Secrets of William and Mary Part 5: Earl Gregg Swem Library

Hello blogosphere! Long time no see. I sincerely apologize to anybody who’s been anxiously waiting for me to post another blog up here, as I haven’t done so in a long time. (Though I seriously doubt there is anyone out there like that other than my mom…) To tell you the truth, I have been absolutely swamped with work. If any of you have read my bio, I’m not kidding when my day usually begins and ends with a nonstop run to various activities.

This week has been much more hectic than usual due to the fact that I am one of the main characters in a cultural performance put on by the Asian Student Council called “Horizons,” but as I’ll mention in a blog sometime later, it is most definitely worth it.

Well, if you haven’t visited the campus recently, Spring is back! Actually, I think we rather skipped Spring and have gone straight into Summer because I swear, we’ve had upper 80 degree days for the better part of the week now. But love is in the air, and I am definitely much more worried about my severe allergies that is not being helped any by the pounds and pounds of pollen that is accompanying the beautiful flowers. *ACHOO*

But, as promised, it has been a while since I have done a Secrets of William and Mary blog, and today, I decided to cover one of the most prominent landmarks on campus: Swem Library.

As one of the most important buildings that all students spend time in at one time or another during their college career, Swem Library and its iconic circular-web windows is one of the largest buildings on campus. The library consists of three floors and boasts a collection of over 1,200,000 books in the actual building itself and countless other works within its databases.

Each floor also is organized by (surprisingly) sound level, with the first floor being a sort of “talk-freely” zone while the third floor is a “quiet” zone with the second floor in between.

However, even though most students go there to work on the latest paper or homework assignment, there’s much more to Swem than meets the eye. One could say that other than mere works of literature, it is the special services that Swem is able to provide that easily makes it one of the most important of secrets at William and Mary.

Media Center: The Swem Media Center might just be the coolest place to go in all of campus, hands down. Well…on second thought, probably just for a geek like me who thinks he’ll make it rich on the next piano piece he is able to do. The center itself is
located in the basement of Swem Library, and consists of 9 “studios.”

“Studios,” in this case, refers to a soundproof room complete with an iMac, keyboard, microphone, and everything you need to complete that multi-media project. Studios are rented out by the hour through an online sign-up system, and it is free to use for any William and Mary student.

But really, the crown jewel of it all is most definitely Studio 1, the oversized room which was built with the original intention of it
being a professional recording studio. Studio 1, which actually requires special training to operate, boasts a professional sound system and mixing board and pre-installed programs that will make your latest hit sound like a Michael Jackson platinum hit. Well, on second thought…maybe not, but with everything from video cameras to wireless mics able to be rented out from the
media center, your voice could come darn close.

The only problem is that it can get kind of hot and stuffy down there, but that’s when the oversized fans come out, and making a video is a breeze. (Pardon the pun) But seriously, Media Center, check it out.

Copy Center: I know what you’re thinking. Seriously? Copy center? Seriously? You COPY stuff, duh. WRONG. The copy center is probably one of the best kept secret discoveries I’ve made in my three years here. Recently relocated to the basement of Swem, the copy center will, yes, copy stuff for you for a very small fee.

But that’s not all. If you’re anything like me, you hate reading assignments that are on a computer. Problem with me is that every time I pull up W&M Blackboard to do an assignment, I end up pulling up Facebook or eBay instead…big problem. That’s where the Copy Center comes in. Again, for about $30 (cheaper than a textbook I might add?) they will effectively print off all Blackboard documents and bind them for you into a nifty looking book for your reading pleasure. Helped me out SO much this year. Copy Center, thank you so much, you are a lifesaver.

Government Stacks: Ok, so I am a government major, and that’s probably why I think this next section is probably one of my

biggest lifesavers on papers and whatnot. But the government stacks, located on the first floor, is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen since sliced bread, and trust me, that’s cool.

Basically, it is rows upon rows of almost 600,000 official records and documents of the US government. Info here that can be found include direct transcripts of Senate or House of Representatives hearings and court records of famous cases.

Okay, so maybe that would be boring for a good majority of you guys, but I don’t know how many times this section has saved me on paper assignments.And I could go on and on…Swem is such a cool place to go and just hang out with friends while also doing some of your homework, it was almost a no-brainer to add it to the list of secrets. But at the same time, Swem is one of those secrets out in the open, as it has so much more to offer that few students ever take advantage of.