When I joined the University in India as a faculty, I went to the library to get books. I was appalled to find that the library still used an antiquated system for cataloguing its collection. The books were in a mess. The whole stacks section was dusty and musty. No one knew where the books were...Anyway, I lamented about the state of the library to a friend of mine who incidentally was a student of the library. She was amazed that I dared to criticize such a wonderful library. I was out of mind, she declared. You should go to the eighth floor and browse through the wonderful fiction section.
Well, I am back in UVa, and I am sitting in Clemons library. I have my laptop on and I am typing this blog sitting in the library.
This was the place I would come to when I had to take my 4 hours Genes exam. The library has study sections where one could sit in peace and take the exam. The library also has a wonderful video collection. My brother and I had once sat here and watched Kathalika neramilai.
Clemons is just one library within the university system. The main library is Alderman's and then each school has its own library.
None of our Universities have libraries like these. Where it is a pleasure to sit and read, or browse, or do your homework, or take your exam.
I wish we had...
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