I'm a grad student here and thankful for the graduate study room, but I wonder why we have to check out a card to get in that looks similar to our ID cards. Is this not something that could simply be integrated into the Grad students' ID cards?
From: a graduate student

Pat Flanagan, Associate University Librarian for Public Services, responds....
Thank you for raising this question, as others may have wondered about the same thing. There are two answers. The first is that you can request to have your own VCU ID card processed so that it will work on the lock of the Mapp Room door. You may make this request the Circulation and Information Services desk. The staff upload new card requests to the door lock once a week. We check out generic cards so that graduate students can make immediate use of the room while their
own cards are being processed to operate. Just be sure to bring your VCU ID with you when you request this service; staff will need the prox number from the back of the card.

The second answer to your question has to do with why this process isn’t automatic. There are different types of card swipe mechanisms available for doors. We considered other types when the Mapp Room was constructed, but there were two problems which caused us to decide against them. The first is that the type which is automatically loaded with VCU ID cards cost thousands of dollars more than the one we installed. The second, and more important reason however, is that the
VCU Police database, which automatically loads IDs to these cannot discriminate between graduate and undergraduate IDs. Because we wanted to ensure that the Mapp Room be reserved for the use of graduate students and faculty only, we had to use the type of mechanism we installed – one for which we can control the status of individuals whose IDs are enabled to open it.

I hope this answers your question, and I invite you to request that your card be set up to open the door.