As the new school year has begun, the Greenwood Library has also undergone some upgrades including new staff, painting the atrium and installing additional outlets into the floors.
New library staff were hired last spring, according to Brent Roberts, dean of the Greenwood Library.
“We are actually not hiring right now,” Roberts explained.
According to Roberts, 22 new student workers were hired, totalling 38 student workers employed by the library currently. New hires were in response to graduations and additional hours.
“Every year we have seniors that are graduating,” Roberts explained. “And so between the seniors who are graduating and also to bulk up for those extra 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. shifts, we hired additional students.”
According to Roberts, the hirings were timed to leave room for training and when the library has new openings they will be posted on Handshake, Longwood’s job board.
“So if you watch Handshake, that’s where current job openings are posted,” said Roberts.
Additionally, the library has had parts of it repainted.
“We got a new paint job out in the atrium,” Roberts explained. “We changed up the color array, we injected some Longwood Blue, to get the Lancer pride going.”
During the painting the Honor Creed that was at the entrance to the library was covered, according to Roberts.
“The Honor Creed will be returning,” Roberts noted. “We had to paint that area and we’re getting new letters made so we can hang it right where it was.”
New electrical outlets have also been installed on the group study side of the library, according to Roberts.
“Before, there were no electrical outlets, we put outlets into the floor,” he explained. “We’ve got 12 tables that plug in directly to the floor, and each of those tables has eight outlets, that are at the top of the table. There was nothing, now (there are) 96 outlets.”
Roberts explained that the decision was made partially from student feedback.
“Well, they told me we had the capacity for that, and it was something students had asked for,” said Roberts.
New art is also being installed in the northwest corner of the quiet study area, according to Roberts.
“In the spring, we gave out the inaugural Greenwood Library student art awards at the LCVA (Longwood Center for Visual Arts) student art Bozart’s Bash in April,” Roberts noted. “So six students, three juniors and three seniors received an award. Their art is going to be on display here in the library for a year.”
The art is currently under installation.
“LVCA is, as we speak, installing that art in the library, up in the quiet study section,” Roberts noted. “We are tentatively planning a gallery opening on October 27.”
