This week I decided to follow up on the Review article about the OhioLink situation. If you read the article, you know that funding for OhioLink is decreasing and OhioLink has been forced to cut some of its services. I’m a strong supporter of OhioLink myself, but I wasn’t really sure about the rest of the campus. I decided to talk to Obies about OhioLink to see if most of them really care.

The vast majority of students that I approached — all students currently using library services — were familiar with OhioLink. They tended to use it frequently. Most described OhioLink as a supplementary resource for materials not available at the Oberlin College Library. Ryan, a senior, utilized the “broad selection” of OhioLink to “access libraries with books that Mudd doesn’t have.” Reference librarian Haipeng Li agreed. “The access is the key. Our collection is good but it does not have everything...[OhioLink] really adds a lot to what we have and increases our access to a whole variety of materials.”

Economic factors also contributed to the popularity of OhioLink on campus. “As a financially independent student, I really appreciate the availability of otherwise expensive academic materials,” said Marguerite, a junior, studying at Oberlin as part of the Oberlin Schools Partnership. Students often choose to acquire textbooks through OhioLink rather than buying them. “Some professors assign books we’ll only use for a week in class. I don’t see the point of killing myself working extra hours during the semester to pay for books I’ll read once when I can get them through OhioLink,” said Rachel, a sophomore. “With OhioLink, I don’t have to work as much to pay for books. That helps me because when I work too much, my grades go down.”

Other students showed a personal level of enthusiasm for OhioLink. An anonymous student described OhioLink this way: “It’s satisfying to get books through OhioLink. It’s sort of like getting mail in your OCMR. There’s that excitement about getting something sent to you...only it’s a book, and not Playboy [magazine] or cookies from mom.” Junior David found OhioLink to be a good trade-in for the “crappy Ohio weather.” “OhioLink is a big draw for me! Frankly, if we lost OhioLink, there would be nothing keeping me in this state.” Emily, a first-year, threw in her two cents: “Where [but OhioLink] could you find 50 books about female serial killers? Obviously, Mudd is pretty nifty, but not that nifty!”

Convenience was another motivating factor for many OhioLink users. “I use OhioLink because I can access it in my room, through my computer. It’s much easier for me,” said Curtis, a senior. “I can browse the databases and journals for articles that I need without leaving the dorm.” Appreciation for the availability of full-text articles through personal computers was cited by several students. Students who use the online journal center stand to lose the most in the budget crisis as the cuts primarily affect online subscription services.

The only drawback students mentioned about OhioLink was the fact that it would no longer be available to them upon graduation. “I use it all the time. And since I’m graduating, I guess it doesn’t matter so much to me what happens with it, but I care for the future of other Obies,” said Ronni.

OhioLink is very popular on this campus. It seems to be widely used and students like it because it increases their access to information, saves them time and money and is accessible through their personal computers. Let’s hope Obies will do their part to share this enthusiasm with the Ohio legislature before the next budget comes out.