If you do nothing else in college, you will do this: study. You will study a lot of material in such a short amount of time. Since you will be spending a lot of time studying, you obviously need to find a spot that works for you. Somewhere that you could spend several hours at a time in and be okay afterward. For me, I can't study at home. I commute to campus every day and I have found that the best place for me to study is in the library. So, while I'm sitting here, writing this article, and procrastinating on studying for my Precalculus test tommorrow, here are the main reasons why the library is the best place to study at AUM:
It is one of the few places on campus that is actually conducive for studying.
There are definitely more places on campus to study than the library. But, those other places often come with so many more distractions and zero comfortable places to sit. For instance, I love the couch sitting outside my history class in the Liberal Arts building but I know I couldn't sit there and study all day. There are way too many people walking through that hallway whether it be students to class or instructors to their offices. The same is true for any floor of Goodwyn Hall. Too many distractions for me. If you thrive with distractions and being slightly uncomfortable then go for it! Do what works for you. I just couldn't join you.
Any floor above the second floor is considered a "quiet" floor.
It means exactly what it sounds like. This point goes hand in hand with the first. There isn't supposed to be much noise, if any, on these designated floors. With that being said, there are some people that think it's okay to blast music, videos, or whatever because they assume no one is on that floor. For instance, a friend of mine and I were on the fifth floor trying to study for Precal (?) and there was a girl in a study room not far away from us blasting youtube. You can imagine the looks on our faces and the things we may or may not have said. There is a reason these floors are supposed to be "quiet" and when others use them correctly, it benefits everyone around.
You are not necessarily boxed in.
Besides the study rooms, the rest of the study spaces, whether they are tables or comfortable chairs with a small desk on top of them, are in the four corners of the floor but they are open at the same time. I don't like feeling like I'm in this small, secluded space (hello claustrophobia) so these open spaces are wonderful. This brings me right into my next point!
There are group and single person study rooms.
On the fourth and fifth floors of our library tower, there are a bunch of group and single person study rooms. If you have a group of friends from a class and you want to study together, go to the front desk on the first floor, grab the provided box of expo markers for the whiteboard, and head upstairs. If you would rather study by yourself (me most of the time), use one of the single person study rooms that line two of the walls on each of these floors. I prefer the single person rooms because they have these huge desks that you can spread out everything you need and not feel like you are taking up someone else's space. I also like to spread stuff out when I study so these rooms are better for me.
There is almost always an event that has free stuff.
Who doesn't love free stuff?!?! I'm pretty sure free stuff is the holy grail of college. Anywho, these events that they have often cater to certain groups of students or are just trying to showcase certain organizations housed within the library. Some offer free food while others offer things like free tee shirts. There are even a special few that come around midterms and finals that will give out a bunch of free blue books, scantrons, and pens (Midterm Madness event...I'm looking at you)!
I realize that not everyone studies the exact same way or in the same place. I also realize that some of my points didn't have a whole lot to do with studying. But, that's what makes AUM's library special. It's not always about studying. You should also feel comfortable and be able to have a good time at your library! This is why the library is the best place to study!
