By Kelly Corbett
Social Media Editor
Ah, we meet again, library. It’s been far too long. I miss your fourth floor scenic views of campus, your wavering Wi-Fi and the scramble to find an empty study room. Not to mention your super-cozy couches, your cafe that enables my coffee addiction and all the great reads you hold that I hope to check out this semester. Yet there’s one thing I don’t miss: your early closing time.
Our last encounter was finals week. It was past midnight and you were there for me as I read through my statistics textbook. You gave me everything you had, all four floors of you, all day and night during one of my toughest weeks at the College. Then, you had my back — and now you don’t.
Currently during the week, you turn me away once the clock strikes midnight, and during the weekend you push me away even earlier. You offer me a strip of seating in the front of library until 2 a.m., which is thoughtful of you — but it’s not the same.
I want your wooden cubicles, couches, books, computers, all of you — all of the time. I am needy of your resources. I need you to be open 24-7 again. Please.
I am a frequent lib-goer as I complete most of my coursework in the four-floored brick world of books and hard-working students. My procrastination levels dwindle once I step foot into this silent sanctuary. I’ve scribed some of my finest works here and I have lounged in these couches until I felt strong enough to battle my exam the next morning.
However, as my course load gets more challenging, I need some help. I need the library to be open longer, for my fellow students and myself.
In a perfect world, all students at the College would be tucked in by midnight, homework completed hours before. However, as perfect as we seem, we falter. Assignments take longer than desired and we sink into the late hours of the night finishing up our work.
I understand that the extended study area, the cafe and a small portion of the first floor remain open until 2 a.m. However, from my experience, it is always crowded and not a quiet environment. I appreciate it, but I always end up returning to my dorm after the third announcement that the library is closing — before I am officially kicked out. Once I return to my dorm to finish work, I am always tempted by my bed to sleep instead of study more.
Asking the library to stay open 24-7 during the regular weeks of the semester may be a bit excessive. The library is not a 7-Eleven in the middle of a busy city. It, along with its employees, deserve some sleep. But instead of closing most of it up at midnight or before, could all of it stay open until 2 a.m.?
I am the most productive in the library and I’m sure many other students feel the same. During finals week, when I was able to stay in the library past the usual closing time, I accomplished quite a bit of work. Call me a nerd, but I used the library’s extended hours to my advantage. While the library closing early should not affect the quality of my work, it is so much more difficult to work in the dorms. Neighbors are noisy and distracting, Ethernet cords may falter and the sight of my bed just makes me want to shut my textbook and crawl under my covers.
Being in the library always encourages me to stop looking at the clock and do my work. Sometimes, depending on my schedule, I need more time in the library after it closes and I don’t want to straggle to the extended study area.
As a nocturnal homework-doer, I feel that the extended study area should be banished from existence and the whole library, all four floors, should remain open until 2 a.m.
Not just for me and my late night studying, but also for the diligent student in all of us that just want a quiet environment to achieve greatness in, even after midnight.
