By Daniel Melfi
After last year’s successful pilot, Ryerson’s Pop-Up Study Space program is up and running again.
Until Dec. 2, students can use empty classrooms in the Victoria Building for personal or group study when the rooms are not being used. Holding between 17 and 35 people, students are able to use the majority of rooms on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
While rooms are to be used on a drop-in basis only, students can check the availability of rooms through the library’s online “Book-A-Room” tool.
“The idea for pop-up study space was posted on (Ryerson’s official online forum) SoapBox and immediately we thought it was an amazing idea,” said Julia Hanigsberg, vice president of administration and finance at Ryerson.
Last year, nearly 600 students voted in favour of more study space.
“Having pop-up study space allows us to be very efficient with our use of space,” Hanigsberg said, adding it’s a resource that is “truly scarce at Ryerson.”
The program is essentially the same as last year except “there are more rooms available and that offers more flexibility for students,” said Hanigsberg.
In the Ted Rogers school of management (TRSM), a new Quiet Study Zone Initiative is in the process of being implemented. The program was the idea of fourth-year business student Genele Rose, who believes students in TRSM need a place to study without distractions like noise.
In the meantime, study space is being made available in a similar fashion to the Victoria Building with drop-in labs and pop-up study spaces in unused classrooms. Schedules for the availability of rooms are posted on doors as well as the website for the Ryerson Commerce Society.
Although the situation of space at Ryerson is currently limited, president Sheldon Levy has said the problem should find a remedy through the Student Learning Centre, which is set to be completed by January 2015.
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