A library or a computer centre?

It's quiet. Heads are bent low over desks; there is the soft rustle of pages being turned; a pen scratches the surface of a paper. Or not. The click of keys on a keyboard; a song playing on someone's mobile phone; the sound of arguing voices from a study group - libraries have come a long way since the days of wizened scholars and their dusty academic tomes.

Libraries are an essential part of every university student's life - and they are changing to accommodate the modern university student. More and more space in today's libraries is being taken up by computer terminals, study rooms and media rooms than by the bookshelves of old.

"Libraries are integral to teaching and learning on campus," says American University of Sharjah (AUS) librarian Vanessa Middleton. "We support faculty with resources for teaching and research and supply online and print resources to enhance student's work and research skills."

However, Middleton hastens to point out: "Libraries today are very different from those of the past. They've almost become a combination of a student library and a student computer centre. It's a good and a bad thing."

Any computer terminal free?

Middleton's insights are certainly a reflection of library realities. Ask students the biggest difficulty they face in the library, and they'll probably answer that it's finding a computer.

"I get really frustrated when I can't find a good computer free, with some privacy," says Reem Al Ameer, a management student at the American University in Dubai (AUD). "I can find so many desks free, but I need a free computer."
While students' faces lit by computer screens may not be the first image that springs to mind at the mention of a library, it's probably the most realistic.

Hina Raja, an international studies student at the AUS, makes it a point to go to the library first thing in the morning and the last thing before going home - but it is not to check out books. "I come to use the computers to check my email and stuff. I need to before starting the day," she says.
Engineering student Louie Djordjevic, also from AUS, feels the same. "I use the library for sorting emails, writing essays, research, all on the computer," he says. And while students circle computer terminals relentlessly, desks end up being a good place to store books and files.

Need help?

Modern university libraries also face other challenges. "While one of our biggest challenges is getting students to use invaluable print resources, we also face other challenges," says Middleton. "One of the most difficult is getting students to ask for help."

Despite the fact that research help desks and information desks are a regular feature at any library, Middleton says that the increasing emphasis on group study is keeping students from turning to librarians for help. "Peer learning makes it difficult for them to ask," Middleton says.

But peer learning seems to be another indispensable component of today's library. Mohammad Jehad, a finance graduate from the University of Wollongong, Dubai, is a veteran when it comes to group study. "I just cannot study alone, period. I don't like to study alone and I am so used to group study that if you make me study alone I will be talking to myself. It's that important for me."

It's getting noisy

Along with the emphasis on group work comes the issue of noise. "Yes, libraries are noisy, they are very noisy," Al Amir admits with a laugh. "I thought libraries are supposed to be quiet. But my library is not quiet!"

Opinions are mixed. "Not really," says Djordjevic. "For me there's never been a case of excessive noise and there's always some quiet spot in the library."
Others feel differently. "Yes," says Farhana Esmail, a student of mass communication at AUS, who prefers to study in her dorm room. "It's not normally a problem, but if I need to really study then it's a real problem."

She adds: "I tried to study at the library once and I didn't enjoy the experience. There was just too much noise, of the kind I did not want."

Raja laughs when asked about the situation. "Yes, it's annoying," she says. "People are always chatting."
Yet the library seems to be as integral a part of the university system as it was in the past. "I can't study at home," says Raja. "So yes, I study in the library."

An interior design graduate from the AUD, Nabiha Mubasher felt the same pull towards her library, despite noise and space issues. "I prefer to study in the library. I could be near the resources I need; at home I only had the internet, and besides, my house has too many distractions!"
Jehad has only one thing to say: "The library is the university - how can there be a university without a library?"

Room for improvement

At times students also use the library for rather unconventional purposes. Djordjevic and his friends use the media rooms to watch their favourite movies, and Mubasher says: "Sometimes I end up in the library to help other people with their projects!"

Middleton says she believes that without a successful library, teachers would not be able to teach to their satisfaction. In her opinion a library is "critical" to any university.

However, she points out how keeping up with students' changing needs is a constant challenge for any university library. "Trying to provide the best within a budget is a difficulty," says Middleton. "Especially when keeping up with new technology; it's important to decide what is needed and what will just be a fad."
And students always have suggestions for improvement.

From opening up the restricted section, to more comfortable chairs, to even a place where students can study and eat, libraries are going to have a hard time keeping up with changing needs.

"I think every library should have a few sofa beds," Al Amir says. "Because most of the time I am ready to sleep..."

- The writer is a mass communication student at the American University of Sharjah