Wood, plastic or cotton. It’s a choice every student contemplates as he or she enters the Commons area in John C. Hodges Library. Slowly kicking the old out and bringing in the new, more modern look, the Commons offers a variety of choices of chairs ranging from the classic swallowing chairs and loveseats to the hard and rigid wood seats, and now the new wheelable, plastic seats with an array of colored cushions.

In an attempt to liven up the Commons area and make the convenience of surfing Myspace and Facebook more comfortable, the library administration added the new furniture.

“The furniture was brought mainly to assist in group work, and we plan to add more during the summer session,” said Associate Dean of UT Libraries Jillian Keally.

The storing of the old furniture is still undecided, but for now it will be moved to the ground floor and into the Media Center, Keally said.

Students have reacted positively to the new furniture. Amanda Crisp, senior in hospitality management, said she enjoys the chairs but wonders why money was not spent on other necessities.

“The new chairs are better on the back, but with the wheels I lose the opportunity to lean back in my chair. They are improvements, but I feel the money could have been spent on something more important,” Crisp said.

Christine Coakley, senior in education, said she thinks the chairs are an improvement.

“I like the new chairs. They are more comfortable than the wood chairs, and if they came with armrests they would be perfect,” Coakley said.

Along with the new chairs in the Commons, there have been additions of 18 Dell desktop computers, wheelable white boards, wheelable desks with extra workspace and new lighting. The walls sport new artwork in the Commons, thanks to a contribution by the Chancellor’s Office. And there are two new Student Technology Assistants for Research and Teaching systems in the Commons.

The first, a SMART Board interactive flat-panel display, which is basically a digital chalkboard, and a DVD-VCR combo is in the Martha L. King Small Group Study Room. The second is a SMART Sympodium, which is an interactive pen display mounted within the podium, a document camera and a DVD-VCR combo in the Practice Presentation Room.

With all of the new wheelable furniture in the Commons and the massive traffic that flows through the Commons every day, some students think it has become rather cluttered.

“Granted I like the new furniture in the Commons, but it is hard to study in there with everything going on. I normally take refuge on the sixth floor when I study at the library, and I just deal with the old chairs,” Coakley said.

Source: dailybeacon.utk.edu

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