According to multiple student accounts, the Hirsch Reading Room was unable to accommodate the number of people who wished to make use of Tisch Library Late Night Study on Sunday and Monday. Although library staff denies that students were turned away, overcrowding in the Reading Room is indicative of a larger problem regarding late-night study spaces on campus.
Tufts should look for options and formulate a plan to help alleviate one of the most stressful hurdles facing students during finals — finding a quiet place to study on campus.
First off, there are not many public spaces available for students to study outside of their residential houses and dormitories that have extended hours. During the week, the Mayer Campus Center closes at 2 a.m., Tisch closes at 1 a.m. and the Hirsch Reading Room closes at 3 a.m. On Friday and Saturday night, Tisch closes at 9 p.m. Although Friday and Saturday late-night study is extended until midnight, students wishing to consult reserve materials are unable to bring them into the reading room after the main library closes. This impedes students' ability to continue researching in the stacks.
What is missing on campus is a consistent, dependable and quiet 24-hour study space. Tufts is one of the few schools in the U.S. News and World Report's ranking of the top 30 universities in the country that does not have a study room that is always open. If the library were open 24/7, students would be able to continue using items on reserve and would have a quiet space to pull that sometimes-necessary all-nighter.
When students are turned away from a quiet study space during the week before finals because the library's extended hours have not begun, there is obviously a problem that needs to be dealt with. Many courses schedule assessments during the final week of classes, and students are often inundated with papers and tests — not to mention exams and papers due during finals week. Students need the proper environment to work in, and perhaps the administration should look at other leading universities for examples of how to accommodate students' needs.
One potentially feasible system is the one used at George Washington University (GW). Students at GW use access cards, similar to Tufts' JumboFob system, to enter and exit the library. GW does not hire extended security personnel for the library, allowing it to remain open without placing a significant financial burden on the university.
Even if Tufts finds that this system is not suitable, it should still continue to search for an arrangement that would allow students to study in the library after midnight on weekends and after 3 a.m. on weeknights during the regular hours of the academic year. Extending late-night study hours starting on Dec. 13, though very helpful, is not enough. At the very least, the university should increase late-night hours during the final week of classes, when the onslaught of work typically begins.
