“I’ll be waiting for you in the library!"  It is common talk to Sookmyungians.  From this you could guess that Sookmyungians use Sookmyung Women’s University Library (SMUL) easily and frequently.  Also SMUL is making an effort to develop the library to be the place for spending the time in-between classes beyond the place for self-studying.  However there are lots of complaints about the library from Sookmyungians.  What kinds of effort does SMUL make for professionalism and convenience as the university library?  And what kinds of remedies does SMUL plan for Sookmyungians?

How do you use the library?

The purpose of using library is divided into four: students usually go to the library in order to use information from documents, reading rooms, group study rooms, convenient facilities and resting places. SMUL possesses many materials from theses, 976,155 books, 25,515 non-book materials and publications, to ebooks and about 16,000 students per day use the library to develop themselves.  Including the main library, there are special libraries such as the music library, the law library, and the leadership library to help get specific information.  Also SMUL allows students to borrow books from the library to read them deeply.  Anybody who studies in SMU can borrow up to 7 books for 14 days (if you take the course about using library in the internet) and ask for buying new books which are not in the library.  Up to five books can be reserved, so if a book already borrowed by someone else is returned, the student who reserved could get the priority to borrow the book.  However, because SMUL is used by all Sookmyungians, there is a fee for overdue books to manage the library efficiently.  Moreover there are reading rooms for convenient self-studying in the main library and A, B reading rooms in the basement.  A reading room is opened around the clock and the main library and B reading room is opened from 9 AM to 10 PM.  In the trial period, the opening time can be extended flexibly for Sookmyungians.  Also there are two types of lockers for students who want to leave books and personal belongings in the library to come and go easily: the lockers which can store belongings for 24 hours and the locker which can keep them in for one semester only for applicants. Students need rooms in which they can study with others for team projects.  SMUL offers the team study rooms for Sookmyungians to engage in free debate without formality and constraint: if you want to use the room, it should be booked 3 days before and you can use it for 2 hours.  SMUL provides conveniences as well as places to study. There are scanners, copy machines and printers, not to mention computers.  Also, the computers are classified into computers for searching, text editing, and printing out, and it helps students to using them efficiently.  Places for resting such as the cafeteria, sofas, and a roof garden make the library a place for more than studying, but a place for spending time inbetween classes in comfort.

The purpose of using library is divided into four: students usually go to the library in order to use information from documents, reading rooms, group study rooms, convenient facilities and resting places. SMUL possesses many materials from theses, 976,155 books, 25,515 non-book materials and publications, to ebooks and about 16,000 students per day use the library to develop themselves.  Including the main library, there are special libraries such as the music library, the law library, and the leadership library to help get specific information.  Also SMUL allows students to borrow books from the library to read them deeply.  Anybody who studies in SMU can borrow up to 7 books for 14 days (if you take the course about using library in the internet) and ask for buying new books which are not in the library.  Up to five books can be reserved, so if a book already borrowed by someone else is returned, the student who reserved could get the priority to borrow the book.  However, because SMUL is used by all Sookmyungians, there is a fee for overdue books to manage the library efficiently.  Moreover there are reading rooms for convenient self-studying in the main library and A, B reading rooms in the basement.  A reading room is opened around the clock and the main library and B reading room is opened from 9 AM to 10 PM.  In the trial period, the opening time can be extended flexibly for Sookmyungians.  Also there are two types of lockers for students who want to leave books and personal belongings in the library to come and go easily: the lockers which can store belongings for 24 hours and the locker which can keep them in for one semester only for applicants. Students need rooms in which they can study with others for team projects.  SMUL offers the team study rooms for Sookmyungians to engage in free debate without formality and constraint: if you want to use the room, it should be booked 3 days before and you can use it for 2 hours.  SMUL provides conveniences as well as places to study. There are scanners, copy machines and printers, not to mention computers.  Also, the computers are classified into computers for searching, text editing, and printing out, and it helps students to using them efficiently.  Places for resting such as the cafeteria, sofas, and a roof garden make the library a place for more than studying, but a place for spending time inbetween classes in comfort.

 

Do You Satisfy Your SMUL?

