Think Lauinger Library’s ugly exterior is bad? You’ve probably never been inside the library during finals, when its limited space is on full display. Students pack like sardines into every nook and cranny, available carrels become as desirable as Village A rooftop apartments, and you have a better chance of running into Jack DeGioia in Gelardin than finding a free computer. Lauinger’s space shortage is affecting Georgetown in other ways, too, retarding the growth of the library’s collection. Fortunately, Georgetown’s administration has recognized this problem and will likely include an expansion of the library onto its parking lot in Georgetown’s Ten Year Plan. Students should work to make sure this critical goal is accomplished.
There’s a catch, though. If you think expanding the library onto land already owned by Georgetown wouldn’t be controversial, you haven’t met our neighbors. Some Georgetown residents are willing to protest any University construction, no matter how small or necessary. For example, at one Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting last semester, the commission was asked to approve a ten foot height increase in the new science building’s blueprints, even though the building could only be seen from within the bounds of campus. While the commission voted unanimously to approve the change, one resident spoke against it. She admitted that the building’s top level could only be seen from University grounds, but she thought she had a right to decide what happened here because she sometimes walked through campus.
That single resident will be joined by dozens of others once Georgetown’s plan to expand the library becomes clear. Even if the expansion itself isn’t challenged, the relocation of the parking lot will surely concern residents. Students should balance neighborhood voices by attending Ten Year Plan discussion meetings. Although we will likely all have graduated by the time the library expansion is finished, we owe it to future Hoyas to make sure their interests are not overshadowed by selfish neighbors. Students can work for the library expansion by attending University-sponsored planning meetings, giving community comment speeches during ANC meetings, and attending meetings of the Alliance for Local Living, a group of Georgetown neighbors and students that meets on the second Tuesday of every month.
There’s room for compromise and empathy on most conflicts between neighbors and students, because frankly, it’s easy to sympathize with residents who are woken up by bar-crawling students late Thursday night or who are inconvenienced by football game traffic. But on library expansion, an issue critical to the intellectual life of our university, there can be no equivocation. All students whose interest in Georgetown extends beyond their four years here should speak out for the proposed Lauinger improvements. In doing so, they’ll be giving an alumni gift as important to the school’s future as any donation.
