— This article was contributed by Anna Duggal
The second Student Council of the year brought up the recurring subject of the library cancelling their Ebrary membership.
Ian Snowley, the university librarian, disputed claims that students would be worse off without the Ebrary membership by highlighting the fact that in its place the university are purchasing ebooks permanantly, of which there are now over 2000.
He also claimed that they are focusing on purchasing for specific academic areas and core texts and that the library has the option of ordering books in if they are given specific request or there is a demand.
When questioned about the abrupt way in which Ebrary was removed and the lack of communication with students, Snowley announced that a graduate student librarian had just joined the faculty in order to communicate such events in the future.
Also discussed were plans to build another railway bridge at the front side of the main building, mere minutes away from the existing one.
Richard Merryweather, head of commercial facilities at the university, spoke about the idea but Dan Derricott, the SU’s vice-president for academic affairs, challenged him by stating that student feedback to the location has been negative and a better location would be nearer the road so that pedestrians aren’t stopped when the railway crossing is down.
Issues about the lack of recycling facilities, raised at the previous meeting, were highlighted by Kayleigh Taylor, the SU’s vice-president for welfare, who explained that the lack of recycling facilities in the atrium was due to students mixing the specific materials in the wrong bins.
Merryweather commented that if the recycling bins were demanded here, they would try again though. Elsewhere, recycling bins have been put in place so that the university wastes as little as possible.
The rest of the meeting focused on the co-election of the Riseholme campus representative, Carolyn J Gomez, and a reminder of the Sports Societies award night on the April 8th.
The next meeting is on Thursday, March 17th at 4:30 until 6:00 in MB1019.