Heather LeCon
SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS
New computers. New furniture. New study rooms. A completely new layout. Everything about the renovated library will be new and improved.
The goal for the new library is to give the students more space to study, to modernize the whole look and to have the technology be much more current.
Las Positas has been in the process of remodeling the library on campus since June 2014. The school is working on final touches, and the new library will be open for students after spring break on April 6.
Librarian Tina Inzerilla is excited about the opening of the new library. She said the library has “almost doubled in size and doubled the number of study rooms.”
New furniture will catch students’ eyes when they walk into the library. The color scheme will consist of red, green and blue. The school included students within the committee charged with selecting the new colors.
Librarians also handed out student surveys to determine what colors students favored. Based on that feedback, the library committee chose the new colors as well as the new furniture.
“We had the students in mind,” said Inzerilla.
Technology, however, is the greatest advancement.
All new computers have been installed. Also, new laptops will be available for students to check out.
The library has also updated with a high- speed wireless connection so that the computers will run a lot faster Inzerilla said. Also, outlets have been included in the new tables, as the ability to charge devices was a major consideration.
“The students will have more computers,” Inzerilla said, “more places to study, and faster internet access.”
Students have their own ideas of what they wanted to see in the opening of the new library. Las Positas student Chris Winther said, “Hopefully it will be more spacious because before it was too cramped.”
Winther is in luck because the new library will have a completely different layout, providing more room to browse down the aisles of books. Also, the comfort factor has been improved – students will have lounge chairs for relaxed studying.
The library will now also have a sky-lit ceiling allowing sunlight to aid the overall ambience of the room.
More study rooms will be in place along with additional advances in the rooms themselves.
The new study rooms will have bigger screens for practicing presentations, and students will able to write directly on the screens, according to Inzerilla.
Students can reserve a study room online through the Las Positas College website. Once the new library re-opens on April 6, the 700 building will be remodeled to become a classroom for photography and visual communications classes.
Upon students’ return from spring break, a whole new study experience will be waiting in the form of a modernized library.
Inzerilla said, “We’re really excited about the remodeling of the library!”
