuvenated a building, unsuitable even as it was being built, in just 40 years is perhaps excessively optimistic. But that said I had hoped that by the time the 600th Anniversary party poppers had been popped there would be a shiny, newly refurbished and expanded library up and running.
Alas it seems that this is not to be. Our glorious leader, Dr Louise Richardson, has put the brakes on the redevelopment project, suggesting that its just not a priority in these financially troubled times. Just when a multi-million pound project ever seems cheap on paper is beyond me, but then I am tight and from Yorkshire. But given that University applications in the UK have soared and in the long run student numbers are only likely to grow in the Bubble, isnt it finally time to cough up and update the Library?
According to its strategic plan the Universitys top priorities are research, teaching and learning excellence, the mystical student experience and sustainable and efficient infrastructure and operations. Just which of those priorities is the Library meeting right now? Certainly not research and teaching, it has a relatively tiny number of books and almost non-existent teaching facilities, my student experience of the library and the University in general would definitely be enhanced by a Library that had the books I needed in a setting that could be described as something other than oppressively lit and oppressively warm.
Which leads me neatly onto the next perhaps most important point, sustainable and efficient infrastructure. Every year that redevelopments are put on hold is several thousand pounds more wasted as the Library costs an absolute fortune to heat and keep cool, the plant mechanisms being as old and useless as the building. Not to mention the environmental impact from such an inefficient use of resources, the Library isnt environmentally friendly, nor is it a particularly study-friendly environment. Provision for disabled access needs to be updated and brought into the main area of the Library, not penned into a staff only area, with books not stacked on 7-foot high shelves. Clearly Louise Richardson doesnt work in the Library, if she did no doubt the redevelopment would be full steam ahead despite budgetary pressures. After all, there was room in the budget to take away teaching facilities and build her a mansion on The Scores.
The student body isnt going to give up quietly on this, already there has been a letter writing campaign and no doubt this will be a major issue at the forthcoming Association elections. We need a Sabbatical team that is not only prepared, but committed to fighting to improve the real student experience, to limit the damaging impact on the environment that our university activities have, to represent the right of all St Andrews students to equal access to facilities as good as the university aspires to be, as good as the university deserves to be.
Besides, what hope is there for the redevelopment plans of the Union building when they are put forward to University Court next month if the library is still struggling to be redone? Clearly these are financially pressured times, but recession is also an opportunity to build for the future, to stay true to our principles even if our Principal has abandoned them.
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