December 20, 2007
Who Needs a Dorm During Finals? Everything a Student Needs Is in the Library
Some students practically live in the library during finals week, but Grant Gilles, a sophomore at Brown University, literally did.
From December 12 until yesterday, Mr. Gilles never left the university’s science library, which is open 24-7 during weekends and the week of final exams. He stepped back into the daylight just in time to take his first exam.
“The library was really conducive to living,” Mr. Gilles said in an interview today. “I had my computer, so I could listen to music, I could do work, and I could use the Internet. And I watched TV online, which killed a lot of time.”
The stunt is proof that libraries these days have more amenities than ever, and that students live much of their social lives on computer networks. But that’s not the point Mr. Gilles was making. He filmed his exploits and plans to enter the resulting video in a contest to win first pick in Brown’s dormitory room draw. Last year’s winners created a video mockumentary of a fake a cappella group that performs naked. They called themselves “The Skintones.”
Mr. Gilles devised an elaborate system to make himself more comfortable during his camp out. He hid a suitcase full of clothes and toiletries in a vent on the third floor of the library. And he took over a study room in the basement, where he rolled out a ground mat and brought in board games and other amusements. As decoration, he built a five-foot barrier of stacked coffee cups.
“I was telling everyone as cover that it was a performance-art piece on the gluttony of Brown students,” he says. “That worked really well on the very self-loathing college campus that we’re all in.”
On Monday a librarian did approach him, and he gave his usual spiel. “It did not go well. He said, ‘Well it stinks, and it’s dirty.’” The librarian demanded that the coffee cups go and said that students were not allowed to take over study rooms for their own purposes. But after Mr. Gilles trashed the cups, he wasn’t approached by authorities again.
The student’s friends did show up, though, bringing him food from the cafeteria. He also bought snacks from a cafe cart in the library and washed up as best he could in the bathroom sinks.
Some nights, he wasn’t the only student there all night. Some students were so exhausted they would sleep for a few hours on the comfortable furniture and then resume studying.
As the week drew on he did attract increasing attention from students — either because of the smell, or because of a blog item on IvyGate about his experiment.
If Mr. Gilles wins the room-draw contest, he and some friends hope to score a room that was once a penthouse suite in a dormitory that used to be a hotel.
“It would be a lot nicer than living in the library,” he said.—Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Thursday December 20, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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Here at Slippery Rock University, instead of trying to force our patrons into a definition of what WE think the library is, we are looking to them to define for us what the library is today, and for the future.
— Philip J Tramdack Dec 21, 07:55 AM #
As a new staff member in an academic library, I’ve quickly learned that it’s all about reaching out to students on their terms and using their technology.
— Holly Dec 21, 08:54 AM #
Go home. Get a good nights sleep. Stop trashing the place. I agree that the library should be accommodating to the student’s needs. However the library should have extended hours, not 24/7. Students
are wearing themselves out cramming until early morning. I know, I used to work in a library and was a student myself.
— Frank Dec 21, 08:58 AM #
Students with families need a place to study at a time that is convenient to THEM. At least one library on campus should be 24/7. And of course they take naps in the library, it may be the only quiet place they can find!
— Marie Dec 21, 09:18 AM #
It’s nice that Mr Gilles enjoys using the library, but taking over a study room which belongs to the entire university community for his own personal use sounds a bit selfish!
— Redlybarian Dec 21, 09:20 AM #
As a librarian at a major research university, it is all too clear to me that libraries are so desperate for funding, which depends partly on the level of student support for the library, that libraries are willing to bend over backwards and ignore the most selfish, rudest, most self-centered behavior, such as the behavior demonstrated by this student. Bravo to Brown on not rocking the ‘me first’ boat.
— me Dec 21, 09:55 AM #
Camping out in the library for a week instead of sleeping in your perfectly good dorm room is selfish, disgusting behavior. Mr. Gilles certainly exemplifies the apparent “gluttony” of current Brown students. That Mr. Gilles would anticipate being REWARDED for this behavior by winning the room-draw contest is equally disgusting. Should Mr. Gilles win the room-draw, Brown will not get another penny from me. This makes me ashamed to be a Brown Alum.
