Chifley Study Spaces to Become Staff Offices Due to Construction

By Eliza Croft

Four study spaces in Chifley Library will be unavailable for student use until the end of July. Library staff will be using the spaces as offices, because the construction works have made their usual offices unsuitable.

Several study rooms on Chifley level 3 were closed effective Thursday. Signs on the doors say this is “due to construction works”. A University spokesperson told Observer, “For a short period of time the University has closed four study spaces in Chifley Library while construction continues on state-of-the art upgrades.”

Students who had booked an affected study space received an email from Head Librarian Roxanne Missingham on Wednesday. The email says that the booking is being cancelled due to “circumstances beyond our control”. “The building work in level 1 has led to a number of unplanned consequences,” Missingham continues in the email. She says that these include “air contamination” and issues with the air conditioning. Due to this, library staff have had to move to other libraries and to “a small number of study rooms”. The rooms will be closed until “the end of July”, she says, at which point the level 1 construction is set to be complete.

ANUSA President Eden Lim described the issue as “unfortunate and unforeseen”. “It is disappointing that this is yet another example of construction on our campus affecting both student and staff life on campus,” she said. Lim told Observer that study spaces are “crucial…particularly in the lead up to exams”.

The University did not respond to specific questions about how the construction caused these issues, or why students were only given one day’s notice of the closure.

Lim said that library staff were “working to help find an appropriate alternative” for students impacted by the closure. She encouraged students to use the Campus Traveller bus service, which runs between Hancock Library and the National Library of Australia.

Photography by Konstantinos Katsanis.

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