The building that housed the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) at the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus is being repurposed as office space for the university’s Vice-Chancellor and his Cabinet.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Ivelaw Griffith yesterday told reporters that in an attempt to manage the insufficiency of space, the university has implemented a longstanding recommendation to modify the LRC. This modification will see the audiovisual library repurposed for office space for administrative staff.
“We have a problem at the university of insufficiency of space. The insufficiency of space is not only the insufficiency of adequate classroom space but also for the office for lecturers and administration. If we want to take this university to the next level, we have to begin to find ways to raise the profile of the ways we do things and where we do things,” Griffith said.
The LRC, located immediately south of the main library building, is the audiovisual arm of the university library. It houses study and research materials in non-book formats. Among its immediate objectives are to provide facilities for group and individual use of audiovisual equipment and materials, to provide support for audiovisual teaching methods in all faculties and departments and to provide facilities and materials for self-directed learning.
In addition to the equipment and internet services provided at LRC, the building also houses two auditoriums–one in the upper flat and another in the lower flat–which are available for group activities. These auditoriums can accommodate approximately 100 persons and can be used for student presentations, lectures, seminars and meetings.
The university team explained that the materials once located at LRC will now be stored in a room at the bottom of the main library building. This room is currently being refurbished to accommodate the material.
Asked where the two auditoriums will now be located, Registrar Nigel Gravesande said that the university had in June commissioned eight new classrooms between the Education Lecture Theatre and the Faculty of Heath Sciences.
According to Gravesande, these classrooms “are very modern, powered by solar electricity and in possession of smart learning resources.”
However when Stabroek News visited the UG campus yesterday afternoon, the only building observed in the location identified is that which students refer to as the “Second Generation Stables.”
A cursory examination of the building found no solar panels nor smart learning resources; rather the building appeared to have been constructed using the same 1970s architectural plans of the original stables, located south of the George Walcott Lecture Theatre (GWLT).
