Eduardo Caro Professor Rios ENC1102 Honors 4th February, 2014

Rhetorical Analysis of the UCF Library Analyzing the rhetorical space of the UCF library provided me with the opportunity to enforce the information I learned from Dolmage and applying it to a real-world perspective. The University of Central Florida has the fortunate opportunity of having a comprehensive and efficient library on its campus. The library was originally built in 1968 and was renovated with twice the amount of space in 1985, with a $64.4 million proposed budget for a new renovation (UCF Library Wikipedia). Being available to all students on campus, as well as visitors, the library offers a multitude of resources at its dispose. Located in the Southwest quadrant of campus, the library has an easy access main entrance to the second floor, with a descending staircase at the entrance to the first floor, and a hill entrance to allow those with a disability to enter. There are also elevators inside the building that allow access to all five floors. Each floor has a different level of intensity that students classify for studying. In other words, intense concentration and near zero volume occurs on the fifth floor while group discussions go on elsewhere. So depending on how much you want to study or socialize, the John C. Hitt library can cater to your needs. Being intended to be available as a study spot for anyone, the building was established

by the university with the aim to assist student in bettering themselves. Its prestige being mirrored by its necessity similar to the other important buildings it is surrounded by. Located right next to UCFs most notable fountain and across from Millican Hall, the main building for students who require financial assistance or inquires, its location is an essential and well known spot on campus being available to the 60,000 students who attend UCF. Conveniently, the library has a Java Hut inside on the main floor allowing students to eat and cater to their physical needs while academic levels are pushed and developed. There are plenty of seating areas and tables that allow comfortable seating and relaxation so that time seems to slip away while homework is finished and exams are studied for. Another amazing benefit of coming to the library is that you can check out technology or study resources for classes. For example, IPads can be checked out for seven days at a time, laptops, anatomical models and dry-erase boards for four hours which allow group studying and a greater accessibility of resources for all to use. So besides the stereotypical reading that occurs in a library, the UCF library allows us to access a higher level of education by giving us the opportunity to efficiently use all of its benefits to better ourselves. As Jay Dolmage explains in his paper From retrofit to universal design, from collapse to occupation: Neo-liberal spaces of disability, accommodation seems to be some sort of retrofit to overcome the problem from a capitalists perspective. As available as the library seems to be, its universal design isnt as universal as it might be thought to be. Navigation on each floor would seem to be normal for the average student, but if you take the perspective of a person that is handicapped, such as a person in a wheelchair, the many bookcases, tables, benches, computers are only obstacles to maneuver around. The tall bookcases cant be reached, the lower and also the taller tables arent comfortable. There are 5 sets of stairs throughout the building, yet only two elevators right next to each other. Although you can access the elevators

from two different hallways, you have to maneuver around the second floor to get there or take a small flight of stairs (5 steps), or an awkward ramp system. This is the problem that arises when business intrudes on equality. Because businesses try to appeal to the majority, they tend to occasionally omit the minority and that includes those with disabilities. The English word library stems from the Latin word Liber which means book, as if the entire building contains information and only needs to be opened and accessed. However, just like a book on the top shelf, if you cant reach the book you can be deprived of that opportunity for knowledge. From my own perspective, I would agree that the library is an established building of major importance because of all its resources. Spending an average of 3 hours a day there, I see a multitude of people enter and exit throughout the day for purposes of casual studying to intense final exam review. Time seems to come to a standstill when inside which creates an atmosphere where productivity can be achieved, yet the social interactions within the building is a concept to include as well. As important as what we perceive is fundamental to analyzing a space, conceiving and living the space is necessary. I am a proud brother of Delta Sigma Phi and one of our most notable places of socializing is the campus library. The library is one of our main locations because we encourage academic success, here different people come together to study similar subjects or ask and answer questions to others in hopes of achieving this academic success. Socializing at a certain location can cause an emotional attachment to a place which makes people more inclined to return, adding a real-time perspective on the importance of the library. The library creates an urge to go there and a willing to stay there by subconsciously satiating our primal necessities and more. Food, water, shelter, socialization, enlightenment are all here which is essential to a space that should impact our lives and how we impact the space. As the demand for new information or change arises, the building meets our demand head-on

thus impacting the buildings design. Reasonably new technology, fresh food, news and more are provided to meet the students demands. If we didnt place importance on the library then these changes wouldnt be offered because people simply wouldnt care. Analyzing the library here on UCF campus shows how important it is to stop and take a second to understand Dolmages ideas of retrofit, steep steps, and universal design. Although the correct moral intentions are meant when constructing a building, not always are all of the goals met. Compromises are made and those compromises affect a minority, and we need to find a way to re-evaluate them. Word count: 1079