All Goes Floor

Click…click, keyboard; someone is on the phone, and another one is seeking help. A young man with a huge black backpack rolls in, and middle-aged gorgeous woman follows him, and she goes straight to the Copy center. You hear mumbling from all the corners of the building. “Hey! How are you doing? A friend of mine says. I am in the first floor of the Robert Swanson Learning Center (………..Library).

When you enter the Swanson Learning Center from the main door, the first things you will observe are young adults who are wearing half-blue jackets sitting behind a long desk. If you walk a little farther ahead, you will be able to see an elevator, a computer lab and bathrooms. The building is five floors tall, and full of academic and non-academic learning equipment, (the school library is named after former University…………… student; Robert Swanson, who worked as an Instructor, a Chairman, the Assistant Dean of Student Service, and the …….. Chancellor).

If you turn to your left, you will see 13ft long door made of wood and glass. This is the main entrance of the Library ground floor. This floor is unique compared with other floors of the library. This floor has almost all of the things that you need in a library, and it is open for all students. The main door has two sub doors, which directs. One says, “Enter.” Moreover, the other one says “Exit”. If you step forward and enter the first floor, the first thing you will notice are two blue colored boards which say, “Reference” and “Access to the Learning Center.” At these desks, you can ask all the questions you might have like, finding books, periodicals, movies, the copy center, reading lens, writing assistant, thesis papers …the list goes on. When you look at the inner of the ground floor library, you will see it looks like a meeting hall with bunch of shelves, and desks. It is more like a triangular shape rather than a square. The library floor is always people friendly. It attracts many students that you will notice the number of students coming in and going out of the library.

Every 5 minutes someone comes in and he/she will stop at one of the help desks or take seat and start studying. Students usually take a seat right away though some of them might start going through the library shelves, looking for academic materials (on this floor all goes, I mean, you can do whatever you want. You can use your phone, do group study, talk to someone via the internet, or sit idly). The “all goes floor” (first floor) hosts collection of academic materials and learning equipment.

The ground floor library has 40 Computers; two Television sets, more than five Printers, Copy machine center, Scanners, Magnifying lens, and most interestingly, two or three Microfiches ( Microfiches are used for to magnify very compressed information), and other hardware’s. The ground floor also holds some of the Stout graduate student thesis papers for the use of the public and fellow students. You will also see portraits from James Huff Stout to Diego Rivera (Cover page picture is one of Rivera’s portraits and you will find it in the ground floor).

The ground library floor has a variety of academic materials for all ages to use. You will find children’s learning materials, Drawing boards, Encyclopedias, World maps, and everything from Philosophy to Consumer books. The place is very welcoming; when you enter, you will get the sensation of higher learning atmosphere, and most of the people who use this floor are very friendly, and willing to help if you need help. You will grasp that everyone is busy doing something, but at the same time, when you look keenly their faces, you will notice that they are willing to take time out to help you.

The students who are coming in the ground library are all short-term goal minded, therefore, they start doing what they came for right away. Some may gather around to do group studying and others do their single studies. You will rarely see someone using their phone or hear a voice that is above the normal library tone, but this does not mean people cannot use their phones while they are in the “all goes floor”. People use their phones as they wish, since there is no policy that restricts the phone usage. It seems that since this floor gives more flexibility than other floors, it is the best place to be when doing research or writing essays in the library, because academic materials here come in handy and are easy to grab when you seek them and you can ask help if you need hand.

The place is also entertaining and diverse, because you will see non-students, like farmers who are coming in to get some materials to read while they are still wearing their farming outfit. I saw a man couple days ago, who was talking on his cell phone when he walked in. His voice was above the normal library voice. He caught the attention of almost all the students who were on the library floor. Everyone was puzzled and daring to hear once more his southern dialect. This scholar was still wearing his farming boots and clothes. He looked like a Wild West 21st century cowboy. On the other hand, you will over hear someone who is arguing with their boy or girl friends over some ridiculous issues. Additionally, you may hear students’ trying to convince each other that his/her answer is correct. It is a fascinating place to be and really, it gets diverse sometimes. The other day, I guess it was September 26th or so, I was doing my observational writing, when I noticed after few minute during my writing the diversity of the students who were in the “all goes” library floor. I could tell that, they were from all over the World. I met a slim and chocolate-skinned student, 5’7 tall with British accent, who said to me that he was from Kenya (East, Africa). Another guy who was sitting next to me was from Saudi Arabia (Middle East, Asia), I knew him quite well; A beautiful young lady who was sitting near the door was from originally Lao’s (South East, Asia), and lastly, my new friend who is from Haiti ( Caribbean) walked in before I finished my observational writing. He greeted me and took a seat. The place is relatively interesting and your eyes will not stop blinking for sure as long you as you are in “the all goes floor.”