According to the survey by SNOROSE* , 20 percent of Sookmyungians spend their time inbetween classes at SMUL.  Park Jungeun, School of English 10, said, “I usually spend the time in-between classes in SMUL.  It is good that SMUL promote a pleasant studying environment and is equipped with a number of comforts.”  Some students also satisfy the diversity of books as well as the comforts.  Kim Jungeun, Division of Business 10, praised, “There are many kinds of books and thesis so I can use them when I do my report.  It is good that including books about major, brand-new fictions are updated quickly.”  It is the evidence that SMUL does its best to make a good
library, and Sookmyungians also satisfy SMUL.  Despite all SMUL’s effort, there were many students who had complaints about SMUL.  The number of students who dissatisfied SMUL was the highest.  Kim, Department of Chemistry 09, criticized, “It is not easy to have a seat in a trial period.  I think SMUL need to make more seats.  Also the system that the seats in 24 hours library change every 6 hour has a problem.  I think it is inefficient to rotate the seat for every student who wants to use the seats.”  Also Ahn, Division of Law 09, said, “Every trial period, there are many students who put only a paper to save their seats.  It makes me angry.  The main library don’t have rules to have a seat, so there are many seats that there is no one to use but a paper on the desk to save the seats.  It aggravates my anger.  In my opinion, the main library also needs the rule to have a seat at least in a trial period.” 

As well as reading rooms, there were many complaints about borrowing books.  Lim, Department of Public Relation & Advertising 10, said “I can’t get the book which I reserved.  If it is the reference book, it would be harder to get the book.  I think SMUL need countermeasures to make students return books at a proper time than increasing the number of books.”  Including Lim, many students stuck it to the system of borrowing and returning books and some students claimed that the late fee should be higher.  Students have many complaints about the student’s manner in Library.  Hwang, School of English 08, said “I think students who eat food in library need to be severely restricted.  Its smell spread out and the noise bothers others.”  The group study rooms also got complaints from students because the rooms are not soundproof so many students are bothered.  Some students complained about the books from library which some students made note on rudely.  There are the rule to penalty for damaging books but it should be notified themselves so it doesn’t work efficiently.  Moreover there is no rule to penalize for bad manner such as eating and making noise in library and it only depend on student’s individual conscience.

As well as reading rooms, there were many complaints about borrowing books.  Lim, Department of Public Relation & Advertising 10, said “I can’t get the book which I reserved.  If it is the reference book, it would be harder to get the book.  I think SMUL need countermeasures to make students return books at a proper time than increasing the number of books.”  Including Lim, many students stuck it to the system of borrowing and returning books and some students claimed that the late fee should be higher.  Students have many complaints about the student’s manner in Library.  Hwang, School of English 08, said “I think students who eat food in library need to be severely restricted.  Its smell spread out and the noise bothers others.”  The group study rooms also got complaints from students because the rooms are not soundproof so many students are bothered.  Some students complained about the books from library which some students made note on rudely.  There are the rule to penalty for damaging books but it should be notified themselves so it doesn’t work efficiently.  Moreover there is no rule to penalize for bad manner such as eating and making noise in library and it only depend on student’s individual conscience.

 

How About This?

Then how do other universities cope with these problems?  For using reading rooms efficiently, Seoul National University applies two rules to have a seat depending on the period.  Seats should be changed every 6 hours in an ordinary days same as SMU.  In a trial period, seats should be changed every 4 hours to be used by many students fairly.  Also 24hours library’s seats are assigned every 6 AM to prevent monopolizing seats.  However other universities don’t have any rules for main libraries’ seats as well.  Libraries hours don’t have any difference with other universities except Seoul National University.  It opens at 6 AM and closes at 11 PM.  It can be used 4 hours more than ours.  Also they offer the night bus for students who study in library until late at night. 

