The center of DU’s campus boasts the beautiful and recently renovated Anderson Academic Commons, more informally known to students as the library. The structure is impressive in itself, a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) certified building with multiple floors, sections and capabilities, not to mention the mass of collections and archives it houses both physically and digitally. Still, students should take better advantage of all these offered resources, a change that is partially dependent upon student effort, but also something that should be more widely advertised and presented by DU itself.
Most students are familiar with the library for its numerous tables, study outlets and funky chairs on all three floors. Especially during midterms and finals weeks, it is jam-packed with students hunched over notebooks and laptops for hours at a time. However, for all this study time, the resources sitting mere feet away aren’t used to their full potential. Staff are constantly at the library Research Center on the main floor to help in the search for a certain topic or book. This is not to mention the countless assets such as online databases, the Writing Center, Digital Media Center and various tutoring services, all of which are free and readily available to students. The DU library is chock-full of highly relevant resources and opportunities if students are willing to place some effort into utilizing these resources.
Some professors and classes, commonly FSEM or ASEM, devote specific time to investigating parts of the library, whether it be through viewing the special collections rooms or learning general research tactics. If more of this integration could be done such as searching the shelves or discerning which databases to use, especially within the first year, students would be more willing in the years following to utilize the resources that the library offers. Part of the difficulty and hesitation surrounding the library’s resources is the technicality of being unsure how to use them without a great deal of time and frustration. If a more thorough presentation was given of all the library has to offer, students would be more willing to take the initiative later on to use these sources given the confidence to approach the vast amount of available information. Students should be educated on where these resources are and how to use them; knowledge that would benefit student knowledge in areas such as writing papers, investigating topics or creating presentations. DU should place more effort in encouraging the use of these opportunities, whether it be through an introduction during Orientation, emphasis and integration during FSEM classes or another official presentation so students can be confident in successfully navigating all that the library has to offer.
Though students may be grudgingly too familiar with being in the library to study and work on projects, they should allow themselves to take advantage of all the library has to offer. Students would benefit not only in their performance in class and their grades, but also in obtaining personal knowledge on subjects they are interested in. With some additional help from faculty in promoting library resources, and a willing mindset on the student’s part, the library can be utilized to its full potential.