— Brown Alum Dec 21, 10:09 AM #
Seriously, posters. Get a grip. Are we REALLY discussing how “ashamed” we are of “selfish, disgusting” behavior? Was it unsafe? Was it truly offensive?? Before we get all self-righteous, why don’t we just chill out. Sounds to me like a typical 19-year old pulling a stunt (perhaps a slightly stinky one, but still…). Who really cares?? AND if we are actually asking the libraries to NOT be open 24/7 (a fairly regular thing now on large and some small campuses) because of this kind of behavior, we’re throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
— Kim Dec 21, 12:17 PM #
It probably wasn’t all that harmful, but he was taking up a study room for sleeping and watching television when others may have wanted to use the room to actually STUDY.
— Carlo Dec 21, 01:19 PM #
Oh my goodness, people. It’s a college contest! This isn’t about whether or not libraries should have 24-hour spaces or whether the student was being gluttonous. He needed to be creative to win a prize, and he’s been fortunate enough to get some press out of it. Sheesh.
— Leslie Dec 21, 02:14 PM #
I agree with Kim. It was a one time stunt lasting for about a week. No property was damaged and no one was really hurt. I would recommend that staff be more vigilant about monitoring study rooms for this and other shenanigans!
— Dodd Dec 21, 02:31 PM #
I’ll take the headline: “Everything a Student Needs Is in the Library” any day.
— Dave Dec 21, 03:46 PM #
I wonder how he did on his exams.
— History Professor Dec 21, 04:53 PM #
I have a novel new use for libraries. How about as archives for important documents and quiet research centers for… I dunno…people with intelligence? Too many freakin’ morons hogging up the workstations with MySpace and jabbering their ostentatious adolescent b.s. on their cellphones in the stacks. And what’s with the damn stinking food?! Faux multitasking during the last week of class will not help your grade! Manage your time, eat in the cafeteria, socialize and sleep and “Facebook” in the dorm, and effin’ SHUT UP in the library so that actual students and scholars (i.e., everyone else around you overgrown children) can function.
To the spineless new librarians, so like the pedagogues of freshman comp who think the university exists to cater to every asinine whim of teenagers: Exercise some authority and throw these jerk out the first time—then fine them for a second offense and BAN THEM for the rest of the semester if they persist in juvenile, inappropriate behavior in the library.
The library-as-cybercafe’ model does not bode well at all for those of us who don’t draw in the reference books.
— Pissed-Off Grad Student Dec 21, 06:56 PM #
Me again. It isn’t a harmless stunt. This is the Tragedy of the Commons. Selfish, self-interested students make it an uncomfortable environment for students who want to study, which should be the primary purpose of the library. However, this isn’t the primary purpose of the academic library. The primary purpose is to increase funding. To increase funding the library turns a blind eye to idiotic behavior to avoid embarrassing or angering students. That leaves the enforcement of considerate behavior to other students.
PIssed-Off, it isn’t that librarians are spineless, though they may be. If I were to offend students by enforcing rules I’d be looking for a new job. Call that spineless, but it’s a direct result of the funding model that libraries must operate within. The commercialization of higher education is to blame. Libraries must compete for limited funding with other campus units. I certainly agree that morons playing Halo 3 and Guitar Hero in my library are making the environment less conducive to the educational mission of the library. My administration would likely argue that just getting students to come into the building is a step in the right direction even if they’re only coming for the Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, or Facebook. I disagree, but no one is asking. The students bring in money and I don’t.
— me Dec 21, 08:38 PM #
Come on people, lighten up. Didn’t you go to college? One of my sons “lives” in the architect building because of having so much work on his projects. It’s not a big deal.
As to living in the library, that’s such a mild stunt. College is a fun time. too. What a creative, safe way to relieve stress. Think back to your college days; what crazy stunts did you do? As long as he was not destructive to school property, an interferrence to the university or endangering anyone or himself, and he was maintaining his grades, let him have a little fun.
— college mom Dec 22, 11:01 AM #
Everything? I don’t remember seeing a piano in any library of mine, nor do I think I ever will (at least, not one I can use)
— 1day Dec 24, 04:55 PM #