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Books aren’t going anywhere at AU’s Bender Library

Computer stations near print reference materials at American University's Bender Library.
Computer stations near print reference materials at American University’s Bender Library. The library offers 50 computer stations. American University library. Photo by Nima Padash

Even in our technologically advanced society, both American University students and professors think books are here to stay.

At AU’s Bender Library, Alyse Minter, 27, a librarian, said books will never go away, but on a recent July morning in the basement level five people were plugged in with print material nowhere in sight.

AU’s Bender Library offers 50 computers and plenty of spaces to plug in a laptop or smartphone, but it’s the permanent print and reference collection that really stands out to Minter.

“Some information is only in books,” Minter said.

Information is everywhere and people have to preserve and maintain this information, which would be hard to do on the computer, Minter continued.

Books have a kinesthetic feedback which you can not get from a computer, said Minter. Because of this, people learn better from books in her opinion.

Dr. Pilar McKay, 32, a professor of public communication at AU’s School of Communication, encourages technology in the classroom.

“I will use technology whenever I can,” McKay said.

Although many people think computers in the classroom may be a distraction, McKay disagrees. She uses and loves Twitter in class and focuses lectures around Power Point presentations and videos.

A 2011 Pew Research Center poll agreed.

“The average reader of e-books says she has read 24 books…in the past 12 months, compared with an average of 15 books by a non-e-book consumer,” the Pew report stated.

Audrey Schreiber, 21, prefers pen and paper.

“Laptops are a distraction,” said Schreiber, a rising senior at AU, noting she has seen students in class going on social media sites or texting.

Schreiber would buy online materials and print those out if it was cheaper than the book, but still prefers a hard copy.

“I feel like I learn better from paper than computer,” Schreiber said.

In a 2014 article in the journal Teacher Librarian, researcher Shannon Hyman wrote that to develop lifelong readers, students must be able to access a wide range of formats and materials.

“Children must see books as a friend and be surrounded by and immersed in print at home and at school,” Hyman wrote.

Minter agreed.

“We shouldn’t love books or hate computers, they should work together,” Minter said.

 

 

 

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Students and graduates struggle, worry about loans

Student loans are controlling the lives of many college graduates in the Washington D.C. area with current students already worried about when their loans are due.

For Samantha Garrison, 20, an American University student, loans are a huge problem.

“I am probably going to spend the rest of my life paying loans,” Garrison said.

Garrison, who identified as low income, receives financial aid but noted she’ll still graduate with between $22,000 and $28,000 in college loans.

Her debt mirrors that of the typical U.S. college student.

Students walk the campus of American University. Photo by Nima Padash.
Students walk the campus of American University. Photo by Nima Padash.
U.S. students graduated with an average of $33,000 in student loan debt, according to a 2015 report from Debt.Org, a part of Bright Horizons Financial Services.
There was a 77 percent increase in average balance size in student loans between 2004 to 2014, according to the 2015 Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Student Loan Borrowing and Repayment Trends.
After college graduation, Garrison said she’ll be the main breadwinner in her metropolitan-area household, but she fears her loans will hold her back. Even with a post-college job, those loans will cut into her income and the family’s quality of life.

“I am still going to have those loans for a while,” said Garrison, who hopes to pursue family law.

But Tommy Bennett, a 19-year-old American University student, is more hopeful about his student loans, saying he is confident a well-paying job out of college will help him start paying them back with little issue.

“I have brothers who have college loans, who are now out of college and are living nice lives,” said Bennett, who thinks repayment will take 15 years if he stays on budget and gets a good job.

Femsu Movaelane, 18, who lives in Washington D.C., is not yet a college student like Bennett, but she already has concerns about the future debt.

Student loans can affect every aspect of a student’s life, from marriage to depression and home buying.

“The burden of student debt is the key factor in young graduates not starting a business and the marriage rate for millennials is down 12 percent,” according to the 2015 Debt.Org report.

Another 2015 report from the Brookings Institution said students with more debt reported lower levels of psychological health.

Cameron Nichols, 19, identifies more with the reports’ findings and sees college loans as something that will hold him back.

Nichols, who attends college in California, does not think that the loans will last long but he said that while he has them his quality of life will suffer, he said.

“It controls your life, takes all your time, and cripples you,” Nichols said.