By Isabella Darcy
Editor-in-Chief
Study rooms in the R. Barbara Gitenstein Library are Gianna Dziekan's favorite places to study on campus. The quiet, free-of-distraction atmosphere in the rooms helps her to focus on what she needs to get done. That is, when she is able to get into a room.
Study rooms in the library have been available on a first-come, first-served basis since its opening in 2005. Circling the building looking for one of these rooms, only to find that they are all occupied, is a disappointment that many students at the College have experienced.
“I’ve always found it really chaotic,” Dziekan, a freshman psychology major, told The Signal. “The rooms are very helpful to study in, but oftentimes there’s never an open one for you, or you have to wait hours.”
After receiving numerous requests for study rooms to be reservable, the library launched a pilot program on March 22. It allows individual and small groups of students to book the nine study rooms on the third floor. Study rooms on the second and fourth floors remain available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Students must be enrolled at the College to make reservations, which may be done up to a week in advance through tcnj.libcal.com. One person may book up to 3 hours per day and 6 hours per week.
Dziekan said she thinks reservations are a “really good idea,” but she is concerned about potentially having to kick people out of rooms she has booked.
“It’s just an awkward situation that I’m not looking forward to if it happens,” Dziekan said.
Patrick Dziegielewski, a freshman civil engineering major, is a study room frequenter. He enjoys being able to study with others, while maintaining some privacy.
“It’s a way for us to socialize or motivate each other, but to be in a space where we’re not going to bother the people around us,” Dziegielewski said.
Dziegielewski told The Signal that he is happy the library is implementing study room reservations. He said he finds first-come, first-served to be “very unsystematized,” noting that some students spend hours in a room by themselves.
“I think study rooms are generally meant for groups to go study in and for people who benefit from group studying,” Dziegielewski said. “I think it’s much better that you can plan ahead now and actually reserve those rooms for groups of people.”
The library is looking to hear from students who use the new reservation system. Erin Ackerman, interim director of the library, told The Signal that student feedback will inform any tweaks made to the system and help determine if it sticks around.
“If it’s popular, then maybe we would implement it in the future,” Ackerman said.
The change comes at the same time as major renovations are underway on the library’s first floor. Study areas, book shelves and printing areas that were once on the first floor have been relocated to make way for the College’s new spirit shop, which used to be in the Campus Town Barnes & Noble.
Amidst changes, the library staff are always thinking about how to support students, according to Ackerman.
“The particular way people use space, whether it’s single studying or collaborative studying, that can change over time,” Ackerman said. “We want to keep reflecting and modernizing to meet the needs of the people we have now.”
