Academic Services and The Writing Center move to the 2nd Floor of the Library
By: SPENCER GLEASON
Editor in Chief
The STLCC-Meramec campus will be relocating academic services beginning Sunday, May 18. Academic support services will move math and science tutors, as well as the Writing Center, to the second floor of the Meramec Library. 
“As it is now, Meramec can be a little hard to figure out,” Academic Support Coordinator Cindy Clausen said. “We have a Math Lab in Communications North and a Math Lab in Science West. We have Academic Support in Communications North. We have all of our student tutors and (Supplementary Instructor) SI leadership over in Science West. I think it can make it hard for students to feel confident about getting help, when they’re partly not sure of where to go.”
Clausen said that Senior Manager of the Library Patrick Mallory was instrumental in introducing the “learning commons” for Meramec.
“More and more colleges across the nation have this model of ‘learning commons,’ like you have your ‘quad’ and you have your “learning commons,’” Clausen said. “Librarians are helping with academic support, too. They help students with research. So you have your Writing Center in the library and students need to check their source, then they can go ask the librarians and then go back up to the Writing Center.”
Assistant Professor of English Rebecca Winter has been the Faculty Director of the Writing Center since August 2007.
“My hope is that this will be positive because we have such a strong foundation to the Writing Center,” Winter said. “We have everything it takes, whatever space we’re in, to be successful and support the students and offer them (our) services.”
The Writing Center, which will turn 50-years-old in September, will move from the Communication North Room 122 to room 217 in the library. It will extend out into the Quiet Area and private rooms for individual tutoring.
“We were fortunate to have some input as far as where we might be. We wanted a space that would be open and airy — a place that would encourage concentration, but also creativity,” Winter said. “We wanted a place where you would feel comfortable talking to someone. Writing can be very personal. But we wanted a space that would help build trust — a safe, comfortable feeling.”
Math and science tutors will move to the Confluence Room. SI leaders will use the group study rooms. The Academic Center, which is currently in Communications North Room 124, will move to the Instructional Design Room, on the second floor of the Library.
The Instructional Design Room will move to a location on the first floor.
The TRiO lab will stay in their current location on the second floor.
“No one who is currently in the library will be going anywhere else. There are a lot of moves happening all around the campus,” Clausen said. “I think it’ll make the library more dynamic. We’re kind of getting away from that idea of libraries being these quiet areas. I think as group study becomes more of a recognized method for learning, libraries are becoming more dynamic places, too. That’s why downstairs they let people talk and have food.”
Media Services and Information Technology will be moving into the current Writing Center location.
Fran Hooker, the Writing Center Supervisor, who has been with the college for five years and works with students on a day-to-day basis, said the relocation may take time for students to adjust.
“I think students will have a slight learning curve to finding us,” Hooker said. “Students may be disappointed to find that they cannot print in (the Communications North) building. But there is a computer lab in BA, which is close by, that they can use before class. Then, the library is not that far away. I think students will be able to adapt. It will be nice to have us all in one area.”
