A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
However these changes are just the start of a large two year project that will see an extensive remodelling of the library, modernising it and moving it closer to being able to offer a 24/7 service.
The project is scheduled to begin in January 2010 and will see work carried out on a floor by floor basis to ensure minimal disruption to students. Although library staff stated that some disruption to students was inevitable, keeping as much stock in the building as possible will be prioritised throughout the project, as will maintaining study areas.
The work will begin on the second floor, with half of the stock already moved in the last three weeks of the summer and the rest scheduled to move over the Christmas holidays, in order to minimise disruption during term time. The second floor will be closed until July, when work will move to the third floor.
The first and ground floors will then be tackled, although due to the size and volume of stock on these floors, this will be on a half-floor, by half-floor basis. A library staff member estimated that at the end of the project every book in the library would have moved at least twice.
In terms of the changes, the ground floor will see an extended "open zone", with wireless facilities and access through to the Freshers Café, which will have longer opening hours. There will also be a much greater degree of self service, with a self service hub and an automated book return service.
This service, which could come in as early as this term, will allow students to pay any fines on the spot and will reduce the need to queue up and pay a member of staff which can only be done during their working hours. Key texts will remain on the ground floor.
The first floor will also contain the same book and journal stock as the present, but will see the addition of a 20 seater silent computer cluster as well as a 16 seater quiet cluster. It will also have three bookable group rooms containing presentation equipment, two open plan study rooms and 14 single study rooms. Study areas will be divided up into quiet and silent areas, to give students a choice of working environment.
Additional computer clusters will be made available on the second floor, which will again containing all existing book and journal stock. It will also have two bookable group rooms with presentation equipment, two open plan group rooms and 12 single study rooms. Due to its smaller size, the third floor will see the least change.
With a greater emphasis on self service to be established by these developments, the library will move one step closer to being able to offer a 24/7 service, something which was at the centre of a YUSU campaign last year. Library staff stated that a 24/7 service was definitely something that would be considered once the refurbishment is complete and the funding avaliable.
For any more information about changes to the library and for updates on the progress please see the library refurbishment page on the university website, or the library's blog.
As a returning postgraduate, I almost vomited when saw what had become of our once-beautiful book palace. The library of my youth is dead forever!!! :'(
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