This library has the special building which can be used with ordinary people who are not the students of Seoul National University and limiting the age, the library do their best not to bother the students of the university because of it.  Other universities also make effort to lend and get back books efficiently.  Different from SMUL, Seoul National University and Korea University take 100 won per 1 day for the late fee.  Instead of the late fee, Korea University gives a penalty that student who returns books late can’t borrow books as much as the days they are late.  Also the chief librarian control the borrowing time limit in a vacation, so students can read books eisurely.  In Seoul University, it has a special return rule, Recall. It is the system to press returner to turn in books as soon as possible. The point of this system is that e-mail and SNS to press are sent by the student who reserved the book.  The returner who get them directly is informed the limit of returning and it should be returned until then.  Korea University keeps the textbooks on the bookshelf for a semester.  It prevents monopolizing the textbooks and references for the lecture in that semester and make student use them fairly.  However, for damaging books, there is any other innovative plan to prevent it except selfnotifying.  Different with SMUL, there is the borrowing service for handicapped students in Seoul National University.  When handicapped students apply the service in the Internet, the library delivers books and gets the books for returning instead of them.  It helps them use library without distinction and easily.  For comfort surrounding in library, there are many way in other universities.  Yonsei University classify the group study rooms according to use for minimizing noise.  Seminar rooms and presentation rooms are assigned in the floor which is far away from reading rooms so it reduce the noise from group study rooms.  They are equipped with computers, 19-inch monitors and white boards, so it helps students use rooms efficiently.  And there is the penalty to prevent using the library for students who bring foods in library.

This library has the special building which can be used with ordinary people who are not the students of Seoul National University and limiting the age, the library do their best not to bother the students of the university because of it.  Other universities also make effort to lend and get back books efficiently.  Different from SMUL, Seoul National University and Korea University take 100 won per 1 day for the late fee.  Instead of the late fee, Korea University gives a penalty that student who returns books late can’t borrow books as much as the days they are late.  Also the chief librarian control the borrowing time limit in a vacation, so students can read books eisurely.  In Seoul University, it has a special return rule, Recall. It is the system to press returner to turn in books as soon as possible. The point of this system is that e-mail and SNS to press are sent by the student who reserved the book.  The returner who get them directly is informed the limit of returning and it should be returned until then.  Korea University keeps the textbooks on the bookshelf for a semester.  It prevents monopolizing the textbooks and references for the lecture in that semester and make student use them fairly.  However, for damaging books, there is any other innovative plan to prevent it except selfnotifying.  Different with SMUL, there is the borrowing service for handicapped students in Seoul National University.  When handicapped students apply the service in the Internet, the library delivers books and gets the books for returning instead of them.  It helps them use library without distinction and easily.  For comfort surrounding in library, there are many way in other universities.  Yonsei University classify the group study rooms according to use for minimizing noise.  Seminar rooms and presentation rooms are assigned in the floor which is far away from reading rooms so it reduce the noise from group study rooms.  They are equipped with computers, 19-inch monitors and white boards, so it helps students use rooms efficiently.  And there is the penalty to prevent using the library for students who bring foods in library.

 

Comment about using Library Better

Other university as well as SMUL is making effort for reducing complaints of Sookmyungian.  “We will increase the number of students who want to reserve a book from 3 to 99 and the number of bookable books per a student from 3 to 5.  We will mitigate inconvenience of favorite books by buying 10 books per each kind.  Also, we will give detailed consideration to the late fee with comparing other universities.  We will hold the campaign about damaged books for arousing students’ attention.”  However most of complaints were about the manner of students in a library.  SMUL won’t depend on students’ consciences for maintaining comfortable any more, SMUL will find the steps themselves for making more pleasant place to study.  The officer of SMUL said, “It is one of the campaigns to making pleasant library that students who go out for a while leave a paper with the absence message to share the empty seat during absence with other students who don’t have seats in trial period. We also make the sharing seats board in front of the library, which is used by students who want to leave the seat for a long time with saving the seat to share it in the meantime, to root out save a seat and use the library efficiently.”  In order to resolve the lack of seats, SMUL made other 100 seats for students temporarily in the last trial period.  They will hold other campaigns related the manner in a library such as eating food and making noise with the poster.  However it will be useless things without Sookmyungians’s effort.  Therefore, Sookmyungians themselves need to use carefully and be considerate of others.  Beyond the campaigns, Sookmyungians all put a lot of hard work into making better SMUL.  “Library is arboretum.”  It is one of the lines in drama, Mary Is Sleeping Out.  It means that library is filled with books which are made of trees and make people comfortable and pleasant.  However arboretum need to be cared by spectator as well as the officer of arboretum to make better place with caring trees and being considerate of other spectator.  SMUL also need to this effort to be better arboretum.  We are other members of SMUL who grow SMUL.