Recording Studio

I went on a tour of the new College of Business building set to open up in a couple of weeks on our campus. Wow! It’s amazing what $12m can buy. The smell of new carpeting and freshly painted walls wafted on the air as we made our way around this wonderful 4 story marvel of technology. Whoever was the interior designer did a great job with color, lighting, and furniture and I have to admit I was more than a tad bit jealous of this building and was wishing it was a new library.

One of the most intriguing rooms was the recording studio. Picture a soundproof windowless room dedicated solely for faculty and students to make audio/visual presentations. This would be a great feature for any library. Imagine the possibilities; webinars, tutorials, presentations, distance learning videos, there is no limit to how a library could expand its services with access to a resource like this.

I have to confess that another purpose for this room also crossed my mind. What a perfect room to escape to when your last nerve has snapped. My apologies to Rod Serling but…Imagine if you will, the unsuspecting overworked librarian working dutifully and focused intently on a statistical report needed ASAP. A patron/fellow librarian/student/faculty member approaches the desk and asks for the seemingly zillionth time, “Excuse me, where is the restroom?” Instead of that last nerve snapping, the librarian can murmur a quick “excuse me please, I’ll be right back” and make a quick dash to the recording room for a brief screaming session that nobody can hear. A good loud scream that nobody but you can hear will release all the hostility and frustrations of the day so you can return with a pleasant smile and assist the patron. A win-win situation. The patron leaves satisfied and you don’t have your face plastered across the news as the librarian who went berserk.