Parks Library is a place of learning on all levels, including the introspective kind. About every other day, I walk into our monolith of knowledge and a sense of student hierarchy hits me as I pass by the sensors and into the lobby.

For a brief moment, I wonder where I fit in the large scheme of things – am I a devoted researcher religiously planting myself at the library night and day, soaking in the knowledge which surrounds me? Or perhaps I fit into the largest category, students who love Parks for all the wrong reasons, such as the computers in the lobby that provide easy access to Facebook and e-mail. Two years ago, who knew we would say those in the same breath? We love the new cafe with its swank atmosphere, the endless number of opportunities for people watching and of course, those cozy chairs, infamous for sending students to sleep for years. We love the amenities of the library, not the essentials.

People like us tend to feel out of place at Parks, as those mainstays who have their favorite table or section to study in look at us annoyed by our lost faces. We just want to figure out one thing – what is the difference between a tier and a floor?

While we’re still trying to understand the library map, the University Library Committee is considering serious changes through a recent proposal for a student library fee. Here are the basics: the proposal recommends each student pay an estimated $25 per semester to potentially provide support in several areas. The fee could help purchase new books and textbooks to put on reserve, which would give us the chance to experience new curricula. The fee could also provide an increasingly high-tech experience in Parks, complete with multimedia studios, an expanded e-Library and well-maintained computers throughout the library.

A student library fee has more benefits, such as longer hours and more help with library research, but what is particularly significant is that it makes Iowa State more competitive with other universities around the Midwest, in regards to their own centers of research. So in turn, this fee will provide a chance for us as students to be more viable in comparison to our peers across the region.

Looking from the outside in, this seems like a great idea. However, many students who rarely make their way to Parks Library wonder, “Why should I pay $50 a year for something that I never use?” That in itself is an issue – as students, sometimes we are not willing to participate actively in the university system. The fact is, if we make up a large sum of the funds that are being put into the library, then as “shareholders,” whether it is publicly stated or not, we have some kind of power to decide where exactly our money goes.

Currently, the ULC is surveying students to see how much interest is in the student library fee, but if it does pass through the many committees and boards with approval, it will not go into effect until fall 2008. This means that a final decision is months away, so this is the time to make your voice heard through the GSB senate and deciding committees such as the University Library Committee and the Special Fees and Tuition Committee.

While we wait for a decision, I will try to grab a book or two before Spring Break, and possibly find the periodicals section – I never seem to make it there. Perhaps it is good to know where my money may be going.

Tameka Greene is a junior in advertising, art and design from Florissant, Mo.