I just got off the phone with UBC’s Provost and Vice-President Academic, as well as UBC’s Deputy University Librarian, who invited me to chat about the proposed changes to the planned Research Commons space on floors 4 and 5 in Koerner. (it was originally to have been in person on Wednesday, but the Provost got busy, and then I had to go out of town, so phone it was.) Thanks to them for the conversation.
I still don’t buy it.
Right now, the Research Commons is closed for the Intersession period (the period when there are no classes going on). This is a money-saving measure: it costs money to pay the graduate academic assistants, and the budget isn’t unlimited, so sometimes there need to be shutdowns.
A lot of other things on campus are closed or on reduced hours now too. Last week I facilitated an evening graduate student writing community which would normally be held in Koerner Library, which is closing early during Intersession (for financial reasons), so we had to find another place to meet. We got a room in Barber Library, but that meant we wouldn’t have access to our coffee and tea makings from Koerner. No problem, though, I thought – we’ll be just around the corner from Ike’s Café!
Which, of course, is closing at 3 pm right now, for cost-saving reasons. Continue reading