Towards the end of the quad if you are upon lower campus or the first sight you see as you drive into the campus this bulwark of a building standing over the quad and creates the gates to enter the campus. As you cross towards the entrance of the building there is two shinning tiffany windows standing above the entrance with names of Truth, and Virtue. Walking through the front door the light whiff of coffee catches the nose from the next door star bucks connected to the library through the gathering place. Stepping through two wooden posts that look like metal detectors stepping forward towards the stairs on the right is a large clock made of books with their titles stating the number on the clock.
The first floor spreads out with clumps of chairs intersecting large tables for groups to converse, while around the first middle pillar is 4 computers set like a compass in their formation. Across from them on the other central pillar is two large 4 bin printers. While I was watching the room looking for the details I wanted to convey I watched a member from the circulation desk get asked a question stand up head over to the printers and swiftly rip it apart the printer pull out three papers that were folded like an accordian and swiftly reassembles the printer as the print job continues to finish what the student had queued. All throughout the first floor there is this subtle and low murmur of groups and friends talking, with the quiet air you can hear the clacking of keys on the computers around the room occasionally you can hear the beep of a barcode reader from the ID scanner and the circulation desk barcode reader. Heading further into the depths of the library on the first floor there is large filing cabinets full of hundreds of thousands of a thing called microfiche which is a super compressed image that needs a special machine that uses a microscope to enlarge the image. Right next to the region of microfiche in the back depths of the first floor of the library there is large pull out cabinets with microfilm a larger version of microfiche but stored on small reels of film.
Ascending up to the second floor of the Andruss Library towards the left is a large open area with the two Tiffany windows, which when I was talking to Mrs. Linda Lapp who is the night shift manager mentioned the Tiffany windows followed all three libraries, it use to be over in the student service center which was the library when she went to bloom. Around the second floor front area there are scattered tables all around and rooms full of dampened sound from people inside the study rooms discussing their group projects and class material. Off to the right side of the wide open room there is massive shelves with crack wheel handles for compact shelving and on the other side of the room study rooms litter the sides of the walls with a large table and TVs to collaborate on projects. Leaving the left side of the second floor there is large stacks intersected by the current magazines dividing the reference collection and the Juvenile and curriculum collection. Far off to the right side of the main shelving on the second floor is the government documents collection.
Moving up towards the third floor the distinct smell of older books hits you as the start of the general collection begins. While interviewing the night shift manager she looked up on their system that there is over 450,000 books within their entire general collection which takes up the third and fourth floors. Towards the left is two large square group study rooms open to the draft of the room, with a few extra study rooms around them. With one office of the provost of the university tucked away towards the back left side. On the other side there are massive stacks of books, and computer desks surround like sharks to their prey around the stacks of books. Within the stacks holds endless events, history, and knowledge occasionally you can find a few students littered about searching for the right book for their research or just to read a topic they are interested in.
The smallest of the floors is on top of them all the fourth floor has no left front room, just the large unyielding stacks of books and bound periodicals. surrounded by study rooms and a quite zone the sound of silence is pierce by the hinge of a door, the subtle step of a shoe, the clacking of a keyboard, or even the occasional squeak of a cart full of books ready to be reshelved upon the stacks. Towards the far end of the fourth floor stacks is a few shelves of massive oversize books, as large as a human torso some of these massive oversize books were thin and long. Finishing through the large final half of the collection tucked away towards the very back area is the specialized software quiet area.
Descending the stairs the light steps down each one can be heard all the way down. Towards the first floor the faint smell of coffee comes back as the sound of discussions picks back up with the murmurs and laughs being interlaid with sound and life, seeing the large clock just by the stairs as across from the stairs is the circulation desk. Walking through the large wooden posts with the tender quietness of a place to learn, study, meet friends, and get work for classes done with peace in mind.
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