The Brody Learning Commons has been open for a couple of months now, and you love how light and open it feels. But what else do you want to know about the BLC, so that you can use it to your best advantage? Here are answers to some of the things that you have asked, as well as facts that you may not know.
Basics
- To get inside almost all of the rooms, you need your JCard to swipe in.
- To find a specific room, the levels, going from the upper to the lower, have numbers in the 1000s (Q), 2000s (M), 3000s (A), 4000s (B), and 5000s (C), respectively. For example, the big reading room on Q Level is 1045.
- Yes, the big outside doors are heavy; this is partly because they are automatic doors. There are faceplates inside and outside, and you can push those to make them open automatically.
Lockers
- Don’t leave your valuables out in plain sight while you go for coffee at the Daily Grind on Q Level; there are lockers on every floor! Plus each one is equipped with outlets, so you can recharge your devices.
- There are 20 lockers on every floor, all located near the elevator.
- If you forget the self-generated code: (1) ask Facilities and Support Services for help [Monday-Friday, 8am – 5pm, 410-516-8338], or (2) ask the guard at the B Level desk [evenings/nights/weekends].
- If your locker won’t open, you might have overstuffed it. PUSH on the door and try it again.
Group Study Rooms
- You can reserve them 24 hours in advance. That is, if you want a group study tomorrow at 4pm, you can make your reservation no earlier than today at 4pm.
- Your reservation can be as long as 4 hours.
- You can write on the walls! You can write on the windows!! If the dry erase markers disappeared, you can (1) ask for one on M Level of MSEL at the Information Desk or M Level of the BLC at the Special Collections Desk or (2) buy one from the office supply vending machine in the photocopy room (also MSEL M Level).
- Good news — we will soon be getting another vending machine for the BLC (we’ll let you know when it arrives).
Other Rooms
- You can’t reserve the rooms that are NOT group study rooms. These rooms are for library functions like classes or meetings.
- These rooms include B Level Room 4040, and C Level Rooms 5015 and 5017. However, if they’re empty, you can use them.
- The big rooms on M Level on either side of Special Collections are not accessible to you at all, because those are only for Special Collections-related meetings.
- None of these non-group-study rooms can be reserved by anyone outside of the library (sorry, professors).
Technology
- HELP: There is an office at the bottom of the B Level ramp. The door is open and the sign says “IT HELP is available here.”
- Teamspot: This is in all of the rooms, plus the three desks in the B Level atrium. There is an instruction sheet at every location. (Yes, first you have to download the client.)
- Video recording: Four rooms have webcams so that you can record yourself giving a talk: M Level (2006), B Level (4040 and 4051), and C Level (5010).
- Skype: Almost all of the group study rooms have this. The only three that don’t are the ones listed above that have video recording, which are 2006, 4051, and 5010.
Please write a comment with any other questions or tips that you have!