By Ryan Pike
Changes to plans for the Taylor Family Library may mean more services available to students, according to University of Calgary officials.
“At one point the Taylor Family Digital Library was going to be much larger than it actually is going to be,” said U of C vice-provost students Ann Tierney. “At one point there was going to be many more services that were moved into the building, but right now, in terms of university services run by Student and Enrollment Services, we are developing a student success centre within the Taylor Family Digital Library.”
Tierney said that while the original plans called for some offices to be moved entirely into the Taylor Family Library, formerly known as the Taylor Family Digital Library, subsequent revisions reduced the space available for university programs. A future Centre for Student Success, which is still in the early planning stages, will include services from a wide variety of areas including the Disability Resource Centre.
“There will be a coming together of resources and DRC will likely have some space up there so that students can access some of the more academic programs over there, but I have not seen any finalized plan,” said DRC director Johanne Tottle.
The revision of the new library plans means that some services originally slated to be in the building will be staying put. Tottle said the DRC will not be moving from its location in MacEwan Student Centre, especially considering the recent boost to health services in the form of the new Wellness Centre.
“The main core of Disability Services will remain here in this office, in the Students’ Union [building], because we need to have access to the handibus route which is located right outside our window so we can monitor that,” said Tottle. “We work very closely with counselling, health services, the doctors, the psychiatrists, the physicians and all those services are remaining here with the Wellness Centre.”
Tottle said that while the services the DRC can offer are constrained by the amount of office space, the addition of the Taylor Family Library’s building and resources will add a layer to the services offered.
“Right now we have limited office space,” said Tottle. “Bringing on the entire library, not just a floor that might be dedicated for student success, but bringing on those type of resources will just allow our strategists to expand and offer more services, more time to meet with students.”
The DRC has been run by the university for over a decade and currently serves over 700 U of C students. The Taylor Family Library is scheduled for a September 2010 completion.