Excerp from Field Observation 1

As a UNM student it was surprising to me that there was so much history still around in the UNM library. I had never been in the Historical wing of the library in my UNM career and I was surprised to see how much of the New Mexican culture was still present in the library. Lucky for our group one of our group members works in the library and was able to give us a lot of information about its history. Elements of the older side of the library I found very intrigued and surprised on how after all of these years, the library was still able to keep a lot of its original design even after years of remodels. One of these original designs was shown in the study center in the Historical Wing of the library. Pictures on the walls had shown what the area of the library had originally looked like and compared to what it looks like today, there seems like there is no significant change in design, excluding new quiet rooms created to house more areas for students to study. I was intrigued at how much New Mexican influence could be seen in the Historical wing of the library through the Great Hall of Murals and the handmade New Mexican tin lighting fixtures that also lined the walls. The historical wing of the library has created an area that is not only useful for students to study but to also learn about the culture and history that has been a part of UNM since its beginning.