ATG: Globes and Bathrooms, McCabe Edition!

Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.

This week, we answer your deepest questions about the building that tries to answer our deepest questions: the library!

Our first questioner asked why the gender-neutral sign was removed from the 2nd floor bathroom. Pam Harris, Outreach and Instruction Librarian at McCabe, responded via e-mail and explained that it was done by mistake. The sign should be back up now.

Another curious reader wanted to know if it was true that anyone who could disassemble/reassemble the giant globe in the library was welcome to keep it. According to Harris, this is true! She wrote in an e-mail: “any institution willing to present a plan for removal is welcome to have the globe.” Apparently, the fiberglass sections of the globe are very heavy, making this a difficult task. “Penn [University of Pennsylvania] was interested in it a few years ago, for example,” she explained, “but was not willing to remove it under the difficult extenuating circumstances.” Well then, engineering students: any takers?

Want to know if you could disassemble The Big Chair and take it home? Wondering when The Big Chair is coming back, anyway? Ask the Gazette!