Whether this is your first or last finals season here at Hirsh, we wanted to give you some tips to help you get through and finish your semester strong!
Tip #1: We know that each program is doing things at a slightly different time, so our first tip is to remember that while you might not be in the thick of it yet, some of your fellow library users are, so please be mindful of the quiet floors of the library, the sixth and seventh. We encourage you to chat with your friends and study groups on the fifth (new booths anyone?) or fourth floor, but please remember that there should be no conversation on the sixth and seventh floors.
Tip #2: Jumping off of that, if you are going to be on the seventh floor and utilizing one of our many study rooms, we wanted to remind you of a couple of our policies that will help your studying and those of your neighbors go as smoothly as possible!
- Seventh floor study rooms are first come, first served. They cannot be reserved except by bodies in chairs (or on the floor, we support floor time here at HHSL). If you’re looking for rooms to reserve, check out the fifth-floor collaboration rooms (more notes on those to follow!)
- Study rooms prioritize groups, which means if you are a single person in the room, a group does have the right to ask you to move to a different space. We have this policy in order to minimize noise on our quiet floors and to give groups a place to work on projects or study collaboratively.
- Snacks, coffee, and bathroom breaks are an important part of any study session, but we want to remind you that items left unattended in our study rooms are not a way of holding the room for your use. Additionally, if the items have been left unattended for at least fifteen minutes, your fellow students are permitted to utilize the space either around your items, or by moving them into one of the common areas. This is library policy, in order to ensure that study room access is available to those who need to use it.
Tip # 3: Moving on down to the fifth floor (where chatting is permitted and encouraged), we wanted to remind you about how to reserve the collaboration rooms, so that you and your groupmates have the space you need. Fifth floor rooms are the only reservable spaces in the library, and this can be done on our collaboration room reservation page up to the night before. There are just a few things for groups to remember as they make these reservations:
- Individuals cannot reserve the collaboration rooms for themselves, they must be done on behalf of a group.
- The full names of all the members of the study group must be listed when making the reservation (please do not say that Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are using the study room ☹)
- A group is only permitted one four-hour block per day, three times a week. Please do not try and circumvent this by putting in different names and emails because a) we will probably catch you and scold you and b) this is unfair to the other students who may also want to use the study rooms with their groups. This policy exists in order to make use of the study rooms more equitable and to give more people chances to use them during the day.
Tip #4: If you’re hoping to check out a charger late on a Saturday evening or early on a Sunday morning, you’re in luck! April 26 and 27 and May 3 and 4, we will be running extended hours at the library service desk, open from 10am to 10pm those two weekends. Stay tuned for another post on that closer to the day!
Tip #5: We also want to remind you that our borrowing period for chargers, markers, and all the other items behind the desk is four hours. We’re so close to the end of the block cycle (June 30) after which all your blocks are cleared out for the next year, but we want you to keep those numbers low, especially at a time when not being able to check something out for a week might be the difference between studying here and having your laptop die. Library staff will always let you know what time items are due back, but we recommend putting a four-hour timer on your phone just as that extra reminder.
Tip #6: Don’t forget to take a break! Get up, stretch, drink some water, and if you’re really feeling like doing something hands-on in between study sessions, we at the library have a few upcoming crafts/activities for you:
Library Fun Lab: Motivational Stones on 4/17 and 4/18
Fun rock-painting and decorating
Study Break Tea and Book Swap on 4/29 between 2:30 and 4 pm
Come on by and grab a snack or maybe a book!
We at Hirsh are here to support you throughout all your final projects and exams! Always feel free to stop by the desk if you have any questions or comments for us, and please remember to be courteous to your fellow students. Finals are hard, and a little grace goes a long way.
Wishing you a fun and safe finals season!
Rachel Partington (Library Assistant Manager) & Annie Colby-McKeon (Senior Library Assistant)