<p>Well, when I have a chance I’ll ask my daughter what the process was for her to get books from the library – as I mentioned above, I wouldn’t be surprised if the process was entirely a matter of making requests for books to be held for her at the reference desk, rather than going into the stacks at her own. She was a poli sci major so I can picture her browsing the books on the shelves at the SIPA library – which seemed to be one that she was quite comfortable with (and which I was allowed to enter and look around on that campus trek to return all the books to their appropriate homes). That one seemed spacious and well-lit. </p>
<p>I attended SIPA, also. It was a very different story. Butler is a monument, and it was always fun. Most of the “troubles” were relatively benign (ie. “flashers” in the stacks), but there were occasional assaults. I enjoyed the whole process, even when it resulted - as it often did - in finding that a doctoral candidate had signed out every text I sought for a paper. </p>
<p>Based on the stack of books in my daughter’s dorm room 2 days before she graduated, I don’t think one needs to bea doctoral candidate in order to manage to check out every text that some other student must need. Barnard senior thesis was enough motivation. (Those books were still sitting in her room weeks after the final project had been turned in and well after she had already received a grade.). As I recall, there were more than 100 books. Her dad and I helped her sort them and load them into a laundry cart that we used to haul them up to campus – she was living in a studio on 110th street that year.</p>
<p>But I don’t know – maybe these days there is some sort of system whereby the library can send an email and request a specific book be returned if someone else is asking for it. Or maybe no one actually reads real books anymore…</p>