Centering on Student Success
November 11th, 2009 by UH Manoa
By Tracy Orillo-Donovan
I am always pleasantly impressed on visiting Sinclair Library, where so much has changed since I was a freshman three decades ago. Back then, there were rows of weird brownish-pink carrels, where students hunkered down with their stacks of books. In what’s now the Heritage Reading Room, there were rows and rows of green metal shelves filled with texts squished together like sardines. Not real inviting.
The old Sinclair: There wasn’t much privacy, and little elbow room, at communal studying tables.
All that changed in 2006, for the better, when the first floor of Sinclair was transformed into the Student Success Center. A survey done the year before showed that students craved more quiet studying space and academic help. Sinclair Head Librarian Gregg Geary and staff addressed the lament, by overseeing the gutting and renovating of the area that is now spacious and inviting.
Ramping up services dedicated to successful learning are why visitors increased from 158,000 in Spring 2006 to 204,195 in Spring 2008. The extreme makeover has drawn fans like Megan Forbes, a senior majoring in psychology, to both work and study in Sinclair for hours on end. “The center is a really great resource for young college students, especially those who are just starting out and haven’t yet caught their footing,” she says. “Plus, it’s a comfortable and convenient place to study between classes.”
At any given time, about 200 students are in the Student Success Center, many more during mid-terms and finals. There are free tutoring services, group study sessions, security guards on duty, increased hours (open 24 hours from noon on Sundays to 6 p.m. on Fridays), a computer lab and additional electrical outlets for laptops. There’s even a blog http://gohere.manoa.hawaii.edu/blog/ to help students navigate the sometimes treacherous waters of studying in college.
Mostly, though, this place reminds me of a large Borders or Starbucks. The library provides coffee three nights a week, and lots of students bring their own snacks. It’s not home but, hey, when you’re hitting those books and want a conducive place to learn away from noisy roommates, Sinclair is an inviting alternative.
The new Sinclair: Larger, open carrels draw visitors to the Student Success Center
Tracy Orillo-Donovan, B.A. 1985 and MEd 1996, is broadcast manager for UH Manoa. See http://manoa.hawaii.edu/.
Tags: Gregg Geary, Megan Forbes, Sinclair Library, UHM Student Success Center
November 12th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I used to study in the individual cubicle on the second floor next to the window. Sometimes you could listen to celebrities perform like Arthur Lyman and his group at Hemenway Hall just sitting in the cubicle. Mary Kawena Pukui used to park herself in one of the cubicles doing her research. The second floor housed the Hawaiian Room where UH-Hilo students used to congregate and study together. You could go outside on the balcony if you wanted to talk story. Sinclair Library was the central study place for students up to the early sixties. It was a hub. You go there to study before classes and come back to study after classes. There was a steady flow of students going to classes and coming back to the library between periods. And some students came back to study during evenings.
I hardly spent any time on the first floor except to occasionally read the newspapers.