Last night I browsed through the news from my alma mater, Emory University, and ran across a magazine article that made me SO nostalgic! In the article Beyond Books, the author profiles the current Matheson Reading Room situated in the Asa G. Candler building on Emory’s quadrangle. The focus of the article is about how students use the space in the library for studying and learning. Picture below: isn’t it gorgeous?
Picture from Flickr user caribbeanfreephoto
The reason I am so nostalgic is because I used to work in this very room, but at that time, it looked nothing like this 
. During all 4 years of college, from 1993-1997, I worked here in the Reserves department of the Emory Library system. My experiences were so great working in the library (this area as well as stints in the Chemistry Library, the main Library, and Government Documents) that after firmly ruling out medical school as an option after nearly failing Organic Chemistry (bleh), information sciences naturally became my next choice.
When I worked there, the reading room as you see here was only as high as about halfway up the beautiful windows. During a 1950′s renovation, the decision was made to split the room with a floor installation mid-way up, reducing the height to about 12 feet for each level. In 1999, which was two years after I graduated, the space was renovated to restore it back to it’s original configuration. I would love to be able to visit the space now and see all the changes. My last visit to the campus was this summer, but I only drove through to show my family — I’ve not seen the inside of the building since just before they started the renovations. I’ll have to make a point to go in next time I’m in the area.
