Sleep in your car, not the library

It’s been a long time complaint of students that there is almost nowhere that they can study. The halls are too loud, and often it’s more distracting than not to study at home, especially with a group of friends over. There is only one really good option left to students, and they go to the library to study. It’s quiet, free of distractions, and there are even rooms that students can go in to study with friends, right? Well, kind of. While there are rooms that students can study in, as well as quiet areas to study, the rooms, which groups are supposed to take priority in, rarely have the space to actually accommodate a group. Instead, one person usually is taking up a room to themselves, sometimes not even for the purpose of studying. There have been numerous reports of students using the rooms to sleep as opposed to study, clogging the already limited space unnecessarily and the library becomes a much less appealing option. Officially, the rule is that groups take priority, if they are groups of four or more. However, with groups of more than four people it’s hardly worth the time to commandeer a room. Each room is so small that even seating four people in the same one is a squeeze, and unless someone brings their own chair, somebody’s going to be standing. Good luck getting other people to work with in there.
While this problem is well-known to the students who use the study areas, it’s not one that only affects them. The library’s staff is well aware of the problem, and in addition, much more
aware of the cause than the greater student body. “Ever since they made some of the study rooms into more office space, We’ve had a serious problem with students not being able to find a place to study. We hope that we will have the space back by this summer.” So, until the office space by the bookstore is returned, it seems that there will remain a shortage of study space.
In the meantime, there are some options to help reduce, if not fully remedy the problem. The first is to find a group to study with. As hard as it may be, it seems to be the of of the only surefire solutions available. Another is to look into using the media viewing rooms. As strange as it sounds, if no group requires their use to actually view films, anyone can reserve them for studying or otherwise. The staff at the media counter are more than happy to allow anybody to use the space, provided they check in. Of course, students will have to reserve it for a certain amount of time, however, it’s better than not having a place to study at all. Groups should also be firm and exercise their right to use the study areas by kicking out students misusing the rooms. There are plenty of places to catch a catnap that doesn’t directly interfere with the desires of students wishing to use their time on campus for their studies.