To the Editors:

It was a dark and stormy night when I last wrote an essay on a YU library computer. I did a wonderful job, if I may say so myself. Several thousand words and a catchy title. Yeah, life was good.

And that's when the library computer got me. No, it did not sneak up from behind to bite me, but it soon became a pain nonetheless. My computer didn't want to print. I shrugged it off and merrily attempted to save my essay on a disk, so as to print the paper from another computer. The computer just laughed at me and said, "Nope, I can't read your disk at the present time." No further instructions, certainly no apology forthcoming. No big deal, really. It's the 90's, and I can email it to myself at, that's right, another library computer! "No can do," said the computer with a smirk, "I'm really not in the mood to connect you to the Internet."

Well, when have the library computers EVER been in the mood?

If the computer works, the printer is down; if the printer works, the computers are down. Internet access comes and goes a dozen times during the course of a day, and the computers pick up more viruses than a newborn without booster shots. Can we please get these computers to work in unison? Can the students at YU actually be provided some peace of mind in using a YU library computer, perhaps even some semblance of sanity afforded in the aftermath?

If I stand alone, so be it…I've vented my frustration. If however, you too spent many an afternoon dreaming of flinging a chair through the computer screen, stand tall and proud. You're a student at a top tier university that has yet to prove they can wire a computer system, while your 12-year old sister is fluent in Java.

My-oh-my, what a lovely day.

Jeff Taub

YC 2000