Marston Science Library of the University of Florida

While I was in my undergrad, this was the place to be at. Studying Mechanical Engineering I knew that I would definitely bump into one of my sorority sisters in the Marston basement. The renovations definitely made it much better to study there. They have plugs everywhere and the study rooms are so convenient. I love that they added the DIBS system and you no longer have to check out keys. As my sorority president, it was so easy to reserve rooms for meetings right from my iPhone!
Now that I’ve graduated and I stuck around in Gainesville, I usually go to Marston to get away from my apartment and get some work done. The basement has great computers with the full Adobe suite and the app development center is pretty sweet too. I’m excited to check it out within the next few weeks.

The Marston renovation made this library spectacular last Fall. The new comfy chairs, addition of state of the art study rooms, outlets, and Made@UF lab really made Marston the première library to study in.
It was a nice well kept secret during the Fall. By Spring time, Marston became ridiculously crowded. It’s central location and new amenities made it the most popular library. This all made sense when it became UF’s new 24 hour library.
Ever since Marston became the new ²⁴⁄₅ library, it has become less and less appealing. Students really do not appreciate the facilities we are blessed with. It is now the dirtiest and most uncomfortable library. For some reason, it is too hard for students to clean up after themselves. The study rooms are filled with old food, empty Starbucks cups, and scraps of paper. Everyone needs to realize that is it THEIR OWN responsibility to clean up after themselves and not the custodial workers’.
There are three delightful, hard worker ladies working tirelessly every morning to maintain the cleanliness of the library. They are doing their part, but students are not doing theirs. Every morning, they report to work, with smiles on their faces, ready to tackle the catastrophe that is Marston.
There are garbage cans everywhere so there is no reason why someone can’t dispose of their garbage on their way out. There is no reason to draw on tables or to leave boards unerased.
The facilities are spectacular. Every computer has the entire Adobe suite. We can print posters at Marston now. Students can use the Made@UF lab to create apps. (UF will not in any way obtain compensation from an app developed here. You sign a disclosure before using the lab. It’s great!)
The way students have treated Marston is not. This library would be awarded five stars if students cared more and treated the library with respect. As for now, three stars is more than enough.

The main/​only reason that I go to this library is to study.
They offer study rooms for groups of three or more which are great if you have a group project or are just studying with some friends for an exam. There is also a group study floor where you do not have to be completely silent. There are silent study floors and super silent study floors.
There are many resources here. Some can be hard to navigate but the librarians are very friendly and excited when you come and ask for help.

Ha! Mike beat me to Marston… but honestly I’m not there often enough to say a lot… BUT
The building itself is another of those horrors from the late 70s, early 80s… a big ugly bunker that will one day be blown up and no one will miss it.
The French Fries and the cut thru so you can see Century Tower are nice touches… but really, this building should never have cut off the lawn leading to the Union from the auditorium. Terrible place, bad location.
Now the good: The map library is a damned cool place. They’re working on getting it all online, but there is still a LOT of value in looking at the original Sanborn fire maps of various cities.
So, my verdict is based on the parts I have used, and as an Urban Planning grad student the maps are MY space in this building. Too bad the building itself is such an affront to good planning and architecture.

Marston Science Library is UF’s main science and engineering library, containing all science collections with the exception of the medical collections at the Health Science Center Libary and the Verterinary Medicine Reading Room. (To be technical, some of the titles germane to nuclear science are listed under Marston but actually housed over at the Department of Nuclear Engineering in their little reading room. .. whether these were at one time at Marston and the nuclear engineers came one night and spirited them away or what I don’t exactly know). With five floors and containing the Maps and Imagery Library of UF also, Marston is a big place. Its science and engineering collection is probably unmatched for most subjects in the entire state of Florida, too. I’ve seen better engineering collections elsewhere but the collection of zoological, botanical, and other life sciences books is amazingly diverse. The maps library is also top-​notch but in these days of Google Earth and USGS having all their topos as free PDF downloads online, the purpose and utility of the map library is a little less than it once was.
The top floor of Marston is a good place to go study at night as it doesn’t get too crowded except for during exams. In the daytime however, if it’s sunny out, it does get very warm up there. Marston isn’t posh or new like the renovated Library West. It has had the same chairs for years and is forever stuck in a 1980s academic atmosphere which isn’t new and cool nor old and impressive. It could use a renovation itself, and deserves one since all the Library West staff was quartered here in 2005 during West’s renovations. Marston Library was named after President Marston who was a president of UF back in the late 1970s: Dr. Marston was a dentist actually before he was a university president, which I suppose somewhat counts as being in the sciences.