As a college student, books are an unavoidable part of my life, not that I normally try to avoid them. I enjoy reading, and I can easily spend hours browsing in a bookstore or a library.
With the coming of the Canada Winter Games, however, I have had to try and figure out exactly what I need in terms of books for every paper, project, and unit of study for the next few weeks. Why? Because the Yukon College Library will be closed for more than a month because of the Games (Feb 15 – March 19). In addition, students were unable to request inter-library loans (ILL) as of late January; students did receive plenty of notice, however. So far so good! I literally spent hours figuring out what books were relevant and useful for the ton of work I have to do during the month of the library’s closure. (I also ordered ILLs through U of R -[modified on March 2])
So what’s the problem, you wonder? Well, I thought I’d be smart and try to beat the last minute rush for ILLs, so I ordered several books about a week before the deadline thinking I could extend the due date and have the books DURING the Games, the time I’ll be working on the bulk of my assignments. I just found out over the weekend that I could not extend the due dates on these books. Am I mad? You betcha!
Okay, maybe I should have asked prior to borrowing the books, but it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to extend a due date. These things are usually done on-line by the students themselves! [CORRECTION (March 16th, 2007): I've been informed that renewing ILLs online is not possible at the college. ]
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset with the library staff at the college. They have been extremely accommodating during this whole CWG mess and have worked their butts off to bring more remote access to students needing library services. Students now can access on-line databases from home, and there are on-line tutorials for most services. Plus, the library staff have been lenient about letting students exceed the maximum limit on the number of borrowed books. The staff at the college library are ALWAYS willing and ready to help out students, and they have certainly gone out of their way for me on more than one occasion. I cannot say enough good things about them. This is not about the library, but about the whole disruption to students due to the Games.
Yes, my gripe is with the whole of the Canada Winter Games. Okay, so we need to encourage our Canadian athletes to pursue their dreams, but why can’t facilities be set up in one city and the Games take place there each time, thus eliminating the need to build new facilities every couple of years? Why do they have to move around and leave cities dry in their wake? Why was so much money spent on building an athletes’ village when the 99 rooms and 2 dining facilities in the Klondike Inn sit empty during the winter? (I found out that they’re open for business during the Games.) Couldn’t some kind of deal be struck there? Why are local businesses being snubbed for contracts pertaining to the Games? Heck, even outside musicians were hired when we have wonderful talent right here in the territory. All of these athletes, officials, and their families will not get a true taste of the Yukon, because the people who will cater to them are from large outside companies. One of the main attractions for cities to vie for hosting the Games is the prospect of increased publicity for the host city, but with outside sponsors and entertainers, there isn’t much left for Whitehorse to promote itself and its citizens.
I was trying to get into the spirit of the Games. Honest! But with everything that is happening, it’s hard for Whitehorse citizens to continue to grin and bear being walked all over. As a full-time student, not having access to MY educational institution’s library for a whole month is ludicrous, and I don’t blame the library staff. They have to grin and bear this along with everyone else affected. See my big smile?
