It's beginning to look a lot like finals...every place on campus you go-or so is sung (alto and off-key by me) this self-penned lyric. A place on East Carolina University's main campus that this self-penned lyric plays out well is Joyner Library. This longtime facility on the East Campus, known to students as "Club Joyner," is open 24-hours a day five days a week.
Also referred to by many in Pirate Nation as "The Library," J.Y. Joyner Library is a popular gathering place every semester for undergrads and grads representing the spectrum of classes and degree programs to complete their coursework.
And how much work gets done, semester after semester! It gets tackled by solo, in pairs, in groups. Equations are solved and definitions explained on dry erase boards in large and small study rooms. Ideas get analyzed and knowledge extrapolated in writings composed on open computer lab desktops and laptops from the Library's kiosk.
Collaboration is displayed in PowerPoints and teamwork captured in YouTube videos (one of these videos is "Joyner Rap." It was created in Spring 2016 by a quartet of ECU students for a marketing class final project). And of course, there have been the Library's famous all-nighter study sessions for finals, cumulative and noncumulative.
This work has become famous for creating a lot of campus trends, some amusing, some not so much. It brings students to the Library clad in PJs and slippers, scholars armed with blankets and pillows along with Jansport backpacks and iPhones. It helps to create the late evening wraparound lines at the Library's Starbucks and deluge level, after midnight carry-outs from West End Dining Hall and downtown's Sup Dogs.
The long hours, more challenging work, and over-dependence on caffeine and empty calories to bear the all-nighters and upped academic ante has also become famous for bringing on stress: physical, emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual.
Fortunately, Student Pirates can also rely upon stress relief coming in the form of Pet Therapy. Pet Therapy is made possible through the collaborative efforts of a local organization, Pet Partners, and ECU employees such as Carolyn Willis, Outreach Librarian. In fact, Pet Therapy is a program offered by many colleges and universities for students during certain times of the academic year.
Campus employees promoting such services have been encouraged by research that "shows interactions with dogs and cats help students unwind." As another Joyner Library staff member, Heather White, noted recently, Pet Therapy is "a good option for helping students deal with the stresses of the final exam period" (2018, p. 1).
Over the past three years, I have witnessed many students flock to the area around the Circulation Desk on the days when the dogs are scheduled to visit. It's little wonder why Student Pirates are enthusiastic spending time with these dogs. The uplifting impact that the dogs have supports the research correlating physical contact with pets and improvement in emotional well being.
Speaking of our four-legged friends, above is Sofi, a Golden Retriever and licensed therapy dog for three years. She, the first of the Pet Partner dogs to visit this week, stopped by the Library this afternoon.
But don't just take my word for it. Stop by the area around the Circulation Desk for some therapy (along with snacks such as fun-sized candy bars, cookies, and pretzels).
In case you miss out on the fun this week, you don't have long to wait. Pet Therapy takes place every Fall and Spring Semester during Finals Week, and dates/times are featured on Joyner Library's website Events section in the weeks leading up to Finals.
May your Finals Week become a little less "ruff" and good luck on your exams, Student Pirate Nation!
