As you know, exams are coming. Like the headlights of a fast-approaching van, the prospect of the much-dreaded test has us frozen in mortal terror.
If only we had studied more. If only we had not skipped out on some of those assignments. If only we had actually gone to class.
No matter what your trauma is, most of us share one grand meeting place in the scramble to memorize formulas and look up sources. The library.
The building was once mysterious, good for classes in various computer programs and grabbing breakfast in Food for Thought.
Now droves of frazzled students occupy every couch, table, chair and bit of floor in every section. Groups of students are meeting in the lobby to argue over particulars for assignments in any given class.
Grumblers are stalking in, having been driven out of the room or apartment by their-shall we say-boisterous roommates.
It may sound clich, but the library embodies the perfect study atmosphere. There you can find a computer lab with printing services, laptop portals, all your reference needs and study munchies-as long as you don’t take them into unauthorized areas.
You can always find a comfortable chair if you want to bask in the utter laziness that makes studying bearable. You can also find the nice straight-backed chair that will guarantee to keep you awake no matter what.
If you need to concentrate, the atmosphere is quiet because of that respect for others that can only come from shared burdens.
For the procrastinators, the grumblers and the night owls in general, there’s good news. The library will be open for 24 hours a day during exam week, the first week of May.
This will be the chance to get in all your studying. Who can sleep with an 8 a.m. exam the next day?
This fairly new policy of the Mitchell Memorial Library is a great leap in working with the students and meeting their needs. It’s also a wonderful practice in time management.
Students are allowed to form their own study schedules and not heed the closing signal at midnight. We can come and go, begin and end as we please. Because we know as soon as we get home our roommates will have decided to hold a chill-out party-on the night before our hardest exam.
Yes, we have a good practice going. Now, as Emeril would say, let’s kick it up a notch. Why not stay open the week before exams?
While the library’s practice of staying open 24 hours during the week of finals is wonderful, it is not perfect.
For one, the starting time of this new schedule begins too late. We are told to begin studying the week before exams, and sometimes even before that, but the library only acknowledges our need to study until almost the day of the day that you actually have to take the tests. What message can we get from this other than “it is all right to cram”?
Another serious problem I have with the schedule is that the library supposes that exams are only held during the three hours scheduled for each. Anyone who has spent any time as a student knows that the bulk of their work will be due the week before exams.
Why is that? Because most of the work is embodied in essays and projects. The professors need time to grade the hundreds of sheets of paper, so they demand everything a week in advance.
And what if you want to use the library to look up sources or merely to have a place to plug up your laptop and chill? Tough luck. The library’s closed for those late hours that are best for writing and studying.
And what about the classes with professors who want to cut out early and have their tests during class a week early? Sorry. Those don’t count.
The many problems of late-night studiers can be solved with a very simple plan. Keep the library open 24 hours during the week before finals.
This will give a great place to study without students having to venture out to the Starkville Caf or Waffle House for their nocturnal study atmospheres.
While it may be difficult for the library to find people to work during the extra late nights, I think that it is a project worth undertaking for the semesters to come.
Unfortunately, the library will probably close at its regular time Monday night. But this is a change that can be considered in the future.
In the meanwhile, strap on a caffeine IV and get to those papers before the resource section of the library closes.
And remember, only two more weeks, and we’ll be free.
Angela Adair is a junior English major. She can be reached at [email protected].