Odegaard Undergraduate Library — Attraction in Seattle

Odegaard has always looked ugly from the outside. It's a pretty awful brown brick contraption.

The new Odegaard (which is the only Odegaard I've ever known) looks much better from the inside, though. Its wide-open floor plan and tons of natural light deserve credit. This is a model for how libraries should work in the modern age - giving people lots of room to study, plenty of computers, and a selection of the most popular books and movies.

I appreciate how they highlight books - they put them on a table by the reservation desk so you run into them on your way in or out, or when you go to the bathroom. This makes it easy to organically run into something interesting, at least sparking your curiosity.

The place does get pretty noisy; groups come here to "study." People also mess around frequently; it seems like people are only working half the time.

Computer slots are also limited. Despite the gaming ban plenty of people still play online games like League of Legends and DoTA. This is totally inappropriate for a taxpayer-funded resource, and I wish they'd take a more aggressive stance on kicking these people out. If they don't need to study they should go home and not be allowed back in.

I'm giving Odegaard a relatively high score in large part because of the nostalgic memories I have of studying here. I remember pulling my only all-nighter at the University of Washington here to finish a document. You can stay here all day and no one will lecture you. It's a good place to zone out, or focus, or wander, or see your friends. Odegaard is everything...

This is the not-so-quiet library out of the several options you have at UW where you should expect to maybe not get so much work done because you will constantly run into your friends (whether or not you have any friends is another question). First floor are tables that seem to be used more for people meeting up for group projects or like to work on their laptops individually.

You will find mac desktops on second floor. This floor is known for league game clubs and student cliques meeting up to pretend that they are in the library and being productive but really are just socializing for the most part. Don’t get mad if people are constantly chatting it up or gaming using those mac desktops. Second floor can get very crowded on dead week.

Third floor is more for productivity, especially if you go into the quiet zone behind the glass doors. There are also rooms that you can make reservations of (also on second floor).

Btw, guests are not allowed in after 7pm and they begin the id-checking...

I used to go here pretty much every single day. It gets a bit loud and crowded but it’s okay. I loved that the computers had access to the entire Adobe creative suite and Final Cut Pro for UW students and faculty - emphasis on the HAD. Now there’s only Premiere, Illustrator, Photoshop, and another one I can’t remember.

It was annoying bc the computers that had those programs were either in rooms where they hold classes or on the second floor- where people like to play games. Please, if you’re going to use a computer with two screens, take advantage of the programs instead of just typing your essay on Google Docs. If you’re going to do that, go to the many rows of computers.

The sound rooms are great and they offer equipment that you can borrow for your time in the sound rooms. The bathrooms feel somewhat gross and there’s almost always a...