Although finals are not something to look forward to, try picturing this scenario: It's late, you are tucked far back in the stacks of Baker Library, and you are trying to cram 10 weeks of reading into one night. Most of the light that you've been exposed to during the day has been trickling out of a low wattage fluorescent bulb. You are tired, but you cannot go home and go to sleep. If you are like most students, you have postponed your studying or research to this last possible moment.
Suddenly, an unseen voice echoes through the building, informing you that it is 11:45 and that the library is closing in 15 minutes. Are you hallucinating from the six Cokes that you consumed in the last hour, or are you being kicked out?
Sadly, the reality is that Baker Library shuts its doors at 12:00 a.m., even during finals. Baker is one of the few places on campus that students can retreat from the noise and distractions of dorms to tool away for finals.
Like many students, I cannot study in my room. There are too many other things in close proximity that I would rather do instead of studying for finals.
I will vacuum, alphabetize my CDs, play Tetris or just talk to my roommates before I actually pick up a book. Like many students, I need a distraction free environment if I actually want something to sink into my head. Baker Library provides this environment. The Stacks, the Tower Room, and the numerous study rooms are excellent, quiet, well-lit places in which people like me can study.
I acknowledge that there are alternatives to Baker. The reserve corridor is open until 1 a.m. yet it has a limited occupancy, and the graffiti on the tables is much more interesting to read than whatever you are trying to study. The residence halls have study rooms, yet these rooms are often poorly lit and can become very social.
Baker is the ideal place to study for finals, with the exception of its "early" closing hours. Nobody I know finishes studying for finals by midnight. I do not think that extending the library or the reserves hours throughout the year is necessary. All I ask is that the entire library, including the Reserve Corridor, extend its closing time to 2:30 a.m. during finals period. This extra time will give students a generous amount of time to finish studying or researching.
Many other fine colleges have quiet study rooms that stay open into the early hours. Columbia University has a twenty-four hour reading room. Brown University's Reserve Corridor does not shut its doors until 2:00 a.m., and it also has an all night study room available during finals. Cornell and Princeton University's reserves are also open until 2:00 a.m.
I would think that an administration characterized for its commitment to improving Dartmouth's academics would not object to keeping Baker Library, the College's very symbol of academia, open later during finals.
Although extended library hours will not make students any happier about finals, they will make them easier to deal with.
