Knight Library Needs Longer Hours

Caitlin H.

January 31, 2010 - 10:50 AM

When it comes to hours of operation, I'll admit, I'm not the standard college student. I like to go to bed early, I like to wake up and have an early start. Late nights out really aren't my thing. Usually I have things relatively well organized. Generally speaking I'm not a procrastinator and I accomplish tasks in a timely fashion.

 

Today I rose with a mission of getting things accomplished. I was out of bed by roughly 8am, had breakfast and was on my way to campus by 9:30am, was expecting to be in the library a little after 10am. By 10:30 I had planned to be well underway with my first task. Imagine my surprise when I walked up to the library to find out it doesn't even open until 11am. Fail.

 

By 11am the day is nearly half over. It means only an hour, maybe two, of work before I would want to take a break and eat lunch. I couldn't believe it. How is it the library isn't open the Sunday before the midway point of the term until 11am?! Don't administrators realize midterms are coming up?

 

On the off chance I am being completely ridiculous and too overeager to be working in the library at odd hours, I decided to investigate and compare the University of Oregon to Oregon State and see how the libraries matched up (only in terms of open hours, not resources available). I found that the Oregon State library was open an hour later every night Sunday-Thursday and open three hours later Friday and Saturday. On Saturday and Sunday, the library opened an hour earlier at Oregon State. All total that is an additional 13 hours of operation every week.

 

The Knight Library is open 24 hours a day during the last week of the term and the week of finals, which is convenient (although I can't say I have spent an entire night in the library). But during the rest of the term I have exams to take and papers to write as well. I would get started on my work in the library before 11am if I had the opportunity. Except that begs the question, "how did I not know the hours before I arrived at the library today?"

 

I'm not a student who often works in the library. Perhaps because at some point in the past I realized the library wasn't open until 11am on weekends and so I started my tasks elsewhere at an earlier time. I wouldn't wait around until 11 to start my day. I'd be curious to know what is common across college campuses. When college students generally stumble into the library on a weekend. I'd be curious what the budget costs associated with opening the Knight Library an hour or two earlier on weekends would be.

 

What I do know is this: The Student Union on campus opens at 10am on weekends. If the Student Union is open, I think the library should be as well. I will advocate for a few additional hours of open library at the University of Oregon.

 

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Ideas that Affect the Northwest

Caitlin H.

January 26, 2010 - 3:24 PM

For weeks now, I have left a penciled note in the margins of my planner about the Oregon Quarterly essay contest  deadline coming up. The contest was something I had seen an ad for somewhere along the way, and made a mental note that maybe I should consider submitting an entry. It was a distant inspiration at best. At first I kept telling myself I had plenty more time to think about it, or I just had other more important things to accomplish first. Now I look at my planner and I'm amazed I kept a finger on the contest going on at all. With so much scratched out, highlighted, scribbled in and checked off in my mess of a planner, somehow I never managed to completely forget about this essay on an idea that affects the northwest...whatever that means. Perhaps it's time I give this essay some more thought.

 

I've been watching my cursor blink on the screen for what feels like hours. I gave it some thought, I just didn't get anywhere.

 

There is no shortage of topics that affect the northwest. But what to say about them? What would other people say? What would other people care enough to write or read about? Right now the world seems so full of Measure 66 and 67 debate, what date the UO commencement ceremony should be, what the UO football players have been up to, salmon, Oregon jobs, what's going on in Haiti. Depending on how tightly I focus my world around the UO, issues either seem too narrow and trivial for engaging discussion or too broad and banal.

 

Somehow that led me to blogging about this essay instead of actually writing one. I'm still looking for a topic that matters; something I feel like I could let my heart sing about. I have until Saturday to find 1500 words worth of inspiration.

 

If there ever was a good forum for discussing issues relating to the Pacific Northwest, I assumed this was as good as any. As I search for my own ideas about what matters here in the northwest, I was hoping others might be willing to leave their thoughts as well. I urge you to participate in the Oregon Quarterly essay contest. It is free to enter and there are open and student categories encouraging participation from a diversity of individuals. This is your chance to share your story about what matters to you in the northwest!

