By Latifa Abdin
Lack of elevator service in Ryerson’s library and at the TedRogers School of Management(TRSM) are raising tensions around campus.
Megan Saliwonczyk, a third-year nursing student said that almost every time she has been in the library, at least one of the elevators has been out of service.
“There is usually only one [elevator] working. A lot of the rooms that we book for meetings are on the seventh floor or the sixth floor and you don’t always want to walk up a flight of stairs with a heavy backpack, ” she said.
She said that when one or more of the elevators are out of service, huge crowds of students end up waiting for elevators, which slows down the services.
“I study at York at lot instead,because their library, you know,functions,” said Celina Rosso, a third-year childhood and youth care student.
Kerri Bailey, a manager forCampus Facilities & Sustainability at Ryerson, said in an email that because elevators at the Ryerson library and TRSM are used a lot they break down more often,but that the campus facilities are quick to resolve any issues.
“The banks of elevators in library and Ted Rogers School ofManagement are very high volume. The many people using these elevators every day means that required service and repairs can occur more often than at other locations,” she wrote.
According to Bailey, there has been an increased number of calls for the library and the school of management than last year in the same period.
“So far this year we have had24 service calls for the LIB and [TRSM], several of which were resolved overnight with little to no impact to users in the area.This is consistent with previous years, with 18 calls during the same timeframe in 2013,” she said in the email.
Bailey noted that while elevator breakdowns are more likely to occur in this building because of the large amount of people who use them, misuse can often be the cause of break downs and slow-ing down of the elevators.
“One continuing challenge is how often the elevators are used to go up or down a single floor, which increases wear and tear, increases wait times and decreases accessibility for those who require it. We encourage the community to use the stairs in library and escalators in [TRSM] whenever possible, and save the elevators for those with mobility requirements,” she wrote.
According to Kelly Dermody, a librarian at Ryerson’s library, alternative arrangments are in place to assist students who cannot walk up stairs due to a disability.
“We have a emergency contingency plan. We have 4 elevatorsand if 3 or 4 elevators are downfor more than a few hours, wewill work with the University toinform all students with disabili-ties.” Said Dermody.
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