Lack of space.

Yesterday had a busy day running errands and meeting up with friends I hadn't seen in a while. As for actual school work, I picked up a box of microfilm reels so I can start my dissertation research in earnest. And I returned my carrel key and requested a book locker instead. I hardly used my shared carrel---the only working/office space on campus for history grad students---at all last year, so I figured that someone else could make better use of it. That's good of me, eh?, considering U of T gives us no space?

It's actually really bad of the school that we have no work space. When I was a Master's student at my old university, I had shared office space in the department with 6 or 7 other MA students. But I had my own desk, chair, etc., and the office was equipped with a phone. I expected that at "the Harvard of the North," PhD students would have somewhere to work on their dissertations other than being at the mercy of the carrel office at Robarts Library, but no. In fact, I didn't get a shared carrel until half-way through my second year as a PhD student! I'm not sure what can be done about this situation, especially since the space issue varies greatly across the 90 or so graduate departments on campus. To make matters worse, U of T is significantly increasing graduate enrollment. Ack! Although I do like this school---the library holdings are great, my professors are awesome, and I have made good friends with my fellow grad students---there are many things that annoy me. And lack of space is a big one.