 

 

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Winter Rays

Caitlin H.

January 24, 2010 - 9:42 AM

What a beautiful day in Eugene yesterday! I woke up and the sun cascading through my living room window felt absolutely glorious. In the time I have lived in Eugene, visitors have never failed to ask me, "What about the weather? Doesn't it just rain there all the time?" Stunning mornings like Saturday remind me of my not-so-well-kept secret - Eugene is breathtakingly beautiful. Sure it rains from time to time. But after a morning like Saturday, a person starts to understand just how lovely a place this is.

 

Naturally, since the weather was so perfect my mind raced instantly to all the wonderful explorations I was bubbling over to experience. A day like this called for a trip to the Oregon coast for an afternoon, or a hike up the butte, a day of Frisbee in the park, or at least a million other things I'm not healthy enough to do yet. It was frustrating. However, I am so blessed. I had a friend who knew just the right medicine.

 

Late in the afternoon as the sun was beginning to set a friend drove me to the top of Skinner's Butte where you can stand and look over the city of Eugene. We passed several rock climbers taking advantage of the great weather for an afternoon escapade as we made our way to the summit. I'll admit, a tinge of jealousy coursed through me; my heart was aching for the chance to have an adventure. However, the opportunity to escape the four walls of my apartment and breathe some fresh air was a welcome relief. As it turns out, the outlook became something of a history lesson as well.

 

Little did I know, for almost 20 years a small observatory built by the University of Oregon stood on this site, made to look like a mini replica of Villard Hall. It was just a small little thing designed with the purpose of studying astronomy. There was an informational display at the site to read which I enjoyed. In the 1920s a small viewing platform was placed where the building once stood, and in 1953 was expanded to what it is today. In 1997 the Rotary Club of Eugene spent some time renovating the area and dedicating it to the Eugene Skinner family.

 

The view as the sun started to fall on the horizon was phenomenal, but there was still a little bit of sunshine left for one more jaunt before it was time to go home. Hendricks Park was calling to me. My friend and I jumped back into the car for the short drive across the city to see the early blooms before daylight left us entirely. By spring Hendricks Park will be teeming with life as the rhododendrons come into full bloom. But at this time in the season, there are just a few blossoms starting to come to life. I'm anxious to be back out and exploring the park in its full beauty later in the season, but for now, it did me good just to experience a small part of it.

 

 

Early Blossoms at Hendricks Park

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Exploring Geography

Caitlin H.

January 21, 2010 - 9:13 AM

Week 3 has become a week of tests I never anticipated - health tests; blood work; the works. After a week with no relief, even after visiting Urgent Care over the weekend, I found myself crawling into the University Health Center for more answers on Wednesday.

 

At the health center I was pleased to discover I was in the care of professionals who seemed truly keen to find me an answer and find me some relief. I had been satisfied enough with the Urgent Care clinic, but the health center was clearly what I was searching for.

 

I have mono. Mononucleosis. I didn't know something that feels so terrible could sound so...benign. Being sick has taken its toll on my academics, my work and my extracurricular activities. As I feel myself slipping further behind I'm starting to rethink that crazy, busy schedule I generally keep. How do I ever find the time?

 

The blessing in disguise here is I have been given the gift of focus for my online class in Geography. There aren't lectures to miss anyway and the guidelines are as clear as I can ask for while I'm feeling ill. It is the only class I can complete entirely from home. Slowly I'm making progress through the course.

 

Geography 471: North American Historical Landscapes has been a course that has gotten me thinking. The first readings have brought me back to thinking why I chose geography as a major in the first place. The following passage is from the introductory topic to the course:

 

Working at grass-roots levels in the areas of environmental policy, urban planning, social justice, patterns of crime, feminist issues, and historic preservation, geographers often have been members of interdisciplinary teams. With this multifaceted involvement, a generally accepted definition of geography ceased to exist. It still was presented in textbooks as regional description, forcing students to memorize lists of place names but its practitioners were quite diverse in their own understandings of the field. Some geographers focus on regions of the earth in a descriptive style while perhaps working in the real estate, land development, the travel industry or in international business.

