I Search for I-Search Books in the Main Stacks

I've been in the stacks once before, but it was during graduate school and I got lost.  Nothing has changed since then and it is still quite the labyrinth.  Jessica offered to come with me since she had never been in the stacks. After locking up our bags and a brief tutorial from the librarian, Jessica and I headed into the stacks.

Using this handy directory

we took the elevator down to the 1st floor only, and of course, we couldn't find the book.  Argh!

This is where we thought it should have been,

but it wasn't.  It wasn't here because it turns out that we were on the 1st floor and not the basement floor.  The kind librarian that was working in the stacks told us that we could only get to the basement from the West elevator.  So, we hopped onto the elevator again, entered the basement, and found the right shelf.  Our next obstacle to conquer was the moving shelves.

 

 
Despite their simplicity, slow movement, and safety controls, we still had visions of getting stuck between the shelves as they closed.  Nothing like that happened.
We moved the shelves and then, voila!  Conquered the stacks!

Here it is, and btw, do you get the comedy of the title here--I-Search for Success, and we were successful?  Hilarious.

It was then no problem to find the last book on floor 3.5.  And yes, there is a 3.5 floor.  I don't know how that works out architecturally, but the magic elevator took us to that floor.    

I learned that while the stacks are a little exciting, it's probably easier to have a librarian retrieve the book for you.  It just depends on your level of patience, navigational skills, and time on that given day.  It takes about 5-15 minutes for a librarian to retrieve your book which is about the same amount of time it took for Jessica and I to find my books.  However, there is something valuable about wandering through the stacks in order to really understand the vast collection of books that the U of I holds.  I think that every U of I student should be required to retrieve a book from the stacks at least once during their time at U of I.   

While Uni's library's collection is minuscule in comparison to this library, I still think it's valuable to have students find actual books in the library.  When my students are working on a project, we often collect books on reserve for the students to use and consult, as well.  It can be a a struggle to get them to use these books because they would rather consult the internet instead.  I think most of us face this constant battle.