The information science lab in Davis College, formerly a "collaborative” lab for undergraduate students, is being turned into a research facility, where undergraduate and graduate students will have the chance to participate in research.
Some students are concerned about the move.
“Eliminating this was [a] really big deal for us," said Adia Caldwell, a third-year information science student. "I’ve made a lot of friends in there, but it was also important for my education.”
Other students, such as third-year information science student Alyssa Bunting, said communication was the main issue. Bunting said students were not officially notified of the lab closure.
"If it wasn't for me asking questions, I would’ve never known that this was even occurring," Bunting said. "I still would have no way to know where I was supposed to go or what was even happening with this lab."
Caldwell said the Davis lab was a place for information science students to gather, study and print before classes, most of which are located in Davis.
“We promote information and communication and healthy information and how to communicate with one another, and it really contradicts everything we stand for, given that, you know, we were never informed,” Bunting said.
David Lankes, School of Library and Information Science director, said the situation could have been handled differently.
“I apologize for that," Lankes said. "We need to do a better job communicating to the students what was going on."
Students will now have access to the labs in the journalism school, Lankes said, and they will have access to a printing station in Davis 112 when classes aren’t happening.
Lankes said this decision was made largely by a faculty committee, who developed the initial proposal, and that the space was chosen because it was “primarily underutilized.”
When making the decision, Lankes said the goal was “to upgrade some of the hardware and software around here, and it became a good way to allow our undergraduates in the information science program to use all the facilities over in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.”
Caldwell said the Davis lab was a more collaborative space, and that the journalism school spaces do not allow for the same type of collaboration.
“We'd all collaborate and talk with each other and stuff like that. You can’t really do that in the J-school lab,” Caldwell said. “It’s rows, you can’t really talk to other people well.”
Lankes said the funding from the lab will help support more communal spaces in Davis College.
“We're also using this as a chance to upgrade some of the social facilities down on the ground floor,” Lankes said. “Trying to make that a little bit more inviting of a space for students to hang out in.”
Students said they hope a compromise can be made by scheduling times that undergraduates would be allowed to use the space as they did before.
“Ideally, I would like for the Macs to go back in, the chairs to go back in, the chargers for your phone and for it to be split between research and undergrad students,” Caldwell said.
Lankes said this was a possibility discussed at the outset of the decision to transform the space, and it is still being considered for the future, once the College of Information and Communications can evaluate what times the room will be taken up by researchers.
“We want to really be responsive to how that space is used,” Lankes said.