Reed-Johnson is making a change in shelving this summer.

Within the freshman men’s residence halls are bookshelves that have been in the halls for decades. These shelves have finally seen their last group of students.

“The shelves have been in Reed-Johnson for years and years,” Rian Nostrum, director of Residence Life said. “It wouldn’t make sense to keep trying to update just old equipment.”

The shelves have been repaired numerous times and now it is not cost efficient to keep investing money into outdated furniture.

Not all shelves are in bad condition; those that are not will be used by other people. The poor quality pieces, however, will not.

“You never really noticed anything about them when you were living there because it was something that you were used to,” Justin Moe, a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering said.

The mobile bookshelves could sit atop of desks or other locations in rooms to hold many items.

“Back in the day of books, desktop computers and floppy drives, the shelves came in useful,” said Nostrum.

“It was nice to have more things to put your stuff on,” Moe said. “It was another way to keep your room organized.”

Nostrum said that if Residence Life were to put new furniture into the dorms, it would be akin to a television stand that would be more practical for today’s students.

“I guess improvements are always good, especially for some of our older buildings. Taking out those shelves and maybe getting something newer would be a good change for future kids,” said Moe.

Residence halls are constantly changing not only on our campus but many campuses throughout the United States.

While some people may be sad to see years of history and memories go with the old bookshelves, it is making way for new and better means of living the dorms.