The scenario is a familiar one: A day before the big exam it’s down to the wire. With three textbook chapters and notes from a term of lectures to read, it’s going to be an all-nighter. But when midnight rolls around, the only visible progress has been the mental preparation of a study schedule. There are just too many distractions at home.
Good thing Knight Library is open 24/7.
Laurissa Mason is one of six security guards who works at the Knight Library during its extended hours. The guards, employees of a company independent from the University, split into groups of three for eight-hour shifts. On Sunday morning, approaching the tail-end of her 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. shift, Mason struggled to keep her eyes open. But she managed, and is in favor of the round-the-clock hours because they are beneficial to many students.
“It’s 200 people that are able to get what they need to get done,” Mason said. “You have to think about the fact that it’s not the same 200 people every night.”
Security guards said they see people come and go throughout the night – approximately 150 to 200 total. Peak hours occur around midnight and shortly before the library’s regular opening hour.
Running from the Tuesday of Dead Week through Friday of Finals Week, the library’s extended hours provide University students, faculty and staff with a quiet place to study. Material checkout is not available, but computers and printers are.
University junior Iku Yamanaka, a business major, has been utilizing the extended hours since her first term at the University. This weekend she prepared at the library for three final exams, all of which she will take today. On Saturday she stayed at the library from 1 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Yamanaka finds it easier to stay awake and work at Knight Library in the quiet, albeit overwrought, atmosphere during Dead Week than it is to work at home. But, she admitted, sometimes it’s a little too intense.
“During the normal hours it’s relaxed,” Yamanaka said. “During Dead Week it seems … people are kind of too quiet, maybe.”
University student Seth Holland spent all day Saturday – 9 a.m. to midnight – studying at Knight Library; he left only in the evening to go for a run and eat dinner. The postbaccalaureate student was back at the library on Sunday morning working on organic chemistry.
Although Holland admitted his body doesn’t allow him to follow that schedule on a regular basis, he, like Yamanaka, prefers to work at Knight Library because “it’s the most quiet place.”
Both University students said the extended hours are a good investment on the University’s part because a large number of students take advantage of the additional study time.
Holland also attended Rutgers University and Columbia University, two universities whose libraries alter their hours for exam periods. Holland said those institutions’ extended hours were accommodating in his experience, but he “just couldn’t stand New York anymore,” and ended up in Eugene.
After Friday, Knight Library will be open for intersession hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and closed Saturday and Sunday. Regular winter term hours begin Monday, Jan. 7.
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