Oberlin Is Still Awesome (Mudd Library Edition)

Oberlin is awesome. I know other people's colleges are also awesome; this is just the one I happen to know well.

I went wandering the campus a bit today, which included a stroll through Mudd, our wonderful library that looks like some kind of cuboid cement alien spaceship that accidentally landed in the middle of a big flat lawn in Ohio.

Aside from a bit of nicely done remodeling, Mudd looks (and even smells!) just like it always did. All the beloved icons are still there – I found myself tickled to see one delightful library tradition still going strong: a bulletin board where anyone can scribble a note ("why don't you provide staplers by the copier?" "how can I find another copy of a book that's supposed to be in the library collection but has gone missing?" "why is there a door to nowhere on the second floor of the left side of the building?") and the library director – a mysterious figure known by his initials RAE – or a member of the staff will take time to hunt down a satisfactory answer and type up a reply.

Some questions, of course, get asked over and over, and these go on the QTND board – "Questions That Never Die." (The long-term existential stuff, like "Why is there a side entrance if it's never unlocked?" and "Does Mudd make money from the overdue fees on books?")

I laughed enough at "QTND #7 – A Sinking Mudd" that I decided to take its picture. (I'll caption each photo with a bit of explanation, in case the print is too small to read.)


Here's the original query: "Yo RAE – Y'know, I've always wondered, and now that I've graduated, I think I deserve to know the truth: IS MUDD REALLY SINKING?"

RAE, despite clear long-standing annoyance at the question, responds at length that no, it's just one of those legends (like the related one, "Mudd is sinking because the architect forgot to calculate the weight of the books!") that seem to attach themselves to some libraries, but with no truth behind it: "I've been here over a decade and, except for normal settling, Mudd is right where it's always been."

No surprise here; this is quickly followed by another hand-written query: "Ok, ok, so tell us – what constitutes 'normal settling'?"

And the delightful RAE answers: "It's what all buildings do when they're not sinking."