 

But, by far, the largest number of geography degree holders are educators. The gap between professional geographers---who usually are university professors, or in the public sector, or in private business---and classroom teachers often is a deep and almost unbridgeable chasm. Fortunately, recent successes in getting geography into the public eye and raising interest for the subject in schools are changing this.

 

Place matters! Geography pulled me in for its interdisciplinary nature and technical skills that could be applied to most (if not all) research topics. I am fascinated by spatial patterns in the use of explaining other natural and human phenomena. It is shocking how much I find the importance of place and space has escaped conversations and research in both global and local issues. It is fascinating to consider how mobile the world has become and the role ‘place' has to play in what the world means to people. I'm looking forward to exploring these issues more thoroughly as the course continues.

 

 

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Sacred Heart At RiverBend

Caitlin H.

January 17, 2010 - 10:35 PM

At the UO we get one long weekend a term. In the fall, Thanksgiving: A wonderful holiday but a weekend entirely tied up and devoted to family, not to mention usually just before finals. In the spring, Memorial Day weekend: or a chance to catch up on studying just before dead week. But in the winter, we have MLK day off. In week 3 of the term. In my mind, it is the ideal three-day weekend to a college student, perfectly distanced from all midterm and final examination periods and not tied to family traditions. It's a chance to get away and do a little ‘college exploring.'

 

I'll admit I had high hopes for this long weekend. I had hoped to catch up on some reading and accomplish some scholastic-related tasks, but my heart was also calling me to take an extra few hours and paint, or go on an adventure somewhere. See the mountains, travel home, or spend time reconnecting with friends. I wanted to go for a long run somewhere. In my planner, it says that this weekend was supposed to be fun

 

This morning I made a trip to Urgent Care. This isn't the perfectly planned long weekend I had been dreaming of.

 

Granted, a wrench has been thrown in my plans and this has been far from the weekend I'd hoped for, I thought I'd take a few moments before the medication wears off to sing some praises for medical care in the Eugene area.

 

I should start by saying I'm only ill. I'd say with what but I don't know; although if I had to give it a name, evil might reside somewhere in the title. I've been fighting off feeling sick for a week now and with my complete unwillingness to slow down I think things have morphed from one disease to another until it finally got the better of me. On Saturday morning I thought I was still going to be able to make it through on my own if I just let myself rest a little. By Saturday afternoon I realized I needed to go talk to a health care professional.

 

In a normal situation where I needed medical assistance, I would just go see someone at the UO Health Center. But of course this was the weekend, and a holiday weekend, so things were closed. I needed to explore new options. I had heard pleasant things about the Urgent Care at the new Sacred Heart at RiverBend. While seeing the facility wasn't exactly on my list of top 50 things to do while at the UO, I decided now was the time.

 

The building was nice. Well, better than nice. It was clearly impressive from the outside and within. But when you're sick your eye isn't really primed to those sorts of details. I just wanted to see a doctor and then be on my way. The clinic had the process streamlined to perfection. I was beyond impressed. I think somehow I felt better just for being so well taken care of and so quickly. From the moment I walked in I was having my vitals taken within the first 10 minutes. I was called to see a doctor within 5, had seen the doctor within another 5, and had a test result within another 5 minutes. Then I had my prescription and was out the door.

 

I have been blessed I have never needed much medical attention while in college. Usually the comfort of knowing the University Health Center is available is enough support. But now knowing and experiencing what wonderful care the surrounding hospitals offer (there is another Sacred Heart hospital located a city block from the main campus), I feel so taken care of. I hope I don't miss out on more weekend adventures for being sick or needing to go to the hospital, but just knowing help is there, it is accessible, and that they are quality institutions sets a person at a peace of mind. It was easy to find help when I needed it, even in the middle of a holiday weekend. Some days I find myself loving Eugene for the strangest reasons. Maybe not so strange, but too often forgotten by a college student.

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