To many students, the library is a beacon of diligent work and active academic achievements.

However, the dilemma we’re facing as VSU students is the renovation taking place on the second floor of Odum Library. Not only has the construction made finding a quiet work space difficult but it is not convenient for a single entrance to be used for a building of that size.

No matter if you’re a senior or a freshman, that blockade out front and white sheets inside have put you out of your way more than once. For many, we don’t know what they are doing or why they are doing it, we just know that they’re taking too long to get it done.

Students wonder why they couldn’t start construction earlier. Well that’s because VSU had to wait. The funds used to make the renovation happen came from the leftover university funds from last year. VSU found out how much they had to spend around the end of June, which didn’t leave them much time before fall semester started.

Now although the construction team is reportedly ahead of schedule, this project won’t be done this semester. The date for completion is estimated to be Dec. 21, and the furniture is projected to be in place by the beginning of January.

So if all goes well, we’ll see the new and improved section of Odum when we come back for the first day of spring semester on Jan. 14.

The renovations include the move of the former Student Success Center, now Academic Support Center, to Odum Library. For those that don’t know, the ASC connected to Langdale Hall and they offer tutoring and academic support for students.

But the ASC is not a very popular or attractive place currently. Its tucked away location has always made it seem irrelevant to students. So putting academic support right in the hub of the library will promote students to take more advantage of this asset and benefit from it.

That half of the floor that rarely anybody used, will soon be a useful place for students to get work done. The layout is being redesigned with new furniture to make it a more inviting and flexible work space for students.

Picture this.

It’s exam week, so you get your friends from class and head to the library. You enter through the second floor and look for a study room, finding one with ease. You sit down, unzip your bag and see that you forgot your laptop charger, but you don’t even fuss because there is a computer you can use in the study room.

Yes. On the second floor of Odum there will be improved study rooms with computers and there will be even more study rooms available than before.

“The study rooms are going to have technology,” Alan Bernstein, Dean of Libraries said. “You’ll be able to do demonstrations, you’ll have computers, like you see in classrooms but at the study room level.”

The goal of this whole project is to make Odum Library attractive and an academic hangout on campus. Even with the wait and inconvenience, we at The Spectator believe this is going to be very popular with students and they’ll understand that great things take time.

This editorial was written by a member of the editorial staff and expresses the general opinion of The Spectator.